Thinking with the Ocean: Twelve questions and a meditation to accompany the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

March 24, 2025

Author

Sonja Boon

“Water,” writes Dionne Brand in A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belonging, “is the first thing in my memory. The sea sounded like a thousand secrets, all whispered at the same time.”[1] What might it mean to read the ocean as whispers and secrets – as an archive? What pasts might float ashore, what new stories might be carried on the currents, what materials might be washed away, eroding into unknowable and irretrievable memories?

As Derek Walcott reminds us, “The sea is History.”[2] The ocean is a repository of human memory, both metaphorical and material. Polluted with the debris of the Atlantic slave trade and histories of indenture, as well as the muck of penal ships, refugee journeys, and other detainments, these seas are not the “timeless, unchanging, unmarked, deeply unhistoric” waters of our imagination.[3] Rather, the ocean – whose histories are shaped by imperial quests for wealth, domination and control – is unknowable. Too vast, it is overwhelming. Too mobile, it challenges desires for fixity, solidity, and control.[4] Time, here, is not linear; rather, it is relational, experienced through the interaction of different forces – terrestrial, aqueous, and lunar.

Photo from Sonja Boon. Caribbean Sea, 2015.

If the ocean is unbounded, how might this unboundedness also allow us to imagine the archives of enslavement differently: What happens when archives of containment, capture, violence, and indeed erasure, flood?[5] When stories exceed their banks? When identities rupture, surge, spill, overflow, escape?[6] Alternatively, following Carolyn Steedman, if archives are places of dreams,[7] then what might it mean to imagine lost, silenced, and forgotten dreams through oceanic swells, currents, sprays, and saltings?

Scholars and poets of the Black Atlantic figure water – here understood primarily as the Atlantic of the Middle Passage – as a site of haunting that is both life giving and life destroying. In the words of Guyanese poet Grace Nichols, “Yes, I rippling to the music / I slipping pass the ghost ships / Watching old mast turn flowering tree / Even in the heart of all this bacchanal / The Sea returns to haunt this carnival.”[8]Thinking about oceans as archives asks us to honour not only those for whom the ocean has been a grave, but also those who have journeyed across its waves, journeys that transformed people into chattel, erasing names for numbers, journeys haunted by violent erasures and unfinished dreams.[9]

Photo from Sonja Boon. Crystal Crescent Beach in Nova Scotia.

Thinking about oceans as archives asks us also to think about time in relation to memory. In the words of Janine McLeod, the sea might be imagined as “an infinite water in which everything is retained, and where all times mingle together.”[10] Oceanic time cannot be contained in an endless march forward: it cycles forward and back with the tides, washing with the waves, eroding land and memories.[11]

Oceanic archival thinking requires us to interrogate notions of boundaries and borders, the ways that water erodes shorelines, remapping territory and undermining claims to land, and to think about time and geography in relation to memory — “an infinite water in which everything is retained, and where all times mingle together.”[12] Along the shores in Suriname, for example, entire plantations have eroded, their histories – and their violences – claimed by the sea. And yet, in the process, erosion – as a form of oceanic time – has also revealed submerged truths, with lost slave cemeteries rising to the surface.

There is both a softness and a brittleness to oceanic time. Tumbling rocks soften in ocean waves; rough edges become smooth. But we also need to attend to the salting that both hardens and burns, preserves and destroys. We might consider, here, the essential role of salted, preserved fish. Salt fish was fed to the enslaved and remains an essential part of contemporary Caribbean diets, culture, and identity, but also, and simultaneously, is destructive in relation to broader questions of health. But we can also look to the material conditions of enslaved labour. In The History Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave, Mary Prince recounts her time working in the salt ponds on Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the sores, boils, and blisters that ate right down to the bone.[13]

Photo from Sonja Boon. Cape Spear, Newfoundland and Labrador.

In the haunted space-time of oceans as archives, past, present, and impossible-but-hoped-for futures collide with one another. How can we make sense of histories of ruination? How can we, following M. NourbeSe Philip, tell impossible stories that must be told?[14] But also, how can we live well in what Christina Sharpe calls the wake, a mode of reckoning and a reminder of a “past that is not yet past,”[15] in the ongoing afterlives of the transatlantic slave trade? What stories might the ocean be able to tell us, and what might we learn? What might it mean, following Alexis Pauline Gumbs, to breathe with the ocean?[16]

The work of artist and scholar Camille Turner offers one way forward. In 2019, when interviewed about an art installation that considered Newfoundland and Labrador’s imbrication in the transatlantic slave trade, she underscored the importance of understanding these pasts. “We didn’t create this history,” she said. “None of us did. We weren’t here, but it is what shaped us. By not dealing with it, we can never move on from here. We can’t really move into a future where things are equitable. So I think it’s really important to acknowledge these stories.”

