For more than 30 years, Rick Sauvé has dedicated his life to improving the recognition of prisoners as rights-bearing citizens—a life’s mission he stumbled upon while serving 17 years in prison for murder.
Sauvé is a former inmate turned internationally recognized human rights activist and will be coming to Okanagan College campuses in Kelowna and Vernon to share his compelling story in a series of upcoming free presentations.
During his time in prison, Sauvé quickly found out that as an inmate he was unable to vote.
He turned to academics in hopes of becoming more knowledgeable on human rights and prisoner issues and went on to achieve a high school standing and two degrees in criminology and psychology.
While imprisoned, Sauvé successfully challenged the Supreme Court of Canada on an inmate’s right to vote, arguing that prisoners still remain citizens in a democratic society and thereby have the right to vote.
Sauvé’s ground-breaking activist work over the past decades led him to receive the 2017 Ed McIsaac Human Rights in Corrections Award in Ottawa last December. He is the ninth person to receive the award.
Sauvé will present at the Kelowna campus on Feb. 5, 7 p.m., in the Lecture Theatre and again at the Vernon campus on Feb. 6, 7 p.m., in the Lecture Theatre. The public is invited to attend this free event.