Queen's Law Spirit Shines with Cancer Fundraiser

Photo by: Elle Morris

Volunteer Jailbirds, John Uhren (Law'08), Professor Corbett, Jill Daley (Law'07) and Warren Ng (Law'09), and Judge, Professor Knutsen at the Queen's Law Jail n'Bail.

The seven members of the Queen's Law Cancer Society Executive were pleasantly surprised by the amount of support shown by the students and faculty at the close of their first 'Jail n'Bail' event to raise money for Cancer Research. The event, which took place on October 23rd, 2006, lasted only an hour and a half, but produced incredible results.

"I am so thrilled," said Fazilah Hussain, Law ‘08, as she helped clean up the remnants of the day. "We knew it was going to go over well with the students because of how unique an event it is, but we had no idea that the student body would come out in such force."

The Canadian Cancer Society hosts these events all over the country, but this is the first time it had been done at the law school. The Jail n'Bail event is a community run day, where members of the community are mock arrested, placed in a mock jail cell, and given phones and pledge sheets with which to raise their 'bail'. The event at the law school was organized to run similarly to those done in the community, with the focus less on pledges and more on actual student and faculty donations.

Two volunteers from the Kingston General Hospital acted as the Mock Guards for the day, and surprised unwitting students by entering unannounced into classrooms and 'arresting' volunteer Jailbirds. One Jailbird was 'arrested' from each year: Jill Daley was the '07 representative, John Uhren was the '08 representative, and Warren Ng was the honorary Jailbird for the class of '09. Professor Stanley Corbett volunteered to be arrested on behalf of the faculty, with his colleague, Professor Erik Knutsen, acting as the Judge for the Mock Court of Justice.

The Jailbirds, wearing the requisite black and white stripes, were brought into the main forum of the law building where Knutsen, clad in black robes and a frilly white wig, read them their 'charges', much to the amusement of the crowd of spectators. Each Jailbird was cheered on as their bail was set, and once all the charges were read, the jail was mobbed by eager students hoping to set their class representative free the fastest.

The '08 Class President John Uhren, who managed to free himself close on the heels of Jill Daley, the current LSS President, laughed when asked about his experience in jail. "While getting thrown in jail is generally not considered to be a good thing," he said, "it was fun to play the role of a prisoner in order to help out the Canadian Cancer Society. [It's] a wonderful way to have fun while raising money for a very worthy cause."

As the Jail n'Bail drew to a close, it was deemed by students and faculty as an entertaining day, and an undeniable success. The Executive of Queen's Law Cancer Society was thrilled to be able to make the incredible donation of just over $1100 to the Canadian Cancer Society for Cancer Research.