All about ted northe, founder of the Canadian Court System

ted northe (always written in lower case letters) is the founder of the Canadian Court System, a drag queen and gay civil right activist for over 60 years.

Before he founded the Canadian Court System in 1971, he organized one of the first gay rights protest in Canadian History in August 1958.  He and 4 friends dressed in drag, which was illegal at that time, but wore 3 articles of clothing assigned his gender at birth, which prevented him from getting arrested.  The group of 5 drag queens held simple placards with the expression “I am a human being” and made their protest on the steps of the Vancouver City Court.  They were chased away by police but the seeds of civil rights was firmly planted.  Over the next 11 years, he embarked on a letter writing campaign to every government official, in all levels of government calling for equal rights for homosexuals.  Again, remember the times.  In the 1950’s and 60’s, there was no internet or smart phones.  ted had to rely on the telephone book, friends and networks of friends to get names and addresses.  This letter writing campaign caught the attention of then-Justice Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau.  With this attention, he was able to advocate for the decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada.  Passed in May 1969, Bill C-150 gave legislative rights to all homosexuals.  Once Bill C-150 was passed, then-Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau called ted and addressing him as “your majesty”, acknowledging his contributions and the fact that he was a drag queen.

In 1964, ted attended Portland Ball and started a 50+ year relationship connecting Portland and Vancouver's gay communities.  At this Ball, Empress Mame proclaimed ted as “Empress of Canada”, a title that he held and used to start the first Canadian Court, The Dogwood Monarchist Society (DMS) in Vancouver, BC in 1971.  Through the DMS, ted created the first Community Christmas Dinner, and the first gay community disaster relief fund in Vancouver. He collaborated with business owners to develop the first Gay Businessmen's Guild and worked with the lesbian community to host the first openly gay Breast Cancer fundraiser.  ted also sponsored the first gay sports leagues (Bowling, West End Softball), the first Vancouver Pride Parade and supported the creation of the Greater Vancouver Native Culture Society for Two-spirited people. Finally, ted hosted the first three boat cruises to raise money for the BC Children’s Hospital and the Easter Seals campaign.  Since 1971, there have been 12 Courts established across Canada with 8 currently active, as of 2024.

ted has been honoured with the Canadian Red Cross Humanitarian and Distinguished Citizen Award; British Columbia Cancer Society Citizen’s Award for Fundraising; the Governor General’s Special Service Medal for Distinguished Citizen and Humanitarian’ Certificate of Special USA Congressional Recognition; the Saskatchewan Canadian Award; Rita Rhinestone Pegasus Humanitarian Award; 1st recipient of the Jose Honors Award; Key to San Francisco; Key to Portland, Citizenship Award (Bay Area Reporter); Honorary Empress of Ensenada Mexico and many others.  In 2013 he was granted the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Award in recognition of his contributions to Canada.

ted passed away in 2014.  Since then, he has had a city lane named after him and has had September 13, 2023 officially declared “ted northe Day” in Vancouver, BC.