Each year, the BC Civil Liberties Association honours a Canadian who has demonstrated a substantial and long-lasting contribution to the cause of civil liberties in B.C. and Canada. This award is named after longtime BCCLA President and civil liberties activist Reg Robson. In Memoriam Reg Robson (1921-1996) I was sometimes asked in quiet asides at national meetings on civil liberties matters whether Robson Street in Vancouver was named after Reg. This tells you quite a bit about Reg. Streets are named after the builders of communities, people with the unswerving tenacity and intelligence to put their vision into effect. Reg was that sort of person. When he joined the board of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association in the mid-’60s, he took over the operation of a fledgling paper tiger and turned it into one of the main voices for civil liberties and human rights in the country. From the mid-60's to the mid-80's, he was the BCCLA's main spokesperson, lobbyist, and organizational leader. He made a hundred or more media appearances every year, met with chiefs of police, government ministers, bureaucrats, appeared before commissions, led board, executive, and finance committee meetings, took minutes, clipped newspapers, drafted correspondence. He was indefatigable. And he was effective too. During this period no progressive piece of legislation was passed in B.C. that Reg did not have a significant hand in bringing about, including the province's first Police Act, Ombudsman's Act, and Human Rights Code. When you went into a meeting with Reg, you knew that you had a meticulously prepared ally. More importantly, you also knew that you were very unlikely to lose any argument. The first sign of trouble for his opponents would come when he sat down and opened his file. His correspondence would be neatly ordered with the most recent correspondence on top. Briefs were annotated with pages flagged. Notes delineating issues for discussion would be prepared in shorthand (writing longhand wasted time and obstructed thought). His fountain pen would lie ready on a blank pad of paper. Reg would then set the agenda and discussion would flow through him. Points and counterpoints would be made. Reg would insist on a careful gathering of facts and principled, reasoned treatment of the issues. Solutions were not always found, but there was rarely any doubt as to who had the better day. His appearance could be misleading. He was short, and had the standard issue slightly soft body of a balding middle-aged academic. He greeted friend and foe alike with a warmth that seemed at odds with the tough-minded interlocutor. He was certainly not a power dresser. He'd be wearing one or other of his two blue blazers and of his two blue striped ties. But this told a consistent story. He was motivated by a deep desire to help the powerless, the persecuted, the victims of injustice. The human warmth was genuine. People were what mattered and principled argument was both their servant and liberator. The rest was mere window dressing. He was an easy person to respect even if you disagreed with him, an elusive trait in the principled and strong-willed who, therefore, do not shrink from conflict and whose ideals are often difficult to live up to. He had been prepared for his role from near childhood. He was a precocious student and activist in his native England. From the age of 10, he was involved in the cooperative (socialist) movement, becoming a committed internationalist and pacifist. By the time he had reached adulthood he had used his skills as an organizer and as a linguist to plan various international and national events. He had even been sponsored to go on lecture tours in Europe and North America to spread the creed of world peace and cooperation. When the second world war came he remained steadfast to his principles and refused military service on conscientious grounds. He was persecuted and called a coward by former friends, neighbours, and others, even though he spent the war in extremely dangerous civilian service surveying bombed buildings to determine their safety and searching for undetonated bombs. After the war, he completed an undergraduate degree at the London School of Economics. He then left for the University of Minnesota to complete a Ph.D. in sociology and began work in the U.S. as an academic. Naturally, he couldn't keep his political views or his activism in the background, and he drew the attention of Senator McCarthy's minions. He was asked to state, for the record, whether he was then or ever had been a communist. Reg's response was that it was none of their business, and he made them go away. He came to the University of British Columbia in 1959 and retired as an emeritus professor in 1986. Sometime in the 1960s he became persuaded that sociological investigation could not yield much interesting knowledge about human affairs. His academic ambitions thus punctured, it is probably fair to say that he threw the best of his formidable energies into the service of the BCCLA for the next 25 or so years. Reg worked so hard for the BCCLA