This blog post draws on an essay I wrote for Daze Jefferies: Stay Here Stay How Stay (St. John’s: The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, 2024), as well as on “Thinking with Oceans,” a blog post I wrote for the Social Sciences and Humanities Ocean Research and Education (SSHORE) network (https://sshoresite.wordpress.com/2019/05/27/thinking-with-oceans/). My thanks to The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery for permission to quote from the essay.

[1] Dionne Brand, A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belonging, Toronto: Penguin Random House, 2001, 8.

[2] Derek Walcott, “The Sea is History,” in Collected Poems, 1948-1984. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 364. https://www.theparisreview.org/poetry/7020/the-sea-is-history-derek-walcott

[3] Suvendrini Perera, “Oceanic Corpo-Graphies, Refugee Bodies and the Making and Unmaking of Waters.” Feminist Review 103 (2013): 58-79, 62.

[4] See, for example, Renisa Mawani’s oceanic methodology in Across Oceans of Law (Durham: Duke University Press, 2018), which relies on currents layering over and against one another.

[5] For more on flooding and memory, see Toni Morrison, “The Site of Memory,” where she writes: “You know, they straightened out the Mississippi River in places, to make room for houses and livable acreage. Occasionally the river floods these places. ‘Floods’ is the word they use, but in fact it is not flooding; it is remembering. Remembering where it used to be. All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was” (“The site of memory.” In Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir, ed. William Zinsser, 83-102. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1995, 98-99.

[6] See, for example, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016).

[7] Carolyn Steedman, Dust: The Archive and Cultural History (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002).

[8] Grace Nichols, I Have Crossed an Ocean, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Bloodaxe Books, 2010, 103.

[9] For one powerful example of restorying the Middle Passage, see M. NourbeSe Philip, Zong!, Westeyan University Press, 2008.

[10] Janine McLeod. “Water and the Material Imagination: Reading the Sea of Memory against the Flows of Capital.” In Thinking With Water, eds. Cecilia Chen, Janine McLeod, and Astrida Neimanis, 40-60 (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013), 40.

[11] Stefanie Hessler, “Tidalectics: Imagining an Oceanic Worldview through Art and Science.” In Tidalectics: Imagining an Oceanic Worldview Through Art and Science, ed. Stefanie Hessler, 31-81 (Boston: MIT Press, 2018); Mawani, Across Oceans of Law; and McLeod. “Water and the Material Imagination.”

[12] McLeod, “Water and the Material Imagination,” 40.

[13] Mary Prince, The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave. London: F. Westley and A.H. Davis, 1831)

[14] M. NourbeSe Philip, Zong!, Wesleyan University Press, 2008.

[15] In the Wake: On Blackness and Being (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016), 13.

[16] Gumbs, Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals (Chico, CA: AK Press, 2020).

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World Water Day: Why Menstrual Justice Matters Too

March 21, 2025

Author

Emma Cowman

Every March 22, the United Nations’ World Water Day calls attention to the importance of water and access to safe water. Yet these discussions on the importance of water often ignore how in many contexts, lack of clean water is a direct form of colonial violence, including here in Canada, disproportionately impacting Indigenous communities, particularly Indigenous women, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse people. The ongoing water crisis is not just an environmental issue, but a gender justice issue. It is also an issue of menstrual justice.

The systemic neglect of water infrastructure on reserves, driven by colonial policies and environmental racism, exacerbates the barriers Indigenous menstruators face in managing their periods with dignity. As we observe World Water Day, we must acknowledge access to clean water as fundamental to ensuring menstrual and gender justice and to achieving human rights.

The Colonial Legacy of Water Injustice

The lack of clean water on many Indigenous reserves is a direct consequence of colonial policies that forcibly displaced Indigenous peoples to remote areas where clean water is inaccessible, and water infrastructure is inadequate. Historically, these waters were safe and accessible, but the harmful impacts of resource extraction, hydroelectric projects, and contamination – driven by colonial and neoliberal agendas – have rendered them unsafe. The inability to access clean water is also an issue of access to hygiene. On some reserves, the water may so contaminated that it causes severe skin conditions such as scabs, sores, or eczema from bathing in it. When water is made usable for consuming and hygiene purposes, it is often accomplished by the labour of community members, who are more than often women. As a result, securing clean water becomes a labor-intensive, unpaid, and time-consuming responsibility that is domesticated and feminized, reinforcing gendered divisions of care work.

Despite Canada’s international reputation as a water-rich nation, the federal government has stated that they have no legal duty to ensure First Nations communities have clean drinking water. This deliberate negligence leaves Indigenous menstruators – who require clean water for hygiene, comfort, and health – without the resources needed to manage their periods with dignity. The financial burdens of purchasing bottled water for hygiene, in addition to the overpriced menstrual supplies in remote areas, deepens the economic hardships and social exclusion faced by menstruators.

