Each April, the Canadian Bar Association holds events to celebrate Law Week. This year, the CBA events include an essay contest and a public speaking competition.
The CBA events celebrate the signing of the Canadian Chart of Rights and Freedoms. This year’s theme for Law Week is “The Law: Past, Present and Future.”
Of particular interest to English teachers is the Barry Sullivan Law Cup public speaking contest, open to students in grades 11 and 12 throughout British Columbia. The Law Cup, named in memory of Barry Sullivan, honours his contributions to the legal and educational profession as well as his work in defense of the Charter.
The registration deadline for the speech contest is March 1, 2008. The contest will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 17, 2008 in the heritage courtrooms at the Vancouver Art Gallery, 750 Hornby Street in Vancouver, BC. The contest organizers strive to include geographic representation from throughout the province.
The deadline for the essay contest is also March 1, 2008. It is open to students in grades 8 – 12. Students have a strict maximum of 1,000 words, on the following topic: The Law: Past, Present and Future.
If students choose to participate in both the Law Cup and the Essay Competition, students are not permitted to use the same entry for both competitions. In other words, the entries for both competitions must be entirely different in content.
Information about last year’s provincial events can be found at www.bclawweek.org. Contact Alison Z.A. Campbell at azcampbell@van.fasken.com or Denada Deliallisi at ddeliallisi@bccba.org for more information.