that people sometimes wondered whether he had time for a personal life or to attend properly to his academic work. In fact, he was so supremely well-organized that time never seemed an object for him. His motto was "if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it." He did all the normal family things, helping out at the hockey rink, tutoring his children's studies, and so on. He built and maintained a cottage in Howe Sound. He made unusually good homemade wine. One of the high points of each year for him was to help his artist wife Monica in the preparation of handmade Christmas cards. The caring rationalist liked the limelight and had a streak of mischief in him too. In the early 1970s, the BCCLA received complaints that many businesses had policies requiring all male employees to wear short hair. Pacific Western Airlines seems to have been an especially bad offender. Reg and other BCCLA members descended upon the local PWA airport office to hand out leaflets featuring Pierre Trudeau's fashionably lengthy locks. Reg appeared on national TV asking the local PWA manager if he would hire the Prime Minister as a baggage handler. In short order, the BCCLA heard no more complaints from PWA employees. We will miss him, but his legacy and his counsels remain, and so in an important sense he is with us still, and we will continue to work together. Reg is survived by his wife Monica, his two daughters, Vanessa and Meilan, and two grandchildren, Miles and Aidan. John Russell
Judy Graves / 2008
			Judy Graves has worked with Vancouver’s street population since 1974, and in the Downtown Eastside since 1979. She coordinates the Tenant Assistance Program at City Hall, serving low-income tenants and the literally homeless. The Program has focused on literal homelessness since 1995, when declining vacancy rates, increasing land values, service cutbacks, and inadequate welfare support combined to make homelessness very visible in the streets of Vancouver. To understand the causes of homelessness, and to meet the needs of the people who live rough, Judy walks overnight in alleys, underground parking, stairwells and parks to meet the homeless “at home.” Here she wakes them and listens. This listening in the dark led to the design of the Outreach Pilot Project, which has now become a province-wide Program of BC Housing. For this Program, a person is woken where he or she sleeps at 6:00 am and is given a welfare income and a room of their own to live in the same afternoon. In one day, the person moves from absolute homelessness to permanent tenancy. The Project has housed over 2,000 people in B.C. already. The Project succeeded because the Province and City worked together to do exactly what the homeless needed and wanted - to find them stable, safe and affordable homes.
Monia & Maher Arar / 2007
			Maher Arar has become one of Canada's best known citizens, though not by choice. A father and husband with ambitions to establish a successful small business, Mr. Arar was plucked from obscurity in the fall of 2002 by U.S. border agents and rendered to Syria where he faced torture until his return to Canada a year later. Thanks to the work of Commissioner Dennis O'Connor and the Arar Inquiry, Canadians now know that Mr. Arar's experience was due to errors by the RCMP and other Canadian officials who placed excessive emphasis on national security at the expense of the civil liberties and human rights of our own citizens. In living through this experience, Mr. Arar has demonstrated extraordinary attributes of citizenship: honesty, courage, fairness, integrity, tenacity and a commitment to make sure that changes occur to prevent torture. Along this path, Mr. Arar has received the uncompromising advocacy and support of his wife Monia Mazigh. Without her efforts to free her husband, Mr. Arar may never have made it home. Together through their ordeal, Mr. Arar and Ms. Mazigh have become true Canadian heroes. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association wishes to acknowledge these two extraordinary Canadian citizens by bestowing the 2007 Reg Robson Civil Liberties Award on Maher Arar and Monia Mazigh. President and civil libertarian Reg Robson.
Dave Dickson & Ken Frail / 2006
			Without the rule of law, civil liberties are not possible. The men and women who serve in our police forces possess a unique commitment to the rule of law. In 2006, the BCCLA bestows the Reg Robson Award on two unique police officers who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the rule of law and civil liberties through their work in and on behalf of the community in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES). Dave Dickson has spent most of his career working in the DTES and was an early influence in the Missing Women’s Taskforce. He has won numerous awards including Vancouver Police Officer of the Year in 2004. Former Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell singled out Ken Frail for his compassion and commitment to his work and the people he served over his 27 year career, noting that Ken’s efforts have truly saved lives in the DTES.
Joseph Arvay / 2005
			The BCCLA is pleased to announce that the 2005 Reg Robson Civil Liberties Award goes to Joe Arvay, Q.C. Mr. Arvay has a long association with the BCCLA. He has been counsel to the BCCLA and Little Sisters for over 15 years in our ongoing battle with Canada Customs. He has appeared pro bono for the BCCLA in numerous interventions before the Supreme Court of Canada on a wide range of issues including the constitutionality of obscenity laws, marijuana possession prohibitions, Cabinet confidence privilege, and is currently counsel for the BCCLA in the Arar Inquiry. In nominating Mr. Arvay for the Canadian Bar Association's Equality and Diversity Award in 2004, an award he was granted, BCCLA Past President John Dixon wrote: "In my role as Senior Advisor to Mr. John Tait, when he was the Deputy Minister of Justice and Attorney General for Canada (1990 to 1992), and in the management of cases for the BCCLA, I have had working contact with many of the leading members of the Canadian legal culture. I can think of very few of these women and men who, while not themselves a member of an equality-seeking group, has worked more ably, tenaciously, and selflessly for the equality and diversity rights of Canadians than has Joseph Arvay."
Phillip Owen / 2003
			Mr. Owen’s public life spans over two decades. He entered municipal politics in 1978 as a Vancouver Parks Board Commissioner and became a City Councillor in 1986. In 1993, he was elected the 42nd Mayor of Vancouver, an office he held for three terms until 2002 when he retired from municipal politics. The distinguishing feature of Philip Owen’s public career for which the BCCLA wishes to pay tribute is his courageous and innovative approach to the drug problems in Vancouver. Working with local health authorities, the federal and provincial governments and with the support of a large majority of the population, he established the Four Pillars Approach to Drug Problems which integrates prevention, treatment, enforcement and harm reduction. His commitment to harm reduction in particular, the most controversial of these pillars, is most noteworthy to the BCCLA. By staying on course with these reforms, Mr. Owen has been instrumental in refocusing Vancouver’s approach to treating drug addiction as a health problem rather than merely a criminal issue. In recognition of this achievement, Mr. Owen has also received the B.C. Provincial Health Officers Award, the first non-medical professional to receive this award. For his commitment to changing public policy in an area of ongoing concern to civil libertarians, Philip Owen is deserving of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association’s highest award in our 40th year.
Ron Churchill / 2002
			The Reg Robson award for 2001 goes to Ron Churchill. Mr. Churchill’s victory against TransLink has that David-slays-Goliath quality. In the fall of 2000, Mr. Churchill, an accountant, was a campaign manager for an Alliance Party candidate. Distributing campaign literature at a local SkyTrain station, Mr. Churchill and others were ordered to leave the SkyTrain property by SkyTrain security, who cited TransLink’s safety rule that prohibited anyone from distributing pamphlets or leaflets on their property. Mr. Churchill sought the assistance of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and together we pressured TransLink to change this rule. In the meantime, Mr. Churchill went to court to argue that the safety rule violated Canadians’ right to freedom of expression. To its credit, or perhaps fearing a loss in the impending lawsuit, TransLink changed its policy to permit not only election campaigning, but also all other forms of non-commercial expression on their property, as long as it does not occur in fare-paid zones or interfere with the use of the system. Remarkably, Mr. Churchill represented himself in court and won a significant Charter victory. For his determination and willingness to stand up for his and all British Columbians’ freedom, Mr. Churchill is a deserving winner of this year’s Reg Robson award and an inspiration for us all.
Kim Bolan / 2001
			Usually, when we think of journalists who put their life on the line, we assume they work in some far away country ruled by a despotic regime. Not so with Kim Bolan, a journalist who writes for the Vancouver Sun. Her writing, especially her reporting on the local Sikh community, has led to repeated death threats. Her coverage has included the assassination of Tara Singh Hayer, a past Reg Robson Award winner, the controversy over an independent school run by Sikh fundamentalists, and the Air India bombing investigation. She has traveled to El Salvador, Guatemala, Afghanistan and northern India in her work with the Sun. Defying threats to her safety and life, Kim has continued to report on controversial local issues involving the Sikh community. She has won numerous awards, including the inaugural Press Freedom Award from the National Press Club, and the Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation. The BCCLA wishes to salute Kim’s continued and fearless commitment to freedom of expression in B.C. with the Reg Robson Annual Civil Liberties Award for 2000.
