2006 "Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence"
2006 Terasen Lifetime Achievement Award "for an outstanding literary career in British Columbia"
2004 Honorary D.Litt, University of Victoria
2004 Distance: short-listed for the inaugural City of Victoria book award
2004 Distance: long-listed for the IMPAC/Dublin Award
2000 Broken Ground: the Torgi Talking Book of the Year
2000 Broken Ground: long-listed for the IMPAC/Dublin Award
2000 Broken Ground: the Ethel Wilson Prize for fiction in British Columbia
1999 Broken Ground: The Drummer General Award (Different Drummer Bookstore)
1999 Broken Ground: jury choice as "best novel of the year" in Quill and Quire
1999 Broken Ground: in Globe and Mail "top ten"
1999 Elected to the Royal Society of Canada
1998 Honorary D.Litt, Malaspina University-College
1996 "Finding Merville": (Comox Valley Record) first place in Neville Shanks Memorial Award for Historical Writing.
1995 Honorary D.Litt, University of British Columbia
1988 The Honorary Patron: short listed for the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour
1988 The Honorary Patron: the Commonwealth Literature Prize (Canada-Caribbean region)
1986 The Canada-Australia prize
1979 The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne: The Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction
1978 The Invention of the World: short listed for the Books in Canada First Novel Award
1978 The Invention of the World: the Gibson's First Novel Award
1977 Spit Delaney's Island: short listed for the Governor General's Award
1977 Spit Delaney's Island: the Eaton's B.C. Book Award
1973 "After the Season": the President's Medal, University of Western Ontario