Jamie Lee Hamilton (September 20, 1955 – December 23, 2019) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

political candidate and advocate of aboriginal people, residents of

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

's poverty-stricken

Downtown Eastside The Downtown Eastside (DTES) is a list of neighbourhoods in Vancouver, neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. One of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, the DTES is the site of a complex set of social issues, including disproportio ...

, and

sex workers A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry.Oxford English Dictionary, "sex worker" According to one view, sex work is vo ...

. She was an independent candidate for the publicly elected Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation in the city's 2008 municipal election, after being controversially blocked from running on the

Non-Partisan Association The Non-Partisan Association (NPA) is a municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was established by the city's business leaders in 1937 to challenge the democratic socialist British Columbia CCF, Co-operative Commonwe ...

ticket."Jamie Lee Hamilton calls Peter Ladner a "closeted Republican"
, ''

Georgia Straight ''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools, ...

'', September 2, 2008. Hamilton was a lifelong resident of the Downtown Eastside and

Strathcona, Vancouver Strathcona is the oldest residential neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Officially a part of the East Side, it is bordered by Downtown Vancouver's Chinatown neighbourhood and the False Creek inlet (across Main Street) to th ...

. She ran for

Vancouver City Council Vancouver City Council is the governing body of Vancouver, British Columbia. The council consists of a mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city ...

in 1996, becoming the first

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

person to run for political office in Canada.''Peace River Block News'' Dawson Creek, BC; 1995 December 15, page 8.

Early life

Jamie Lee Hamilton was the child of Ralph Hamilton and Alice Hamilton. Ralph was an immigrant from Washington State, with Irish roots, who championed the unity of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Ralph was also a union organizer with the Foundry Workers' Union. Alice was from the Rocky Boy Band and became a leader of the aboriginal community in Vancouver. She was a founder of the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre in 1954. She was a cannery worker and member of the

United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union The United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union was established in 1945 in British Columbia through the merger of the United Fishermen's Federal Union and the Fish, Cannery and Reduction Plant and Allied Workers Union. It represents fishermen, shor ...

(UFAWU). She was one of the Militant Mothers of Raymur who blockaded the

Burlington Northern Railway The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States–based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1995. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroad ...

tracks to demand an overpass so the children of the Raymur housing project could attend school. In 1967, Hamilton's parents co-founded the Unemployed Citizens Welfare Improvement Council (UCWIC) along with later-to-be Member of Parliament Margaret Anne Mitchell, tenants advocate Margaret Ellen Mitchell, and others. They also were among the first members of the

Downtown Eastside Residents' Association The Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA) was a non-profit society in the Downtown Eastside area of Vancouver, operating from 1973 until 2010. The association was founded by Bruce Eriksen, Libby Davies, Jean Swanson, University of Victor ...

(DERA). Hamilton attended

Lord Strathcona Elementary School The Vancouver School Board (VSB), officially the Board of Education of School District No. 39 (Vancouver), is a school district based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. A board of nine elected trustees governs this school district that s ...

Britannia Secondary School Britannia Community Secondary School is a public community secondary school located in the Grandview–Woodland neighbourhood on the east-side of Vancouver, British Columbia. The school educates its students using a district-wide block schedule p ...

, and

Capilano University Capilano University (CapU) is a teaching-focused public university based in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, located on the slopes of the North Shore Mountains, with programming that also serves the Sea-to-Sky Corridor and the Sunshi ...

. In 1968, in the Moccasin for Miles, she walked from Vancouver to

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's own life, or the world at large. As a verb, Merriam-Webster defines ''hope'' as "to expect with confid ...

. Beginning in her youth, Hamilton worked as a sex worker and became an advocate of the various communities of which she was a member. In 1970, she was the first youth to be treated in Canada for gender identity disorder. Her doctor was William Maurice of the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre.

Career

Hamilton served on the board of directors of the Greater Vancouver Native Cultural Society, which has served the aboriginal two-spirited community since 1978. Hamilton was a writer, entertainer, and guest lecturer in Women's and Gender Studies at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

and

, her alma mater. At the time of her death, she was working on a research project at the

, "The Expulsion of Sex Workers from Vancouver's West End, 1975–1985", as she was one of those expelled by the court ruling.

Controversies

In 2000, Hamilton was charged with running a bawdy house when it was revealed she allowed some sex workers to use an East End property as a brothel and safe house, charging them $15 per visit to cover expenses. A year later, the ''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the larg ...

'' reported Hamilton used money from her government-funded drop-in centre to help finance her 1999 city council campaign. At the time, Hamilton said her campaign would repay some of those expenditures which had been approved by the drop-in centre's board of directors. In August 2008, Hamilton was preparing a human rights complaint against the

, the city's governing party, after it rejected her as a parks board candidate, which she alleges was due to an advertisement she had placed on ShemaleCanada.com, an online meeting place for transgender individuals. This account conflicted with the NPA board's explanation that neither her gender identity nor her work as a sex worker were factors in her suitability for candidacy. Her complaint was supported by a number of prominent local figures, including former NPA city councillor Alan Herbert, Little Sister's founder Jim Deva, and incumbent park commissioners Loretta Woodcock and Spencer Herbert.

Death

Hamilton died at age 64 on December 23, 2019. She had been in

hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...

care in

Grandview–Woodland Grandview–Woodland, also commonly known as Grandview–Woodlands, is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to the east of the downtown area, stretching south from the shores of Burrard Inlet and encompassing portions of the popu ...

since December 9.

References

*"An Interview with Jamie Lee Hamilton" by Matt Hern, ''Crank'' journal, Vancouver, BC; 2001 September, issue number 1, pages 39–43, 65. *"Jamie Lee Hamilton: Sex Trade Worker Advocate" interview by Day Helesic, ''SubTerrain'' journal, Vancouver, BC; 2001 November, issue number 32, pages 35 to 37.

External links