Gil Puder / 2000
			Gil Puder was a veteran Vancouver police officer who truly believed that policingis an honourable profession. Though a “good cop” with a sterling 17-year service record as a patrol officer, Emergency Response Team member and use of force expert, Gil viewed his professional duties as subordinate to his responsibilities as a human being, a parent and a Canadian citizen. He came to believe that the American style “War on Drugs” has been not only an abject and expensive failure in Canada, but as well damaging to the larger community and to the profession of policing itself. Gil spoke from experience, having been a member of the drug squad, having had to kill an addicted bank robber, and having a friend, Sgt. Larry Young, killed by a cocaine dealer in a drug raid gone wrong. Gil expressed these views in a much-discussed article in the Vancouver Sun. He was then invited to present his views at an international forum on drug use, and prepared a paper entitled, “Recovering our Honour: Why Policing Must Reject the War on Drugs.” The paper contains a powerful account of the harm that drug enforcement has had on policing. Among his comments were: n given the entrenched police culture that rewards arrests rather than community satisfaction, enforcement usually involves “trophy busts” and harassment of poor, hungry people on street corners and filth-strewn alleyways n drug arrests and arrests for property crimes committed to get money to buy drugs are very easy to make, and earn officers large overtime paycheques for court time. In response, (then) Chief Constable Chambers forbad Gil from expressing his views at the conference. When the time came, Gil courageously stood up and read the paper. The BCCLA (and Gil, no doubt) was relieved that no disciplinary action followed. Information about important public policy issues is essential for a vibrant democracy, especially information about the inner workings of powerful state agencies such as the police. Gil put his career on the line to express his views on the impact of the War on Drugs on policing. These views are now a central part of the debate in the public forum, which is exactly where they deserve to be. Gil Puder recently died of cancer. He is survived by his wife Christine and two sons, Brendan and Jason.
Tara Singh Hayer / 1999
			Each year this award honours a person or persons who, in the opinion of the Board of Directors, made a substantial and long-lasting contribution to the cause of civil liberties in B.C. and in Canada. On November 17th of last year, Tara Singh Hayer was assassinated in his garage as he transferred himself from his van to a wheelchair. Hayer was a publisher with something to say, and he wielded his Surrey newspaper — the Indo-Canadian Times — as a strong voice for political moderation and nonviolence among Sikhs. A strident voice, some might say, since he was most definitely not “politically correct” or modest or gentle in his journalistic campaign against Sikh violence. He was a passionate, outspoken, and tenacious journalist who sank his teeth deeply into his stories. He was very aware of the danger he ran in doing this — particularly after a series of assassination attempts had left him disabled and in constant pain — but ultimately fatalistic about his chances of survival. And, it might be said, of the relative importance of survival. He once said that it is a journalist’s job to tell the truth, no matter how many people do not wish to read it. It is hard to beat that pronouncement for straightforward sanity and integrity, and it would also be difficult to craft a better formulation of the civil libertarian’s often unpopular role. But Hayer did not die as a martyr for the idea or right of freedom of expression, any more than Gandhi himself died for that fundamental civil liberty. He died, as Gandhi died, for what he actually said and taught: that the deadly reflex of violence must be replaced with the habit of reasoning together. It falls to less heroic types, such as civil libertarians, to draw out the full implications of that lesson, and to work toward its realization in our politics and laws. There can be no reasoning together without speech, and speech about public concerns that really matter is bound to cause hurt or offense. Violent and repressive reaction in the face of such pain is commonplace, and creates a demoralizing cycle. A free civil society cannot long exist when only popularity or indifference can shield a speaker from punishment for what he says. Tara Singh Hayer lived and continued his work in the face of such a threat. We are pleased to make him the recipient of the Third Annual Reg Robson Civil Liberties Award.
