Law Foundation Cup 2026
(BC Debate Provincials)

​​​Dear Participants, Judges, Volunteers, and Coaches,

​​

​​Congratulations on your qualification to the BC Provincial Debating

Championship, the Law Foundation Cup! ​

​

Please contact the DSABC President (dsabcpresident@gmail.com) and 

DSABC Treasurer (treasurer@bcdebate.ca) for any

inquiries about the LFC. 

Event Information:
Venue: Crofton House School, 3200 W41st Avenue, Vancouver, BC

​​​

Date: Friday, February 27, 2026 to Saturday, February 28, 2026 

​​​​

For schools coming from outside of the Lower Mainland

​Schools from outside of the Lower Mainland are responsible for making their own arrangements to Vancouver.

The hotel booking is at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre on Burrard Street.  Please use the attached link to access the group rate.  Our hotel booking deadline is Monday, February 9, 2026. 

​

​​​Link for Group rate at Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre

​​

​​​​​​​​​​​​Students traveling from the Central Interior, Kootenays, Southern Interior and Vancouver Island will receive a travel subsidy. Information about this subsidy will be communicated to your regional coordinator. 

​​​​

Registration and Fees:​

• Registration fee per team: $130 ($65/debater) 

• Non-judging observers: $60

• There are no fees for judges. 

​​

If finances are a barrier to your attendance at this event, you are welcome to request further financial support here (one form per student). 

​​

Submit payments here. Payment is due on February 18, one week after the registration deadline. 

​

Registration Links

• Team and Judge Registration (one per school): here (due: February 11, 2026). Please make a copy of the following spreadsheets before filling out the form: 

  • Team Registration Template​

  • Judge Registration Template

• Independent Judges: here (due: February 12, 2026). 

• Observers: here (due: February 12, 2026. Payment due February 18). 

By registering, all tournament attendees agree to abide by DSABC policies, bylaws, and code of ethics. 

​​

Judging Expectations:

• All schools in the Lower Mainland are expected to provide one judge per team. For all other teams, this requirement is reduced to one judge per two teams, rounded up. 

  • Grade 12 students with significant debate experience may act as judges in the junior category.

• At least one judge or the chaperone in every school's delegation (but preferably all of them) must have a recent clear criminal record check. The DSABC has the ability to facilitate this online, provided we are given sufficient notice to submit the request. 

• Judges must be fluent in English and comfortable with following fast-paced speeches using high-level vocabulary.

• Delegations failing to provide appropriate judges without first alerting the tournament organizer may be subject to disqualification, prohibition from advancement to Nationals, or other appropriate sanctions.

​​

Tournament Format:

• Senior Debaters (Grades 10, 11, 12)

  • 2 rounds of unbracketed prepared debate in Cross-Examination Style 

  • 3 rounds of bracketed impromptu debate in Canadian National Debate Format

  • Impromptu Senior Final in CNDF for the top 2 teams

• Junior Debaters (Grades 6, 7, 8, 9)

  • 2 rounds of unbracketed prepared debate in Cross-Examination Style 

  • 3 rounds of bracketed impromptu debate in Canadian National Debate Format
     

• NEW for 2026

  • Longer Cross-Examination speaking times

  • Debaters are eligible for a Novice category award if they have attended three or fewer tournaments since starting debate (excluding Regionals). There will be awards for both Senior Novices and Junior Novices ​

    • ​A tournament is any competition with two or more rounds of debate, in any format.
      This includes Pizza Debates and Speech Provincials.

​​

​

Prepared Rounds​

​

Junior: Be it resolved that (BIRT) pharmaceutical companies should be held liable for the harms caused by the widespread misuse of their drugs (e.g., over-prescription, consumer misuse).       ​

​

Senior: Be it resolved that the Canadian criminal justice system should not use a reverse onus system in bail proceedings.   

Context: In a reverse onus system, rather than the Crown demonstrating that the accused should be denied bail, the accused must show why they should be granted bail. In Canada, reverse onus currently applies for some offences, “such as in organized crime, terrorism, certain offences involving firearms and cases involving repeat violent offending” (Department of Justice, 2025).

​

​​​

Debate Information

• Students will argue both sides of the prepared motion and will be guaranteed both a different opponent each round and that they will not oppose teams from their own school.

• Once bracketing begins in round 3 there will be no protections and pairings will be based solely on win/loss record and average team score. This may result in repeat pairings and/or same-school matches.

Impromptu Rounds

• All impromptu rounds will have different topics with 30 minutes of preparation time.

• Topics will be relevant to local or national politics, current events and policy discussions, and/or prevalent social or moral issues

• We have a strict academic integrity policy, which will include no external assistance of any kind during preparation time (no use of smartphones and laptops and no contact with anyone other than your partner)

​​

Advancement and Qualification

• Students must participate in the same teams and categories as in their regionals

• Teams competing in the Junior Category are eligible for qualification to the Junior Debate Nationals

• Teams competing in the Senior Category are eligible for qualification to the Senior Debate Nationals

• Any Grade 10 student who places in the top 50th percentile of the senior category will advance to the BC Qualifiers for a chance to attend the Canadian National Team Tryouts. Remaining spots at this event will be given to juniors in ranked order until we have 24 qualifiers (8 spots are reserved from each category)

​

Chaperone Policy

• Students are required to have a chaperone at all times. 

• A chaperone can be a coach, teacher sponsor or parent/guardian who is authorized by their child’s school and is willing to take on all chaperone related responsibilities, including risk management, health, and tournament-related decisions. 

• The chaperone can also act as a judge to satisfy a team’s judging requirement. 

• Senior students are not considered chaperones. 

• All adults acting as chaperones are expected to uphold the DSABC Code of Ethics.

​​

Observer Policy

• Registered observers are permitted to watch students under their affiliation provided everyone in the room feels comfortable with this.

• Observers should not intervene in any way.

• Observers are not permitted to communicate with debaters during prep time or while rounds are taking place.

​​

Preliminary Schedule  - subject to change