|
A simple case of a prostitute charged with vagrancy in
1917 develops into a precursor of the famous Persons Case of 1929.
 Such is the Lizzie Cyr case, in which an alleged
prostitute is accused of vagrancy and transmitting a venereal disease to one
of her clients. She is found guilty and sentenced to six months of hard
labour, but in appealing her conviction, her lawyer John McKinley Cameron
decides to argue that the judge in the case, Alice Jamieson, on the basis of
her being a woman, legally should not be allowed to hold her appointment as
police magistrate.
The Cyr case, therefore, goes far beyond being merely a
lawyer’s failed defence of an alleged prostitute. Instead, through lost two
appeals, John McKinley Cameron not only failed to clear his client of
wrongdoing, but also inadvertently heralded a victory for early women’s
rights in Alberta.
|
 |
 |
Heritage Community Foundation Presents
;)
