Your ChARTer 2018 Winners

your charter 2018

A new creative arts contest, Your ChARTer invites Ontario students to submit original pieces of work that represents the core principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and what it means to them.

As an online competition, Your ChARTer is making opportunities to consider the Canadian Charter accessible to more students and classrooms across the province.

In its inaugural year, over 100 elementary and secondary school students from across Ontario participated by submitting creative art pieces in response to the theme: “How I live the Charter.”

Thank you to the lawyers who took the time to view the submissions and cast over 300 votes for the winners.

It is an honour to have the Chief Justice of Ontario, the Honourable George R. Strathy announce our winners.

See the Chief Justice of Ontario announce the winners here:

Elementary School Winners 

Secondary School Winners 

The winning entries (pictured below) will be on display at the OBA offices at 20 Toronto Street in downtown Toronto.

The OBA thanks all of the students and teachers who participated in Your ChARTer and extends congratulations to all of the 2018 winners. 

Elementary Category

First Place

First Place

“The Right to Be” by Monica, Adela, Nayan, Amaya, and Nancy

School: Zion Heights Middle School

Teacher: John Dafos

Grade: 7

View First Place Entry

Second Place

Second Place

“Path to Expression” by Anisa, Lucas, Theo, and Reese

School: Zion Heights Middle School

Teacher: John Dafos

Grade: 7

View Second Place Entry

Third Place

Third Place

“Our Deeply Rooted Society” by Simi, Jamie, Kelly, and Kenya

School: Zion Heights Middle School

Teacher: John Dafos

Grade: 8

View Third Place Entry

Secondary Category

First Place

First Place

Image By Lizmarie Correia

School: St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School

Teacher: Michael Gordon

Grade: 11

Description: As a young ethnically diverse student living in Canada, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is very important to my everyday life. The components in this Charter, especially in section 2, Fundamental Freedoms, and section 27, Multicultural Heritage, have allowed my family, friends and I to live freely and to embrace all aspects of our cultures. For this project, I chose to take a photograph at school, with a couple of my friends where we gathered around in a circle, to portray unity. In this photograph, each individual is pulling on a piece of rope, which I used to illustrate strength, resilience and power. The rope adequately symbolizes how although we all have our own cultures and ethnicities, because of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we are able to harmoniously coexist.

View First Place Entry

Second Place

Second Place

“The Charter of Rights and Freedoms” by Fabliha Awal

School: R.H. King Academy

Teacher: Dorota Mychalik

Grade: 11

Description: As a Canadian, the Charter is important to me and it is crucial to my everyday life. The Charter represents my rights and my duties as a citizen, giving me the freedom to move through my life without issue. If issues arise, the Charter is there to protect those around and myself. This visual representation demonstrates and represents Canada as a whole. Showing the gears that make it a working machine, from religious freedoms to equality rights, each and every section comes together to make Canada what is it today. The Charter allows Canadians to have support from the government and to have support from peers, knowing what is right from wrong, and how to combat issues. This representation is important to me as a Muslim female, who wears the scarf (hijab). It is important to know my rights, in the instance my rights are challenged, I know how to protect myself and how to move through the situation with the utmost knowledge and safety. I want to know how to protect my fellow Canadians if their rights are challenged and I hope they would do the same for me. The greatness of being Canadian!

View Second Place Entry

Third Place

Third Place

“Protest of Indigenous People against Canada 150” by Caleb John

School: Jean Vanier Catholic Secondary School

Teacher: Luisa Fracassi

Grade: 11

Description: For this assignment, the picture that I chose was one that I believed represented Section 2(b)(c)(d). The picture shows a protest that happened a few months ago during the 150th anniversary of Canada. It shows people of Indigenous culture who have come to protest the National Holiday as it represents to their people, a century and a half since the Genocide of their people took place. This picture shows Section 2 (b) of the Charter through how they are allowed to believe and express their opinion of what happened to their people, They also are using Section 2(c) of the Charter by coming down to the Canada 150 picnic and peacefully protesting their views, and finally, the picture represents Section 2(d) through their association with the Indigenous group in the photo. Color plays a part in this picture through how the Canadian flag almost covers the protesting people, this is to show that these topics are almost “under a blanket”, and we as Canadians just believe everything is fine and well, but we are unaware of these types of problems and situations that happen right under our noses.

View Third Place Entry