Join our Symposium
Planned date and location
April 24 (closed sessions) and April 25-26, 2025 (open to registered participants)
Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) and online
The toll of Colonialism on the lives of many peoples worldwide has been shown to persist over decades and centuries. Colonization dismantles societies, engenders physical and cultural genocides, and shapes destinies across generations. Colonization, by its very nature, justifies exploitation and oppression, through dehumanization, leaving communities fractured and struggling for survival, justice, and recognition.
Acknowledging these histories and addressing injustices is paramount to fostering global justice, solidarity and promoting healing. The role of academia in breaking the silence is essential as academia must leverage its resources, research, and platforms to amplify marginalized voices, challenge oppressive systems, and contribute to the restoration of justice. This conference aims to provide a critical space where past and present colonization processes can be deconstructed allowing for a deeper understanding of the ongoing collective struggles and the paths toward dignity, liberation, and hope for a just future.
SYMPOSIUM
THEMES
-
Historical and contemporary forms colonization and their impact and intersections on contemporary power structures and inequalities.
-
Critically examining one's own positionality and privilege in addressing injustice amidst widespread atrocities.
-
By amplifying youth voices, we create space for more inclusive, transformative solutions.
-
The fight of Indigenous peoples in Canada, Palestine, and globally for sovereignty, land rights, and cultural preservation.
-
Examining the role of anger as a legitimate response to injustice and a driving force for social transformation.
-
Exploring narratives of hope and resilience in the face of oppression and violence.
-
Reflecting on the responsibilities of academic institutions and scholars in challenging silencing, advocating for human rights, and fostering inclusive spaces for dialogue and dissent.
-
Exploring the role of hope and healing for an international movement of support between colonized peoples for a just future.
-
Peace as a messy process, involving griefs and improbable encounters.
-
Examining how witnessing genocide on screens and through our families’ stories produces pain and immobility.
-
How do state actors (in)validate struggles? Who has skin in the game of liberation and how?
A Focus on Turtle Island, Palestine, and Lebanon
Central to this symposium is the genocidal settler-colonization of Palestine and Lebanon, which echoes and re-inscribes these century-long processes on Turtle Island. We are currently witnessing a contemporary repeat pattern, marked by dispossession, occupation, and structural violence. Since the Belfour Act, the experience of Palestinians resonates deeply with other colonized nations, as they continue to defend their land and resist to achieve self-determination across the region.
This symposium will emphasize the importance of creating spaces where experiences can be voiced, acknowledged, and connected with the broader global and present forms of colonization. We seek to explore how Palestinian resistance speaks to the shared hopelessness, anger, and seeds for hope in other communities impacted by colonization, enabling a collective reflection on the interconnectedness of these realities and associated struggles.
-
Abdelwahed Mekki-Berrada is a professor of anthropology at Université Laval since 2006. His research focuses on issues of refuge, immigration, emotional distress and well-being, and the anthropology of Islam.
He currently leads a SSHRC-funded participative action research project titled Voices of Anger and Hope, which explores digital and ethnographic narrative strategies used by young adults in the Maghreb, Wes Africa, Canada, and Western Europe, to express their anger and hope in a world marked by uncertainty and polarization.
-
Métis scholar and professor at Concordia University, where she directs First People Studies. She co-founded the Centre for Response-Based Practice, dedicated to supporting people recovering from violence with dignity and social justice. Her work focuses on Indigenous survivors of genocide and racism, supporting their storytelling in counselling, national inquiries, and community initiatives.
She explores stories of resistance, cultural healing, and Indigenous knowledge transmission. She also leads international collaborations with healers from across the globe to support balance, wellness, and belonging.
-
Clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). She is involved in numerous research and clinical projects at both national and international levels. Her work focuses on culture and mental health, the prevention of radicalization and violence, as well as issues related to immigration and refugee experiences.
She is also the lead organizer of the symposium Resisting Colonizations: Anger and Hope, which aims to create a space for sharing marginalized voices and stories of resistance.
