Wellness Within annual 2022 conference hosts renowned experts in prison abolition, healthcare, and justice from across North America
Dr. El Jones, Dr. Lianne Yoshida among speakers to share research, insights and lived experiences
October 26, 2022 – Wellness Within is pleased to welcome more than a dozen renowned experts from across North America, including Dr. El Jones and Dr. Lianne Yoshida, to their 2022 annual conference entitled Pathways to Community Care and Collective Liberation on Wednesday, November 9, 2022. Speakers will share research findings, strategies for resistance, and insights from lived experiences with the goal of advancing reproductive health and abolishing carceral systems.
For the first time publicly in Halifax, Dr. El Jones will read from her newest work Abolitionist Intimacies during a special evening event. To celebrate and engage with this important new book, Fernwood editor Fazeela Jiwa will provide commentary and conference speakers have been invited to select and read a passage.
Full list of speakers below and session times online.
Emma Cameron, Centre for Sex and Gender Health Equity - Migrant justice as reproductive justice: Global structural violence and its impact on the sexual and reproductive health outcomes of refugee and asylum-seeking women
Dr. Alana Cattapan, University of Waterloo & Dr. Holly McKenzie, University of Saskatchewan - Child welfare, Carcerality, and Mobilizing Change in Saskatchewan
Emilie Coyle, Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) - Banning drycelling
Kristina Fifield, Avalon Sexual Assault Centre - Alternatives to police response to gender violence
Dr. Lorie Goshin, Housing Works - Housing as an alternative to incarceration
Emma Halpern, Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia - Banning drycelling
Dr. El Jones, MSVU - Reading from Abolitionist Intimacies, with special guests including Fernwood editor Fazeela Jiwa
Melissa McLetchie, York University - Families experiencing incarceration
Dr. Martha Paynter, UNB - Expanding Abortion Access through Expansion of Professional Scope
Dr. Jen Peirce, Vera Institute - Trans people in prisons across the United States
Dr. Justin Piché, University of Ottawa - COVID-19 pandemic in prisons
Paula Pinzón Hernández, Contraception and Abortion Research Team, UBC - Abortion Access for Incarcerated People
Sara Tessier, Northpine Foundation/Coverdale - Advancing Coverdale through investment
Aleemah Thompson - 11-year-old self-taught artist and 2022-2023 Junior Artist in Residence
Dr. Lianne Yoshida, NSWCC - Abortion Access in Nova Scotia: Serving the Underserved
Copies of Dr. Jones’s book will be available for purchase at the conference, as will other abolitionist titles from Fernwood. Aleemah's artwork will be featured and available for sale at The Bus Stop Theatre and online.
When & Where:
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Zoom only.
1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Zoom and in-person.
5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Cocktail/Mocktail hour, book and art signing
7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. - Dr. El Jones reading from Abolitionist Intimacies, with special guests including Fazeela Jiwa. Zoom and in-person.
In-person sessions to take place at The Bus Stop Theatre, 2203 Gottingen Street, Halifax
All are welcome. Register to attend at www.wellnesswithinns.org
$50 - Wellness Within members
$70 - Non-members (Become a member today.)
$25 - Students
$0 - Folks with lived experience of criminalization may register free of charge.
About Abolitionist Intimacies by El Jones
In this new work, El Jones examines the movement to abolish prisons through the Black feminist principles of care and collectivity. Understanding the history of prisons in Canada in their relationship to settler colonialism and anti-Black racism, Jones observes how practices of intimacy become imbued with state violence at carceral sites including prisons, policing and borders, as well as through purported care institutions such as hospitals and social work. The state also polices intimacy through mechanisms such as prison visits, strip searches and managing community contact with incarcerated people. Despite this, Jones argues, intimacy is integral to the ongoing struggles of prisoners for justice and liberation through the care work of building relationships and organizing with people inside.
About Wellness Within
Wellness Within is a registered non-profit organization working for reproductive justice, prison abolition, and health equity in K'jipuktuk, Mi'kma'ki (Halifax, Nova Scotia).
For further information or interview opportunities, please contact:
Claire Rillie, Chair, Wellness Within; crillie@gmail.com, 902-456-3807