Ecole St. Mary student was youngest member of PA Pride board
A Grade 12 student from Ecole St. Mary High School has been named a recipient of one of Canada’s most prestigious student awards.
Ava Clifford will receive up to $70,000 toward her post-secondary education through the TD Scholarships for Community Leadership. Clifford is one of only 20 students across Canada to receive this recognition and the only one from Saskatchewan.
Clifford said she was shocked to receive the scholarship.
“I was in disbelief,” she said. “Really excited. I got the e-mail saying that I had won at 6 a.m. and (I thought) ‘am I just hallucinating early in the morning?’ This is a very life-changing scholarship.”
Clifford said the scholarship is also about more than the $70,000 because it also offers networking opportunities.
“I’m part of this community now of over 600 people that are like-minded and that would be willing to help me through any stage of my life,” she said. “Another really good perk of the scholarship is that they offer paid summer internships every year you’re in university, so that also takes away stress from trying to find a job.”
Clifford, who is queer, earned the scholarship for her advocacy through Prince Albert Pride.
She said this networking will help her advocate further.
“If you’re passionate about a cause, you can ask people about it, ask people what they’re doing for it, and there’ll be other people that’ll reach out to you and be like, ‘oh yeah, I have this network for queer youth’, or ‘I’m running this feminist podcast, you should be on it’, or ‘I’m doing this protest for this cause, you should come,’” Clifford explained.
After Bill 137, or the Parent’s Bill of Rights, barred students from using their chosen names and pronouns without parental consent, Clifford decided to take action in her own right. She joined her local Pride organization and founded Teen Pride, grassroots, inclusive social club for teens.
“I was always passionate about queer rights, but it wasn’t until that bill was implemented that I realized I needed to step up and do something to help people in my community,” Clifford said.
Over the past two years, she has organized events, built safe spaces for LGBTQ2S+ youth and helped launch Teen Pride chapters in communities across the region.
“I organized it through Prince Albert Pride. I joined their board when I was 15. I became their youngest member and youth representative, and I started a subcommittee called Teen Pride, where I ran events for kids,” Clifford said.
Clifford said joining Prince Albert Pride caused them to change their constitution.
“I think that they were really excited about it,” she said. “Before it was in their constitution that you had to be 18 to join. But after the implementation of Bill 137, they also agreed that action needed to be taken to prove to youth that they mattered, so they changed their constitution. They allowed me to join their board and start running these events for youth.”
Clifford said that Teen Pride events remain popular, her last event had 40 people but on normal occasions there can be as many as 15 people.
“(It’s) pretty popular,” she said.
Clifford said that there are many reasons who Bill 137 should be repealed but there is one reason that stands out to her.
“I think this bill directly affects the mental health of youth,” Clifford said. “Living in a city that is conservative such as Prince Albert affects youth because if they’re living in a homophobic household, they can’t come out there and they can’t come out of school because they’ll be scared they’ll be outed and directly in danger. That affects their mental health and could potentially increase suicide rates.”
Then Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill introduced the “Parents’ Bill of Rights” in the Legislature in October 2023. At the time, Cockrill said the bill outlined a number of rights parents have to be involved in their children’s education.
“Parents should always be involved in important decisions involving their children,” Cockrill said in a press release announcing the legislation. “The Parental Inclusion and Consent policy introduced in August and now this new legislation we are introducing today will ensure that continues to be the case.”
Clifford plans to attend the University of Saskatchewan and study chemistry. Clifford said that she plans to take that in the direction of drug research.
“I’m really hoping to get into pharmaceuticals and be able to research and develop new types of medicine,” Clifford said.
Clifford said that her school is relatively accepting of her, but some parts do so more than others.
“The student body, it can be a bit hard sometimes feeling safe here just because, well, there’s a lot of negative comments related to queer youth,” she said. “I don’t always feel safe talking about that part of myself in this school environment, but the staff tends to be a lot more supportive.”
Since 1995, 620 young Canadians in their final year of high school or CEGEP have been awarded the TD Scholarships for Community Leadership. Current recipients receive up to $70,000 over four years of post-secondary education towards tuition and living expenses. Beyond financial support, the scholarship offers mentorship, work experience, and networking connections that can help recipients build on their community involvement early on.
“We are inspired by the passion, talent, and heart that these students bring to their communities,” Alicia Johnston, VP, Public Affairs for TD said in a press release. “TD is proud to champion the next generation of Canadian leaders, and we can’t wait to see what they do next.”
