The BCCLA has announced the top three essays in its 2010 Mary McDonald Memorial Essay Contest. The award, presented annually, recognizes the top essay by a Canadian postsecondary student on a human rights or civil liberties issue. The 2010 award winners and their essays are as follows:

First – “Homelessness and Housing in Canada” Sarah Allan

Sarah’s essay explores using the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to argue for a positive legal right to basic shelter for all Canadians.

Second – “The (In)Visibility of Sex Workers: A Politics of the Flesh” Sacha Ivy

Sacha’s essay deconstructs and critiques the recent decision of the B.C. Supreme Court not to hear Sex Workers United Against Violence’s legal challenge to Canada’s prostitution laws.

Third – “Beyond Insite: Charter Protection of a Safe Smoking Facility” Jon Major

Jon’s essay examines legal protections available to a “safe smoking” facility that, modelled on Insite, would allow people addicted to illegal drugs to use in a safer, monitored and controlled environment.

“All of the essays received by the Association were top notch this year, and reflect the thoughtful approach that our award’s namesake, Mary McDonald, brought to her civil liberties advocacy,” said Robert Holmes, President of the BCCLA. “This year’s contest entries reflect the depth and breadth of discussion on pressing civil liberties issues that continues unabated at our post-secondary schools.”

All of the contest essays were reviewed by an independent panel of judges, whose time and effort in reviewing the submissions is gratefully acknowledged. Our contest judges this year were lawyer Elin Sigurdson of Vancouver law firm Arvay Finlay; former Chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, Shirley Heafey; and journalist and writer Tom Sandborn.

Read the essays >>

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Robert Holmes, President, 604-838-6856
David Eby, Executive Director, 778-865-7997