Jamie Lee Hamilton (September 20, 1955 – December 23, 2019) was a Canadian political candidate and advocate of aboriginal people, residents of Vancouver's poverty-stricken Downtown Eastside, and sex workers.
She ran for Vancouver City Council in 1996, becoming the first transgender person to run for political office in Canada.
[5] At the time of her death, she was working on a research project at the University of British Columbia, "The Expulsion of Sex Workers from Vancouver's West End, 1975–1985", as she was one of those expelled by the court ruling.
A year later, the Vancouver Sun reported Hamilton used money from her government-funded drop-in centre to help finance her 1999 city council campaign.
At the time, Hamilton said her campaign would repay some of those expenditures which had been approved by the drop-in centre's board of directors.
[7][8] This account conflicted with the NPA board's explanation that neither her gender identity nor her work as a sex worker were factors in her suitability for candidacy.