Solitary confinement continues in Canada, just by any other name: SIUs, Mental Health Monitoring, Medical Isolation, Dry Celling, Lockdowns.

Join groups and individuals from across the country to put a spotlight on the ongoing practice of solitary confinement. Join us for daily events, discussion, and action.

Today we will be focusing on what meaningful human contact means in the context of solitary confinement in Canada.

Our panelists include:

El Jones

El Jones is a spoken word poet, an educator, journalist, and a community activist living in African Nova Scotia. She was the fifth Poet Laureate of Halifax. In 2016, El was a recipient of the Burnley “Rocky” Jones human rights award for her community work and work in prison justice. She is a co-founder of the Black Power Hour, a live radio show with incarcerated people on CKDU that creates space for people inside to share their creative work and discuss contemporary social and political issues, and along with this work, she supports women in Nova Institution in writing and sharing their voices. El was recently named the Nancy's Chair of Women's Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University for the 2017-2019 term. Her book of spoken word poetry, Live from the Afrikan Resistance! was published by Roseway Press in 2014. El would like to pay tribute to the many nameless and unrecognized women whose work makes it possible for her to be here today.

George Myette

After overcoming his own personal struggles with the criminal justice system early in his life, George graduated from Mount Royal College in 1975 with a Diploma in Criminal Justice and helped to establish the Alberta Seventh Step Society as an agency with halfway houses in Calgary and Edmonton. He left the justice system in 1982 and went on to build a successful career in the corporate sector until his retirement in 2015. During this time, he continued to give back to his community. Mr. Myette volunteered as a provincial director for the Alberta Seventh Step Society from 1974 to 1986 and again from 1995 to 2010. He has sat on the National 7th Step board since 1998 and became its National Executive Director (Volunteer) in 2002. He has also served several terms on the executive of the National Associations Active in Criminal Justice (NAACJ) and has been active as a director since 2002. As an Indigenous Métis man, Mr. Myette’s unique insights and lived experience make him a knowledgeable advocate for criminal and social justice reform.

Idil Abdillahi is an Assistant Professor in the School of Disability Studies, and Advisor to the Dean of the Faculty of Community and Social Services at Ryerson University. As a critical interdisciplinary scholar, she has published on a wide array of topics such as: mental health, poverty, HiV/AIDS, organizational development, and several other key policy areas at the intersection of BlackLife and state interruption. Most notably, Idil’s cutting-edge research and scholarship on anti-Black Sanism has informed the current debates on fatal police shootings of Black mad-identified peoples. In 2017, her theorizing helped inform the inquest of Andrew Loku, one among the litany of Black men killed by Police Services in the Greater Toronto Area. Idil comes to this work with over 15 years of direct practice experience in the social service sector. Idil has been a frontline social worker, supervisor, clinical educator, and has also served in leadership and governance roles. Her theorizing on carceral care, and her years of work with people incarcerated across Canada, has informed her desire to challenge the sustainability of Canada’s carceral institutions. Idil is a founding member of the Black Legal Action Centre (BLAC) and currently serves as vice-chair of the board of directors. Her lengthy history as a practitioner in clinical, forensic and grassroots settings led to her being honoured with several awards and accolades for her work in mental health in Toronto. Upon transitioning to the academy in 2012, Idil was nominated as a “professor who made a mark”, and later won the prestigious Viola Desmond Award, celebrating the achievements of Black Canadian Women. Idil and Rinaldo Walcott co-published BlackLife: Post-BLM and the Struggle for Freedom in 2019 with ARP Books. She is currently working on her forthcoming book, "Blackened Madness: Medicalization, and Black Everyday Life in Canada” which will also be published by ARP press. Idil is also the newest addition to Mad Matters: A Critical Reader in Canadian Mad Studies, where she will be coediting the latest edition of the text. In 2017, along with Simon Black, Idil co-produced the documentary “It Takes A Riot: Race. Rebellion. Reform,” a film marking the 25th anniversary of the 1992 Yonge Street Uprising in Toronto. Idil is a community organizer, public intellectual and academic, unapologetically committed to the freedom, fight and joy of BlackLife in this city, province and country.

Peter Brown :After overcoming trauma as a child, 27 years of struggling with addiction, and over 12 years in prison, Peter is now giving back to his community in many ways. As a member of 7 Step Society, Peter has completely turned his life around and has become Vice President of the National 7 Step as well as the volunteer Executive Director of 7 Step Nova Scotia. While doing carpentry work he decided that he wanted something different and returned to school and graduated from a social services program. Peter has sat on many boards that are focused on addiction, mental health, and people in conflict with the law. Currently, Peter does public speaking on several platforms and works as a case manager with Direction 180 (opiate assisted treatment program).

(Moderated by) Emilie Coyle brings over 15 years of leadership and management experience in the non-profit sector to her role as Executive Director of CAEFS. Her experience in civil society has taken her from Canada’s west, to the east, and she now makes her home in Ottawa with her two children – Maia and Niko – and her partner, Adam. Emilie is passionate about the power of community and actively pursues ways to animate community-building. This includes supporting the essential on-the-groundwork of the many Elizabeth Fry Societies across the country. She has a BA in International Studies, a Master of Education, and a Juris Doctor in law. She also loves a good book and welcomes suggestions for ones to add to her ever-growing collection.

This event is pre-recorded and will go live on our YouTube channel at the event start time.

Organizing partners: Prisoner Legal Services, Schulich School of Law - Dalhousie University, the John Howard Society of Canada, and the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies.