150+ Canadians Day 111: Dr. Roy Akira Miki

Roy Akira Miki, contributed to peace by writing and speaking out against injustice particularly the internment of Japanese Canadians.

Dr. Miki is a distinguished scholar and teacher, one of Canada’s finest poets and authors, and a passionate advocate for social justice. Born on a sugar beet farm in Manitoba, where his Japanese Canadian parents were interned during the Second World War, Dr. Miki’s early experiences with discrimination fueled his drive to express his ideas and emotions.

Dr. Miki’s human rights activism has helped change the shape of Canadian society.

A 2002 collection of his poems, “Surrender”, received the Governor General’s Award for Poetry.

Dr. Miki’s writing and voluntary contributions were recognized in 2006 with three major awards: the Order of Canada, Gandhi Peace Award and Thakore Visiting Scholar Award. In his book Redress: Inside the Japanese Canadian Call for Justice, author Dr. Miki notes how NDP Leader Ed Broadbent was brought to tears as he spoke at the 1988 apology in the House of Commons; his first wife was Japanese Canadian.

He is also a recipient of Simon Fraser University’s Nora and Ted Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy.


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