The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Each year, the ATA awards gold medals to students who attain the highest general proficiency in the final two years of a B.Ed. program. The awards are administered by the student awards office affiliated with each institution and are generally awarded at convocation ceremonies in the spring.

Marie-Louise Brugeyroux Award

Marie-Louise Brugeyroux’s contribution to education in Alberta began in 1936 in a rural, one-room classroom. As a supervisor of French as a second language for the Edmonton Separate system, Brugeyroux developed the nine-year Le Français par Objectifs program. She was editor of a series of 14 French readers, La joie de lire.

This year’s Médaille d’Or Marie-Louise Brugeyroux is awarded to Lisa-Anne Sauvé, Faculté Saint-Jean, University of Alberta. Sauvé began her B.Ed. at the Université du Québec, Hull, and continued her studies at the U of A’s Faculté Saint-Jean, earning a B.Ed. in elementary education, francophone route. Sauvé is proud of her French-Canadian heritage and has always pursued her studies in French. Presently, Sauvé is teaching French immersion with Edmonton Catholic Schools.

Milton Ezra LaZerte Award

Milton Ezra LaZerte taught in Ontario and Alberta. In 1925, he Joined the U of A staff and became principal of the College of Education in 1929, and dean of the faculty of education in 1943. He served as ATA president in 1938–39, and the following year became president of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation. In 1950, he served as president of the Canadian Education Association and, in 1951, served on the Canada and U.S. Committee on Education and Canadian Education Committee on Research.

This year’s Milton Ezra Lazerte Gold Medal is awarded to Jacqueline MacDonald, University of Alberta. In 1992, MacDonald received a B.Sc. in Agriculture with distinction from the U of A and completed her after degree in education in collaboration with Blue Quills First Nations College, where she learned about Aboriginal culture and language.

Clarence Sansom Award

Clarence Sansom’s involvement in education began in the Maritimes in 1907. In 1911, he was appointed inspector of schools in the High River and Macleod Inspectorates. He subsequently became a staff member at Calgary Normal School. In 1946, he assumed duties as the director of the U of A’s Calgary branch of faculty of education. Sansom served as ATA vice-president in 1940 and as president from 1943–45.

The Clarence Sansom Gold Medal is awarded to Jamie-Dee Erin Peterson, University of Calgary. (Winning the Clarence Samson Gold Medal has special meaning for Peterson, because her grandmother was taught by Sansom in 1939–40 at the Calgary Normal School. Her grandmother remembers Sansom as a great social studies teacher with a tremendous sense of humour, who always demonstrated sincere dedication to his students.) Peterson grew up surrounded by a family of teachers—grandmother, mother, father and brother. She completed her B.A. in English at the U of C in 2001, and in 2004 she received her B.Ed. following two years of study in the intensive, hands-on Master of Teaching Program at the U of C. She is presently teaching Grades 7 and 9 language arts at Colonel Irvine Junior High School in Calgary.

William Aberhart Award

William Aberhart was elected to the Alberta legislature in 1935, where he served as premier and minister of education. He was responsible for establishing large units of school administration and sponsored the Teaching Profession Act and the Teachers’ Retirement Fund Act.

This year’s recipient of the William Aberhart Gold Medal Award is Kyla Drefs, University of Lethbridge. Information about Drefs was not available at press time.