Wellness Within welcomes Meenakshi Mannoe as keynote speaker at fifth Annual General Meeting

April 21, 2022 - Wellness Within is pleased to welcome Meenakshi Mannoe as keynote speaker at their fifth annual Annual General Meeting titled “Fighting to End Policing And Criminalization” on Thursday, April 21, 2022. Meenakshi Mannoe will share strategies for resistance based on her work which is informed by matriarch-led Indigenous sovereignty, prison abolition, and the legacy of drug user and sex worker-led resistance efforts.

“I’m deeply inspired by the connections Wellness Within is making amidst broader feminist organizing that recognizes abolishing police and prisons as integral to the fight for gender justice,” says Meenakshi Mannoe. “I am honoured to be invited to K'jipuktuk and to meet folks who inform my analysis.”

“We are grateful to Meenakshi for sharing her expertise and supporting our ongoing, collective efforts to r​​esist carceral feminist responses,” says Martha Paynter, Chair, Wellness Within. “Our work and advocacy is deeply rooted in our commitment to decarceration and defunding the police, and Meenakshi shares our understanding that policing causes harm and the solution to gender-based violence is never more policing.”

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).

Meenakshi is a racialized settler living on unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Nations, AKA Vancouver, British Columbia. She is a member of the Defund 604 Network and Vancouver Prison Justice Day Committee. Meenakshi has been working at Pivot Legal Society since 2018, and she has been the Criminalization & Policing Campaigner since 2020. 

When: Thursday, April 21, 2022 from 5pm to 7pm

Where: Zoom or in-person: The Blue Building/Wonder'neath 2482 Maynard Street, Halifax 

Register to attend at www.wellnesswithin.org

*Mask required for in-person attendance

All are welcome. Join us to learn about Wellness Within and the importance of resisting racism to improve the lives of criminalized people and trans individuals.

For further information or interview opportunities, please contact:

Martha Paynter, Chair, Wellness Within; martha.paynter@gmail.com, 902-292-7082

Grace Szucs