She was awarded the C.M. (Member of the Order of Canada) on November 18, 2016 and invested on May 12, 2017 from the Canadian Governor General for her services for her role as a pioneer in women's studies in Canada and for her contributions to francophone literature reflecting the Canadian woman's experience. Through her masterful work, she has given a voice to women's experiences in Canada. As a novelist, essayist and academic, she is dedicated to advancing the status of women's studies, and has held the Chair in Women's Studies at both Concordia and Mount Saint Vincent universities. Among her influential publications, "Mother Was Not a Person" is considered the first feminist anthology of the Canadian woman's experience. As director of the journal "Virages," the only Canadian French-language literary journal outside of Quebec, she has also helped to promote the evolution of Francophone literature in Canada. She was a resident of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.