Storytelling café: How do we practice activism every day?

Tamara Angeline Medford-Williams is an artist and community enthusiast of Caribbean descent. As Director of Black Community Initiatives at DAWN Canada, she dedicates herself to empowering marginalized groups. Her roles across various organizations include being a clinical educator, family caseworker, and radio host as well as part-time faculty member in Concordia’s Applied Human Sciences department. Tamara’s advocacy extends to contributing to academic journals, UN reports on racial discrimination, and leading a national feminist disability coalition. With a BA in Human Relations, a graduate degree in Youth Work, and a Master of Social Work, she is committed to providing anti-oppressive services.

Killaq Enuaraq-Strauss (She/They/Hey) is a mixed Inuk/Ashkenazi Jew from Iqaluit, Nunavut. Her mother is from Kangiqtugaapik, Nunavut and her father is from unceded Tio'tia:ke/Mooniyang (Montreal), with roots in Eastern Europe. As a creative writing student, she is focused on Inuit sovereignty through storytelling and merges traditional oral histories with contemporary genres and practices in her work as a public speaker, presenter, and activist. She has been featured in the Documentary Angry Inuk for her role in the #Sealfie Campaigns, as well as the short film Ma Culture Autochtone. They write Inuit-specific grounding meditations for Inuusiq, and have presented at COP26, Indigenous Youth Roots, and academic institutes across so-called Canada. They are currently most engaged in conversations around issues of climate change, theatre of the oppressed, accessible activism, and poetry.

Geneviève Sioui (she/her) is a member of the Wendat Nation (Wendake) and currently holds the position of coordinator, Indigenous community engagement at Concordia University where she fosters collaborations between Indigenous organizations and the university.

Her work spans program development, community engagement, research, and teaching, where she has successfully implemented strategies to improve educational outcomes and health equity for Indigenous Peoples. She co-published the Decolonial Toolbox and Dewemaagannag My Relations, resources that inspire transformative approaches to education and reconciliation.

Kristen Young is a settler from Xaymaca (Jamaica). She has lived and worked in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal for almost a decade. As a third-culture kid with a deep interest in applying the principle of sankofa to the everyday, Kristen uses her training as an archivist and her interest in collaboration, mental health, community care, and community education in the many hats she wears both professionally and personally.