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  • Team Canada 2011
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World Schools Debating Championships

Each year, the CSDF sends a team to represent Canada at the World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC). This tournament is hosted by a competing nation and is the highest level of high school debate in the world. Canada is one of the only nations to attend every WSDC since its inception, and has traditionally performed very well at the tournament.

The 2011 WSDC was held in Dundee, Scotland in August 2011. Team Canada made it to the quarter-finals before losing to tournament winner Singapore. To learn more about Team Canada 2011, click the link on the left.

The 2012 WSDC will be held in South Africa in February 2012. Team Canada 2012 will be selected in the summer of 2011, beginning with a selection tournament held Nov 28-29, 2010 at Havergal College, Toronto. For more information about the selection process, click on the link to the left.

The 2013 WSDC selection process starts in Toronto on November 28-29, 2011 after the Oxford Cup. We are now accepting applications from provincial alternates. More information and downloads are available at the Selection Process page linked to the left.

Team Canada 2012 Coaches: Elisa Frank and Josh Judah

Elisa Frank: Elisa has been coaching and judging debate at international tournaments for six years, attending Worlds as a judge in Washington in 2008, and again in Qatar in 2010. She was a trainer at the International Debate Education Association Youth Forum in Bosnia in 2010. She is a second year Law Student at the University of Calgary and has been working at Alberta Justice in the meantime as a student in Criminal Prosecutions. Elisa is currently the coordinator of the Alberta Speech and Debate Association and bilingual director of the Canadian Student Debating Federation.

Josh Judah: Josh has been coaching high school debate for more than 25 years. During that time period his teams have been very successful in both the Jr. and Sr. Divisions, recently winning three of the last four Jr National Titles as well as placing students on the Sr. National Team the last four consecutive years. He is a Trial Lawyer and is employed as a Senior Solicitor with the Halifax Regional Municipality. Josh is also the Chair of the Halifax Community Learning Network, an organization that provides free literacy and upgrading classes and tutoring for adults. In addition, he volunteers with the Halifax Refugee Clinic, where he has represented a wide variety of claimants, including the family of an Asian Opposition Leader; a South American Prosecutor, an elected official from Central America, as well as other people from around the globe who are escaping persecution. Josh has received awards for his community work from The Canadian Student Debate Federation; The Lion’s Club; The Halifax Regional Municipality; the Canadian Bar Association and, most recently, Big Brothers/Big Sisters Canada.