Head and shoulders image of Dr. Peter Li, professor of Sociology.

Bio/Historical Note: Image appeared in 12 March 1999 issue of OCN.

Bio/Historical Note: Dr. Peter S. Li earned a BA (University of Saskatchewan, 1971) MA (University of Hawaii, 1972), and a PhD (Northwestern University, 1975). His research areas are race and ethnicity, immigration, Chinese Canadians, and Chinese overseas. He has published over 100 academic papers and 11 books, including The Chinese in Canada (OUP, 1988, 1998), The Making of Post-War Canada (OUP, 1996) and Destination Canada (OUP, 2003). He has served as a consultant and an advisor to various federal departments, including Statistics Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and Canadian Heritage, regarding policies of immigration, multiculturalism, race relations and social statistics. During the 1994 national consultations on immigration initiated by the federal government, Dr. Li was appointed by the Minister of Immigration as co-chair of a national expert panel to develop strategies on integration of immigrants. In 2005 he was appointed by the Governor in Council, Canada, as a director (2005-2008) of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. In 2009 Dr. Li was appointed to the National Statistics Council (2009-14). He is the recipient of several prestigious awards and titles. In 2002 he received the “Outstanding Contribution Award” from the Canadian Sociology Association for his contributions to sociology in Canada. In 2011 Dr. Li was awarded an earned Doctor of Letters degree by the U of S, and in 2012, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Governor General of Canada. Dr. Li is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2015. He is professor emeritus of Sociology (2021).