Menstrual Justice and Water Justice

Water and menstrual justice are inextricably linked. Without access to clean water, menstruators cannot safely use reusable menstrual products or maintain basic hygiene. The lack of clean water for Indigenous communities is a form of ongoing colonial violence that is not only affecting the hygiene of Indigenous menstruators but invariably impacts Indigenous peoples’ relationships to and with water and menstruation. And yet, as settler colonial violence works to sever Indigenous peoples’ connections to land, culture, and family, Indigenous peoples have always resisted.

This crisis extends beyond Indigenous communities. Unhoused and incarcerated menstruators also experience significant barriers to managing their periods. Public washrooms often lack free menstrual products or privacy for unhoused folk to manage their menstrual cycles with privacy. Correctional facilities frequently restrict, deny, or weaponize the distribution of menstrual supplies and access to water for incarcerated menstruators.

In a country that prides itself on gender equity, human rights, and access to clean water, the realities faced by menstruators, particularly Indigenous menstruators and unhoused or incarcerated menstruators, across Canada is unacceptable.

A Call for Anti-Colonial Action

Addressing the intertwined injustices of water and menstruation requires an anti-colonial approach. The federal government must be held accountable for its failure to provide Indigenous communities with clean water and ensure equitable water infrastructure on reserves. In addition, unhoused and incarcerated menstruators in Canada must have reliable access to clean water so that they can manage menstruation with dignity. Water is not a luxury item, and neither are menstrual supplies. Universal access to safe and clean water and menstrual supplies is essential to ensure the safety, privacy, dignity, and human rights of all menstruators.

This is a water justice, menstrual justice, and gender justice issue that demands urgent action. We must dismantle the colonial and capitalist systems that commodify essential resources, advocate for policy changes that prioritize Indigenous water sovereignty, and challenge the social stigmas that keep menstrual and water justice on the sidelines.

On this World Water Day, let us commit to recognizing water and menstrual justice as fundamental human rights. Only by addressing these interconnected crises can we create a more just and equitable Canada.

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Reflecting on a Decade of Pro-Choice Student Activism at the University of Manitoba’s Fort Garry Campus

March 07, 2025

Author

Hannah Belec

Warning: This photo essay describes the use of abortion imagery and anti-choice rhetoric. All abortion imagery in the featured photos has been covered.

Epigraphs

“My or your freedom should not infringe on someone else’s freedom.”

– Kemlin Nembhard, Executive Director of the Women’s Health Clinic at “My Body, My Choice, Our Struggle: A Conversation on Reproductive Justice.”

“If you cannot control your own body, you cannot control your life.”

– Linda Taylor, Founding Board Member of the Women’s Health Clinic at “My Body, My Choice, Our Struggle: A Conversation on Reproductive Justice.”

Introduction

In honour of International Women’s Day, this photo essay highlights and commends University of Manitoba (UM) students who have, for more than a decade, counterprotested and launched initiatives against anti-choice groups on UM’s Fort Garry Campus (FGC). These students have challenged harmful anti-choice narratives and imagery, advocated for a safer campus, and pushed for improved access to reproductive education and healthcare. They have strived to ensure that fellow UM students can make informed choices about their bodies.

However, this photo essay reveals that, unlike UM students, UM administration has remained passive in addressing anti-choice groups on UM’s FGC. UM administration must act against anti-choice groups and establish policies, such as enforcing an abortion protest buffer zone, to create a safe and supportive campus environment for all UM students.

Photo by Fraser Nelund and article by Quinn Richert. Abortion debate front and centre at the U of M: Student group compares abortion with graphic genocide imagery. The Manitoban. October 2, 2013. Available at: https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/manitoban2oct2013.

At the start of the 2013-2014 academic year, the anti-choice student group UM Students for a Culture of Life (UMSCL), with permission from UM administration, set up a graphic display that equated the Holocaust and Rwandan Genocide with abortion. In response, a group of UM students staged a counterprotest to challenge the display’s dangerous and misleading messaging.

Andrew Woolford, a UM Professor of Sociology, and Genocide Scholar, spoke in solidarity with the student counter-protesters. Speaking to The Manitoban, he criticized the display stating, “it does little to foster intelligent debate when everyone who supports [the] right to choose is placed in the position of being a genocide denier or genocidaire.”

Photo by Chantal Zdan and article by Diana Ubokudom. Pro-life student group workshop met with protest: Students express disapproval of University of Manitoba Students for a Culture of Life. The Manitoban. October 18, 2017. Available at: https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/09_2017_oct_18_web.

On October 12th, 2017, UMSCL hosted a “Pro-Life 101” workshop on the UM’s FGC to advance their pro-life agenda with attendees. However, the event was disrupted by pro-choice UM students, seen in the image above. The students distributed reproductive health pamphlets and shouted pro-choice sayings to workshop attendees.

One of the pro-choice students, Maya Martinez, shared with The Manitoban that the “[pro-choice students] think that [UMSCL] intimidate [students] on campus who have had abortions or are looking to have abortions.”

Photo by Quincy Houdayer and article by Shaden Abusaleh. Anti-abortion group asked to leave Fort Garry campus: UMSAN-RSM holds workshop on combating “anti-choice” groups. The Manitoban. February 7, 2018. Available at: https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/22_2018_feb_7_web.

Due to the presence of UMSCL and the Canadian Coalition for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR) on UM’s FGC, the UM Student Action Network – Revolutionary Student Movement (UMSAN-RSM) hosted a workshop on February 1st, 2017, called “Proletarian Feminism: Combatting Anti-Choice Groups in Winnipeg.”

Elizabeth McMechan, a UMSAN-RSM member and one of the event’s organizers, said that “a lot of [anti-choice rhetoric] is inherently misogynistic and wrong and [she doesn’t] think that University of Manitoba students should be subject to that when they’re trying to be in safe space to get their education.” McMechan further explained that UMSAN-RSM was committed to limiting the presence of anti-choice groups on UM’s FGC.

Photo by Sahar Azizkhani and article by Malak Abas. Pro-life campaign sparks protest outside UC: Dispute over reproductive rights debate and its place in public spaces. The Manitoban. October 24, 2018. Available at: https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/12_2018_october_24_online_.

On October 22^nd, 2018, UM students organized a counterprotest in front of the University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU) University Centre where members of the CCBR displayed images of aborted fetuses and attempted to engage passersby in pro-life discussions.

Shannon Furness, who was involved in the counterprotest and the UM Arts Student Body Council (ASBC) Women’s Representative at the time, explained to The Manitoban that “the demographic that most get abortions is 18 to 24, so [the CCBR] are here for a reason… regardless of if [anti-choice groups] are actually directly restricting our reproductive rights – which they’re not at this point – it still can impact [one’s] right to choose… it can make them feel victimized, vulnerable, or ashamed.”

Another student who participated in the counterprotest, Elizabeth McMechan from UMSAN-RSM, stated that she believes “it’s important that the university make a statement about whether or not they’re going to support a student’s right to bodily autonomy.”

Photo by Alexander Decebal-Cuza and article by Malak Abas. UMSU, ASBC advance motions on pro-life groups: Councils will vote to oppose “coercion” by reproductive rights groups; UMSU motions support reproductive rights: Board passes amendments to position statement, safe environment policy. The Manitoban. October 31 and November 7, 2018. Available at: https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/13_2018_october_31_online_ and https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/14_2018_november_7_online_.

In response to concerns raised by UM students about the presence of the CCBR and UMSCL on UM’s FGC, UMSU’s Board of Directors approved significant amendments to UMSU’s Safe Environment Policy and Equitable Campus Position Statement on November 5th, 2018.

Motion 0428A updated the Equitable Campus Position Statement to affirm UMSU’s support for “one’s right to freedom of reproductive choice; and one’s right to be free from coercion or attempted coercion with respect to making reproductive choices.”An additional sub-clause clarified that UMSU does not support “any act of coercion or attempted coercion with respect to making reproductive choices” or “the dissemination of graphic material or information that is misleading or false as part of any event/activity or within the group/club or association.”

Motion 0428B revised the Safe Environment Policy to explicitly include “any act of coercion or attempted coercion with respect to making reproductive choices”under the definition of “discriminatory or harassing behaviours and actions.”

Concurrently, ASBC introduced a motion that aimed to prevent the display of “graphic images and the targeting of vulnerable individuals” by the CCBR, UMSCL, and other anti-choice groups in Faculty of Arts buildings.

Photo by Ebunoluwa Akinbo and article by Colton McKillop. Anti-abortion group CCBR holds rally on campus: Graphic images of aborted fetuses met with counter-protest. The Manitoban. September 14, 2022. Available at: https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/109_05_sep14_2022.

In less than 24 hours, the UMSU Women’s Centre (WC) and Justice for Women Manitoba (JWM) organized a student counterprotest in response to the CCBR’s anti-choice presence on UM’s FGC in September 2022.

Jessica Gibson, President of JWM at the time, condemned the CCBR’s use of images of aborted fetuses, calling them “triggering and retraumatizing.”

UMSU also issued a statement on Instagram, emphasizing its commitment to student well-being: As “a union meant to support our student body and protect them from harm… [UMSU] cannot sit idly by when some attempt to shame our students for making personal choices about their own lives and futures.”

Gibson urged UM administration to take more decisive action to protect students from distressing material and anti-choice demonstrations on campus, arguing that the university’s existing warning posters were insufficient.

Photo by Ebunoluwa Akinbo and article by Alicia Rose. Student groups hold pro-choice initiative: Event comes as a response to anti-abortion group presence on campus. The Manitoban. April 5, 2023. Available at: https://issuu.com/themanitoban/docs/109_28_apr05_2023.

Taking an approach beyond traditional pro-choice counterprotests, the UMSU WC, JWM, and ASBC launched an initiative to support students during anti-choice demonstrations on the UM’s FGC in late March and early April 2023.

This initiative included distributing reproductive health resources and extending the UMSU WC’s hours to provide a safe space where students could seek support and information. Designed to minimize the negative mental health impacts of direct engagement with anti-choice demonstrators, who often use graphic imagery and start inflammatory debates, this initiative prioritized student well-being while promoting informed choice.

Photo courtesy of the UMSU Women’s Centre.

On November 9^th, 2024, the UMSU WC held a counterprotest against an anti-choice group outside UMSU University Centre. This anti-choice demonstration and counterprotest came just days after the re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump, whose hand-selected Supreme Court Justices overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Since his re-election, Trump’s administration has only continued to threaten reproductive rights in the U.S., impacting many American UM students.

In conversation with Brie Willoughby, the UM student pictured above, they said they are “a firm believer that everyone has a fundamental right to control their own body and make decisions about what happens to it.”

Willoughby expressed frustration with anti-choice groups who come to UM’s FGC with “triggering and falsified images to essentially demonstrate that people don’t deserve to decide whether or not to be pregnant.”

Upon hearing that the UMSU WC was holding a counter-protest, Willoughby “immediately knew [they] had to be part of it.”

Overall, Willoughby was “incredibly heartened by how many people showed up to demonstrate, that [UM] students do not agree with [anti-choice demonstrators], and that [UM students] fiercely defend the right to decide what happens to one’s body.”

Conclusion

For over a decade, pro-choice student activists on UM’s FGC have driven change and worked to protect the well-being and reproductive autonomy of the UM student community. However, the responsibility of safeguarding the UM student community should not rest solely on students. It is time for UM administration to take action against anti-choice groups on UM’s FGC, ensuring that all students feel safe, supported, and empowered in their education and reproductive choices.

By: Hannah Belec (she/her)

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Beyond the Binary: Celebrating Trans, Non-Binary, & Gender-Expansive Folks on International Women’s Day

March 07, 2025

Author

Emma Cowman

International Women’s Day (IWD) is a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. This is a day to celebrate the resilience and accomplishments of those oppressed under patriarchal systems, while serving as a reminder of the ongoing global struggles for gender equity and justice. However, this day of celebration has historically centered on the experiences of cisgender women, often excluding or disenfranchising trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive folks, who also experience misogyny, gender-based violence, and discrimination under patriarchal systems.

With our neighbours in the U.S. outwardly attacking trans rights through policy and legislative changes, it is imperative to recognize and uplift trans folk this IWD. These legislative assaults – including restrictions on gender-affirming care, bathroom access, legal gender recognition, and the removal of gender identity from state civil rights protections – threaten the dignity and safety of trans individuals.

However, these attacks are not just a U.S. issue. Across the world, trans communities are fighting for their basic human rights in the face of state-sanctioned violence, exclusion, and systemic barriers to healthcare, education, and legal recognition. In Canada, while trans and non-binary people are recognized and protected under Canadian law, the current Conservative Party opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre has stated that he is only aware of two genders (male and female). Furthermore, provincial governments across the country are attacking trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive youth through pronoun and name laws in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and New Brunswick schools.

Trans Rights are Human Rights

At its core, the fight for gender equality is a human rights issue. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that all individuals, regardless of gender identity, are entitled to dignity, freedom, and equality. Further, international human rights law protects 2SLGBTQIA+ people from discrimination and violence. Trans people have the right to legal recognition of their gender identity, the right to change their gender in official documents, and the right to access education, employment, and healthcare.

Despite this, trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive folks experience discrimination and trans misogyny in healthcare, employment, education, and housing. They are also at a higher risk of experiencing hate-motivated violence, including physical and sexual assault.

The failure to fully recognize trans rights as human rights reinforces cycles of marginalization, violence, and state-sanctioned discrimination. When governments pass laws that restrict gender-affirming care, erase legal gender recognition, or criminalize trans existence, they are not just enacting policy – but they are violating the basic human dignity and rights of trans individuals. These actions send a dangerous message that trans lives are disposable, further legitimizing social stigma and violence against trans communities.

By affirming that trans rights are human rights, we acknowledge that true gender equality cannot be achieved without the full inclusion, protection, and empowerment of trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive individuals. Human rights belong to everyone – not just those who conform to rigid, binary understandings of gender. Ensuring that trans people have access to the same freedoms, opportunities, and protections as everyone else is not just an act of solidarity, but a necessary step toward building a more just and equitable world.

This International Women’s Day…

This IWD, we must honour trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive folks who have long been at the forefront of feminist, 2SLGBTQIA+, and social justice movements, even when they are being erased from these narratives. From Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera in the fight for queer and trans liberation, to contemporary leaders like Raquel Willis, Imara Jones, and Tourmaline, trans activists have been pivotal in challenging systemic oppression, advocating for bodily autonomy, and demanding gender justice for all. As we mark IWD, we must ensure that trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive individuals are not just included in the conversation but actively centered in the fight for gender justice and freedom from patriarchal oppression.

International Women’s Day is a call to action to dismantle the oppressive structures that harm all women – cis and trans alike – alongside trans men, non-binary, and gender-expansive individuals. This IWD must be a day that centers and celebrates the resilience, contributions, and struggles of trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive people worldwide. At the same time, we emphasize the need for continued advocacy to challenge the rising gender essentialist rhetoric and legislation. By recognizing the intersections of gender oppression, we strengthen the collective fight for liberation, autonomy, and justice for all.

By: Emma Cowman (she/they)

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The Conversation: Living to tell the story: Lawsuit accuses ER doctor of anti-Indigenous racism

February 14, 2025

Author

Adele Perry

By: Mary Jane Logan McCallum and Adele Perry

As written in The Conversation Canada

On Jan. 15, 2023, Justin Flett arrived at the emergency room at St. Anthony’s Hospital, in The Pas, Manitoba.

According to Flett’s statement of claim, submitted to the Court of King’s Bench of Manitoba in December and as reported by CBC News and APTN, he told the triage nurse he was experiencing distressing abdominal pain.

Justin Flett, far right, has accused a Manitoba ER doctor of anti-Indigenous racism. Flett is shown at a news conference in Winnipeg with Assembly of First Nations Manitoba Regional Chief Willie Moore, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs acting Grand Chief Betsy Kennedy and Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Brittany Hobson

Flett was assigned a triage score of five, which is intended for non-urgent low-priority cases. The statement of claim alleges that the physician who finally saw Flett insinuated that he was hungover, saying something to the effect of: “I don’t know what to tell you, we don’t treat you here for hangovers.” Flett was not given diagnostic tests, imaging, a physical examination or pain medication.

To read the full story, visit The Conversation Canada.

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My Body, My Choice, Our Struggle

January 30, 2025

Author

Kyra Campbell

My Body, My Choice, Our Struggle 1 Page Primer_Campbell Download

From The Manitoban:

Smythe, Pamela. Pro-Choicers Swarm Metro. The Manitoban. Oct. 18, 1989. Vol. 77, Issue 10, Page 1. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10719/1449180

Rose, Alicia. Student groups hold pro-choice initiative: Event comes as a response to anti-abortion group presence on campus. The Manitoban, April 4, 2023. Available at: https://themanitoban.com/2023/04/student-groups-hold-pro-choice-initiative/45085/

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Dr. Andrew Woolford on challenging residential school minimization and misrepresentation

January 23, 2025

Author

CHRR at the University of Manitoba

CHRR Research Affiliate Dr. Andrew Woolford published an op-ed in the Winnipeg Free Press (January 23, 2025) challenging residential school minimization and misrepresentation.

Genocide, originally defined near the end of the Second World War in 1944 by Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin is “a co-ordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.” Woolford, like a number of scholars, contends that Residential Schools meet the criteria for the United Nations Genocide Convention. The Indian Residential School System acted as an effort to “denigrate and remove groups perceived as obstacles to land settlement, resource extraction, and national consolidation.”

Woolford is a genocide scholar and Professor in Sociology and Criminology at the University of Manitoba.

Read Dr. Woolford’s article in the Winnipeg Free Press titled “Column misrepresented Sinclair’s position” at: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2025/01/22/column-misrepresented-sinclairs-position

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Statement on Justin Flett’s Lawsuit and Anti-Indigenous Racism in Manitoba’s Healthcare System

January 15, 2025

Author

Adele Perry

Crossposted with the Manitoba Indigenous Tuberculosis History Project (MITHP)

Anti-racism researchers support Justin Flett seeking justice for case of callous negligence in which denied and delayed healthcare caused bodily harm and long-term complications

On the night of 14 January 2023, Justin Flett, 44, was experiencing symptoms of appendicitis and early the next morning sought care at St. Anthony’s Hospital, the Pas Emergency Room. Over the next 37 hours, Flett’s condition worsened while staff of the Northern and Winnipeg Regional Health Authorities failed to prioritize, assess, relieve, and treat him as having a serious medical condition assuming, despite evidence to the contrary, that Flett was hungover. Flett undertook a harrowing trip from the Pas to Winnipeg to seek alternative medical care, lying in pain on the floor at the back of a bus because it hurt too much to sit or stand. Even in Winnipeg, however, delays in care and hospital transfer meant that when he was finally treated, his appendix had burst, and infection had spread, causing a surgical intervention that has left him with a range of complications.

Healthcare was denied and delayed by staff who consistently refused to see Justin Flett as a person in medical distress needing and deserving of treatment. Much like Brian Sinclair, the Anishinaabe resident of Winnipeg who died in 2008 after being ignored for 34 hours at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre, staff assumed Flett was intoxicated, hungover, and homeless. For both, these racist assumptions led to cruel and substandard treatment. Flett’s main medical provider at St. Anthony’s Hospital and the Regional Health Authorities most responsible for providing care to Flett remain convinced they did nothing wrong.

All Manitobans deserve culturally safe, timely, professional, ethical and appropriate care applied with skill and diligence. For Justin Flett, care was deliberately and negligently withheld and delayed because Health Authority staff relied on racist assumptions rather than their own policies and procedures regarding patient triage and care.

We thank and support Justin Flett and his family who have taken on the costly, lengthy, and difficult work of documenting his experience and its impacts on his life and seeking the enforcement of laws that protect citizens from such grievous breaches of duty. In documenting indifference, confronting individuals and systems, and challenging deeply ingrained biases, Flett is advocating for and honouring all who have experienced anti-Indigenous racism in healthcare, and he is courageously holding the Manitoban health care system accountable.

Contact Info:

Mary Jane McCallum, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous People, History and Archives, Professor, Department of History and Director, Manitoba Indigenous Tuberculosis History Project,University of Winnipeg – m.mccallum@uwinnipeg.ca

Josée G. Lavoie, Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba – josee.lavoie@umanitoba.ca

Erin Millions – Manitoba Indigenous Tuberculosis History Project, Department of History, University of Winnipeg – e.millions@uwinnipeg.ca

Adele Perry, Director, Centre for Human Rights Research and Distinguished Professor, History and Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Manitoba, Adele.Perry@umanitoba.ca

Annette J. Browne, Professor & Distinguished University Scholar, School of Nursing, University of British Columbia annette.browne@ubc.ca

Christa Big Canoe, Legal Director and Emily Hill, Senior Staff Lawyer, Aboriginal Legal Services, christa.bigcanoe@als.clcj.ca and emily.hill@als.clcj.ca

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Active History: Exposing Residential School Denialism’s Transnational Network

December 16, 2024

Author

Adele Perry

By Sean Carleton, Alan Lester, Adele Perry, and Omeasoo Wahpasiw

As published on Active History: History Matters

Residential school denialism is on the rise in Canada and meaningful reconciliation is at risk.¹ After the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report in 2015, and especially since the Tk’emlúps te Secwe?pemc Nation’s 2021 announcement about the location of potential unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School and the confirmation of additional deaths at other schools across the country, many priests, pundits, and politicians across the country have engaged in what is known as residential school denialism.²

Denialists do not usually deny the residential school system’s existence, or even that it did damage. Rather, like in other cases of denialism, they employ a discourse that twists, distorts, and misrepresents basic facts about residential schooling to shake public confidence in truth and reconciliation efforts, defend guilty and culpable parties, and protect Canada’s colonial status quo.

Denialism spikes at predictable times, such as the anniversary of the Kamloops announcement (May 27) and Orange Shirt Day (marked in Canada on September 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation). Indeed, in the period leading up to and just following September 30, 2024, there were a number of concerning incidents of denialism – from the usual far-right publications promoting the “positives” of the genocidal IRS system to the spreading of conspiracy theories and disinformation by politicians and social influencers.³

In response, a number of Indigenous writers have pointed out the harms that denialism causes and stressed the need for settler Canadians to confront this dangerous phenomenon if Canada is serious about its commitment to truth and reconciliation.⁴

What is getting less attention, however, is residential school denialism’s global spread. Residential school denialism may have its origins in Canada, but it is increasingly circulating and being used around the world as part of a wider matrix of imperial apologetics – a transnational network of discourse that aims to defend the legacy of the British Empire in the metropole and former colonies.⁵

Colour lithograph map showing a Mercator projection of the world, with trade routes and the British Empire in red. — “Highways of Empire,” 1927. C.G. Holme. Victoria & Albert Museum.

To read the full article, visit Active History at: https://activehistory.ca/blog/2024/12/10/exposing-residential-school-denialisms-transnational-network/#67ab4b7b-6fae-4bfe-a80e-86bf48ea8d10.

See Niigaan Sinclair and Sean Carleton, “Residential School Denialism is on the Rise,” The Tyee, June 20, 2023, https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2023/06/20/Residential-School-Denialism-On-Rise/; Brett Forester, “Residential School Deniers, White Supremacists Biggest Barrier to Reconciliation says Murray Sinclair,” APTN, January 12, 2021, https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/residential-school-deniers-white-supremacists-biggest-barrier-to-reconciliation-says-murray-sinclair/.
Daniel Heath Justice and Sean Carleton, “Truth Before Reconciliation: 8 Ways to Identify and Confront Residential School Denialism,” The Conversation, August 5, 2021, https://theconversation.com/truth-before-reconciliation-8-ways-to-identify-and-confront-residential-school-denialism-164692; Ashley Joannou, “At Least 55 Children Died or Disappeared at Residential School Near Williams Lake, B.C.: Report,” Global News, October 12, 2024, https://globalnews.ca/news/10809465/williams-lake-residential-school-remains/; Brett Forester, “Coroner’s Probe Finds 220 Additional Deaths at Ontario Residential Schools,” December 2, 2024, https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/coroner-ontario-residential-schools-investigation-1.7396884.
See, for example, Charyl Chan, “BC Election: Conservative Candidate Under Fire Again, This Time Over Residential Schools,” Vancouver Sun, October 11, 2024, https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/bc-election-conservative-candidate-under-fire-again-this-time-over-residential-schools.
Tanya Talaga, “Canada Must Stand Against Residential School Denialism,” Globe and Mail, October 10, 2024, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-canada-must-stand-against-residential-school-denialism/; Drew Hayden Taylor, “Residential-school Denialists Are Adding Insult to Injury,” TVO Today, October 9, 2024, https://www.tvo.org/article/opinion-residential-school-denialists-are-adding-insult-to-injury.
Sathnam Sanghera, “Imperial Nostalgia Has Become So Extreme,” The Guardian, June 8, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jun/08/imperial-nostalgia-has-become-so-extreme-sathnam-sanghera-on-the-conflict-surrounding-colonial-history.

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Reflections on the “Pride in Health” Conference at the University of Manitoba

November 22, 2024

Author

Lou Lamari

By: Lou Lamari, Articling Student, Robson Hall

As written for Manitoba’s Access to Justice Hub

On October 24-25, 2024, the University of Manitoba’s Queer and Trans Graduate Student Group and the Centre for Human Rights Research hosted the “Pride in Health” conference. The event brought together academics, healthcare providers and community members to examine barriers and disparities faced by 2SLGBTQ+ individuals within healthcare. Presentations highlighted issues in healthcare access, mental health, and inclusivity, stressing the need for both policy reform and community-driven support.

One presentation focused on the documented barriers that lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ) women, as well as trans and nonbinary individuals experience in Canadian healthcare. These barriers— which include dismissal, invalidation, and discrimination—significantly affect patients’ access and experiences within the system. The presentation emphasized amplifying these communities’ voices to drive systemic change, highlighting five main areas: the labor involved in accessing healthcare, barriers in primary care, sexual and reproductive health, gender-affirming and transition-related services, and mental health care. Their findings call for an inclusive healthcare system that values and centers the experiences of people belonging to this group. More information is available here.

Mental health challenges facing the 2SLGBTQ+ community was a major theme. Mental health needs are often compounded by inadequate support from healthcare providers, underscoring the need for more culturally competent practitioners. Presenters also elaborated on the intersectional nature of this experience, which is impacted by factors such as race, gender, socioeconomics, ability, Indigeneity, culture, and family of origin as examples.

To read Lou’s full blog post, visit Manitoba’s Access to Justice Hub.

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Category: Reflection

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Statement on Justin Flett’s Lawsuit and Anti-Indigenous Racism in Manitoba’s Healthcare System

Anti-racism researchers support Justin Flett seeking justice for case of callous negligence in which denied and delayed healthcare caused bodily harm and long-term complications

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Reflections on the “Pride in Health” Conference at the University of Manitoba

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Land Acknowledgement

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Epigraphs

Introduction

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Trans Rights are Human Rights

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Statement on Justin Flett’s Lawsuit and Anti-Indigenous Racism in Manitoba’s Healthcare System

Anti-racism researchers support Justin Flett seeking justice for case of callous negligence in which denied and delayed healthcare caused bodily harm and long-term complications

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Active History: Exposing Residential School Denialism’s Transnational Network

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Reflections on the “Pride in Health” Conference at the University of Manitoba

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Quick Links

Land Acknowledgement