Plans are well underway for the Imagine – Learn/Inspire/Act Conference being held on Saturday, May 6, at the Almonte Civitan Hall. The What Now Lanark County Committee is very pleased to share the biographies of two of the speakers, Julie S. Lalonde and Tracey Lindeman. The title of their talk will be Resilience is Futile: Why we need systemic responses to systemic issues. The subtitle explains the core idea the presenters want to inspire: instead of rewarding women for their ability to endure, we should eliminate the obstacles that force them to fight so hard in the first place.
Both will draw from a wealth of personal knowledge to describe why change is needed. As a survivor of intimate partner violence and stalking, Julie experienced a traumatizing legal system. As an endometriosis sufferer who waited decades for a diagnosis and adequate treatment, Tracey endured a traumatizing health care system. Together, they will unpack the ways systems set women up to fail and they will challenge audience members to question the futility of resilience. With righteous rage and in-depth research, Tracey and Julie will encourage folks to create a just and equitable world for all women and girls.
Biographies
Julie S. Lalonde is an internationally recognized women’s rights advocate and public educator. Franco-Ontarienne from rural Northern Ontario, she is based in Ottawa. For the last 20 years, Julie has been working to improve the lives of women and girls in Canada with a focus on engaging bystanders to create communities of support. She has presented her work in six countries across four continents in two languages. Her memoir Resilience is Futile: The Life and Death and Life of Julie S. Lalonde won the 2020 Ontario Speaker’s Book Award and was named one of the best books of that year by both CBC Books and The Hill Times. Julie has won numerous awards for her advocacy work and is a recipient of the Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case.
Tracey Lindeman is a longtime freelance journalist whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, Maclean’s, The Walrus, The Globe and Mail and many other publications. BLEED: Destroying Myths and Misogyny in Endometriosis Care is her first book and is being released this month. She is from Montreal and is currently based in western Quebec. When Tracey isn’t writing or fighting with the medical system, she can often be found gardening, learning languages, trying out new arts and crafts mediums and techniques, thinking up tattoo ideas, listening to loud music or planning her next trip.
Both Julie’s and Tracey’s books will be offered for sale at the conference. Conference tickets will be $40 (includes lunch and snacks) and will be available early in April. For more information contact whatnowlanarkcounty@gmail.com.
Fern Martin
