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Workshops & seminars

Racialized people on the front lines of environmental justice: How are racialized activists transforming environmental struggles?

University of the Streets Café, Winter/spring 2023 season


Date & time
Thursday, March 30, 2023
7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Speaker(s)

Duha Elmardi, Lourdenie Jean, Nadia Bunyan

Cost

This event is free

Where

Brick by Brick
633 Beaumont Avenue, Montreal

Our University of the Streets Café public conversations are much like any you’d have with friends or family around a dinner table, except with more people, more points of view, and slightly more structure. Conversations are hosted by a volunteer moderator who is there to welcome everyone and keep things on track. To get things started, there’s a guest, or sometimes two, who get the ball rolling by sharing their ideas, experiences and questions. After that, it's all up to the participants.

The environmental crisis affects all of us. However, both here and around the world, it harms racialized communities the most. This fact is often ignored in the work of white-dominated environmental movements. This conversation will explore links between environmental crises, (post-)colonialism, imperialism, and social and economic injustices. We will also explore inspiring initiatives led by racialized people to transform our relationship to the world, with humans and with non-humans.

Guests:

Andrea Claire McDonald is a member of Opwaaganasiniing Fist Nation who has spent most of their life learning from and communicating with our plant nation relatives. Through serving as Oshkaabewis to their mother's traditional Anishinaabe medicine practice to studying both Western and Indigenous herbalism with many teachers across Turtle Island, they are a lifelong student of the natural world. In recent years, they have been focussed on teaching resilience and empowerment through building reciprocal relationships with the plants who thrive throughout the urban landscape.

Duha Elmardi has over a decade of experience in the community and non-profit sectors as an educator, facilitator, program and project coordinator, curriculum developer and organizational development consultant. Passionate about social change, she supports initiatives such as the Sustainability Action Fund and Sustainable Concordia.

Lourdenie Jean is a multidisciplinary artist, intersectional feminist, speaker, and community worker. She is a member of the agency “On est là” and founder of L'Environnement, c'est intersectionnel. Lourdenie works on issues related to social justice, the environment, sociology and anti-oppression.

Moderator:

Nadia Bunyan is a fashion designer and co-founder of the non-profit organization, Growing A.R.C. Nadia is inspired by the connection between agriculture and clothing.

Admission is free. No reservation is required.

The conversation will take place in English and French.

The venue is accessible for those whose mobility is reduced.

Childcare is available on site. 

Check out the event on Facebook, and follow our page: facebook.com/UnivCafe.

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