Murray Warren & Peter Cook / 1998
			Murray and Peter are members of the Gay and Lesbian Educators of B.C. (GALE), a group dedicated to providing a safe and welcoming atmosphere for gays and lesbians in B.C.'s public schools. In April of last year, another member of GALE asked the Surrey School Trustees for approval to use in his classroom three books which depicted families with same-sex parents. The Trustees not only refused to approve this request, they passed a motion banning any resources recommended by GALE. It was clear from the start that important equality and freedom of speech issues were raised by this decision, and it cried out for a legal challenge. The problem was who would challenge it and with what money. The BCCLA considered the idea, but since we were not directly affected by the decision we were not an appropriate plaintiff, and anyway we didn't have the money. GALE could not be a plaintiff because it is not a registered society in B.C. Since neither Murray nor Peter teach nor reside in Surrey, they too were ruled out, although even at this early stage they agreed to commit $5,000 to the case from their own pockets. They approached Joe Arvay (the BCCLA's lawyer in the little Sister's case), who agreed to take on the case provided Murray and Peter would commit to raising funds and arranging for appropriate plaintiffs.ver the summer and throughout the fall, hardly a public event in B.C. connected with the gay and lesbian community or education went by at which Peter and Murray were not present: handing out pamphlets and selling buttons and T-shirts (paid for out of their pickets), talking up the case, and urging concerned Surrey teachers, parents and students to consider joining the lawsuit. They approached the BCCLA for help in publicizing the case and fund raising, which we were happy to give. With support from teachers' locals, they spent enormous energy lobbying the B.C. Teachers' Federation, which ultimately agreed to make a substantial donation. They held press conferences and appeared on talk shows. In short, their dedication to making this lawsuit happen took over their lives. This case has important implications for the equality of gays and lesbians and for the quality of education here in B.C., And across Canada. It wouldn't have happened without the commitment and energy of Murray Warren and Peter Cook. The BCCLA is pleased that they have agreed to accept this award.
Janine Fuller / 1997
			We are very pleased to announce that Janine Fuller is the recipient of the first "Robson." Ms. Fuller is the manager of Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium, Vancouver's West End gay and lesbian bookstore. She started work there in 1990, just when Little Sister's and the BCCLA began their now-famous joint challenge to Canada Custom's censorship of gay and lesbian books and magazines. As the lawsuit slowly wound its way through the maze of roadblocks set up by a government determined to keep the issue out of the courts, Janine took on the daunting task of raising both public consciousness about the case and the money to fund it. She travelled coast to coast in Canada and the U.S., talking about her experience as a bookseller and a reader grappling with Custom's arbitrary and homophobic censorship. She rallied Canadian and international writers, readers and booksellers to the cause, pushing and cajoling when necessary, but most often showing the way by her enthusiasm and commitment.When the case finally approached the trial date, Janine spent most of her waking hours making sure that we were prepared: contacting and arranging travel for and affidavits from witnesses across North America, putting together mounds of documents for our counsel Joe Arvay, keeping Joe up to date on the experience of Little Sister's and other bookstores with Customs, and appearing on talk shows (even on Front Page Challenge!), at fund raisers and anywhere else there was an opportunity to gain support for the lawsuit and the principles which it expressed. She became, in the eyes of many, the symbol of the fight against unfair and discriminatory treatment of lesbians and gays by Canada Customs - the fight for equality and freedom of expression. Throughout the storm of activity leading up to the trial, throughout the 42-day trial (at which she testified, and every session of which she attended), Janine radiated the quiet confidence, warmth and dedication that drew others to her, and therefore to her commitment to the principles of free expression and equality. Janine co-authored a book about the case, Restricted Entry, and edited Forbidden Passages, an anthology of excerpts from books and magazines denied entry to Canada by Customs officials. Whatever the outcome of the current appeals of the trial decision, the time has passed when the heavy-handed and homophobic action of Canada Customs towards lesbian and gay books and magazines will be seen as acceptable, or remain unchallenged. To an extent larger than most people recognize, this is due to Janine Fuller.