Gray is an adjunct research professor in the Department of History at Carleton University, and holds honorary degrees from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, the University of Ottawa and Queen's University. She was awarded the UBC Medal for Canadian Biography in 2002 and the Pierre Berton Prize for distinguished achievement in popularizing and promoting Canadian history in 2003. She has won or been nominated for most of the major non-fiction awards in Canada. In 2004 she served on the jury for the prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize. In 2007, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada.