Writing As Activism (with French translation)
The Quebec Writers‘ Federation and Muslim Awareness Week invite you to a conversation with Dr. Samir Shaheen-Hussain, the award-winning author of Fighting for A Hand to Hold: Confronting Medical Colonialism against Indigenous Children in Canada, and Indigenous Human Rights Advocate Ellen Gabriel, moderated by Ehab Lotayef.
The discussion will focus on Dr. Shaheen-Hussain’s book, for which Ellen Gabriel wrote the Afterword, on the role writing can play in social change, and what it means to be an activist writer.
We hope you will join us on January 31, 2022, at 6:00 PM.
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La Quebec Writers’ Federation et la Semaine de la sensibilisation musulmane vous invitent à une conversation avec le Dr Samir Shaheen-Hussain, l’auteur primé de Plus aucun enfant autochtone arraché: Pour en finir avec le colonialisme médical canadien, et la défenseure des droits humains autochtones Ellen Gabriel, animé par Ehab Lotayef.
La discussion portera sur le livre du Dr Shaheen-Hussain, pour lequel Ellen Gabriel a écrit la postface, sur le rôle que l’écriture peut jouer dans le changement social et sur ce que cela signifie d’être un écrivain militant.
Un service de traduction simultanée vers le français sera disponible durant le congrès.
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Samir Shaheen-Hussain has been involved in anti-authoritarian social justice movements – including Indigenous solidarity, anti-police brutality and migrant-justice organizing – for nearly two decades. He is a member of the Caring for Social Justice Collective and has written or co-written about state violence and health care for several publications (see below). Fighting for A Hand to Hold: Confronting Medical Colonialism against Indigenous Children in Canada was awarded both the Concordia University First Book Prize and the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction by the Quebec Writers’ Federation in November 2021.
Samir is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at McGill University and works as a pediatric emergency physician in Tio’tia:ke (Montreal).
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Ellen Gabriel has advocated for the collective and individual human rights of Indigenous peoples and sensitized the public on the issues and realities of Indigenous peoples since 1990. In 2004, Ellen was elected president of the Quebec Native Women’s Association, a position she held until 2010.
In 2005, Ellen received the Golden Eagle Award from the Native Women’s Association of Canada. In 2008, she received the International Women’s Day Award from the Barreau du Québec/Québec Bar Association and the Indigenous Women’s Initiative “Jigonsaseh Women of Peace Award” for her advocacy work.
Ellen advocates for gender equity, the revitalization of Indigenous languages, culture, Indigenous self-determination/governance, and traditions. She lives in Kanehsatà:ke and currently works for the Kanehsatà:ke Language and Cultural Center.