-
Professor Emeritus of Medical Anthropology at the University of Montreal. He taught for over 30 years, chaired the Department of Anthropology, and founded and led the Intercultural Pediatrics at CHU Sainte-Justine. A specialist in traditional African medicine and comparative religions, he conducted research in Africa, India, and with Indigenous communities.
Author of more than 300 publications, he co-founded the journal Psychotropes, served as editor of Medical Anthropology Quarterly, and received the prestigious Léon-Gérin Award in recognition of his outstanding scientific contributions.
FEATURING
-
Following a 20 year arts career focused on listening and somatic resonance in public space, Orev turned to the work of supporting others directly. Their psychotherapy and spiritual care practice bridges spiritual and political dimensions, engaging with clients, families, sacred spaces, organizations, and social institutions in pursuit of collective care and liberation.
Orev works with people who perpetuate and experience state violence and injustice to find connection to self, ancestry, and creativity. As an active organizer with the movement for Palestine, Orev commits to actively resist colonial genocide, and to create spaces where healing, justice and accountability emerge. Currently, Orev works with Shift BC, providing team-based, trauma-informed support to people and their loved ones involved with extremist violence and hate groups. Please visit their website at: www.orevreenakatz.ca
-
Dr. Antonius is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at UQAM, where he was a full professor until his retirement in 2020. With a background in sociology and mathematics, he is an associate member of CELAT-UQAM. His research focuses on Arab minorities in Quebec, political Islam, and land water issues in Lebanon.
He recently published La conquête de la Palestine. Une guerre de cent ans (Écosociété, 2024), and "Palestinian Images, Israeli Narratives" in Canada as a Settler Colony on the Question of Palestine (2023). He has worked with development NGOs in the Arab world and has served as a consultant for the UN, UNICEF, and other international agencies.
-
Vicky Boldo is a Nehiyaw/Cree transracial adoptee from the 60’s Scoop era. A long-time advocate, she is Co-Chair of the Montreal Urban Aboriginal Community Strategy Network and sits on several boards, including the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal and the First Peoples Justice Centre.
She provides cultural support to Indigenous students at Concordia and Dawson and acts as a cultural educator in schools and the public sector. A mother of four and grandmother of five, Vicky has been on a healing journey for over 30 years and is a registered energy medicine practitioner (ANQ), dedicated to community wellness.
-
Researcher, oral history storyteller and performer rooted in Indigenous methodologies and decolonized research practices. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Sciences and Arts and has over 25 years of experience in child protection, gender-based violence, and the trafficking of children through illegal transracial/international adoptions.
She had held leadership positions in international organizations and led major child protection reforms worldwide. She has published widely on violence, adoption, and the rights of children without parental care. Co-organizer of this symposium, she brings her experience and voice to amplify stories of resistance and injustice.
The full lineup will be revealed shortly
The symposium invites proposals that engage with the dynamics of colonization across the globe, with a specific focus on the Indigenous peoples in Canada, Palestine, Lebanon and the SWANA (South-West Asia and North-Africa) region. Their ongoing suffering and their fight for justice, land, and recognition mirror the colonial violence experienced by many peoples worldwide, particularly in Africa and South-America.
The symposium will bring together voices of resistance, hope, and relationship to Land, from Turtle Island to the various SWANA lands. The gathering seeks to foster dialogues that explore pathways of resistance, solidarity, and healing. By integrating closed and open sessions including silenced and marginalized voices, participants will collectively draw strength from each other, explore strategies for decolonization, and cultivate hope in the face of seemingly insurmountable adversity.
Connecting Colonial Realities Globally
The organizing committee of this symposium is composed of:
Abdelwahed Mekki-Berrada, Catherine Kineweskwêw Richardson, Cécile Rousseau, Ghayda Hassan, Imane Ammour, Maxime Comtois, Orev Katz, and Zeina Ismail-Allouche.