2023 Sterling Prize Ceremony and Lecture
Nicole Luongo is the 2023 recipient of the Nora and Ted Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy for her support and commitment to fighting for those who are stigmatized and marginalized for using drugs, as well as her progressive approaches to drug policy, which have drawn criticism.
Luongo is a systems change coordinator with the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC), which is in collaboration with researchers in SFU's Faculty of Health Sciences. In this role, Luongo advances education and advocacy supporting a legislative framework that would make all psychoactive drugs legal, safe, and government-regulated. Additionally, Luongo strongly advocates for the abolition of involuntary institutionalization, which is a practice that permits healthcare providers to detain and admit people to hospital against their wishes.
“We as a society need to recognize that people are different and just because someone is engaging in 'deviant’ behaviour or behaviour that looks anomalous, it’s not inherently indicative of illness,” she explains. Luongo continues, “But we’ve been trained to bifurcate people into healthy and sick categories and to respond accordingly... What I’d love to see is a world that is built to be accommodating to a diversity of experiences.”
The Sterling Prize was first awarded in 1993 and remains committed to recognizing work that provokes and contributes to the understanding of controversy, while presenting new ways of looking at the world and challenging complacency. Luongo received the prize on November 21, 2023. The award ceremony was held at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue in Vancouver and was livestreamed for the public.
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00:00-08:04: Introduction and Award gifting by Vance Williams
08:05-1:07:03: Nicole Luongo presentation
1:07:04-1:24:14: Q and A
1:24:15-1:25:23: Closing Remarks
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