Patricia E. Roy is the winner of the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award, Canadian Historical Association. Patricia Roy's latest book, The Oriental Question, continues her study into why British Columbians - and many Canadians from outside the province - were historically so opposed to Asian immigration. Drawing on contemporary press and government reports and individual correspondence and memoirs, Roy shows how British Columbians consolidated a "white man's province" from 1914 to 1941 by securing a virtual end to Asian immigration and placing stringent legal restrictions on Asian competition in the major industries of lumber and fishing. While its emphasis is on political action and politicians, the book also examines the popular pressure for such practices and gives some attention to the reactions of those most affected: the province's Chinese and Japanese residents. It is a critical investigation of a troubling period in Canadian history.

Patricia E. Roy is the winner of the 2013 LifetimeAchievement Award, Canadian Historical Association. Canada’s early participation in the Asia-Pacific region washindered by “contradictory impulses” shaping its approach.For over half a century, racist restrictions curtailed immigration fromJapan, even as Canadians manoeuvred for access to the fabled wealth ofthe Orient. Canada’s relations with Japan have changed profoundlysince then. In Contradictory Impulses, leading scholars drawupon the most recent archival research to examine an importantbilateral relationship that has matured in fits and starts over thepast century. As they makes clear, the two countries’ political,economic, and diplomatic interests are now more closely aligned thanever before and wrapped up in a web of reinforcing cultural and socialties. Contradictory Impulses is a comprehensive study of thesocial, political, and economic interactions between Canada and Japanfrom the late nineteenth century until today.