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Alimatu Dimonekene MBE
Activist
Alimatu Dimonekene MBE is a high-profile British and Sierra Leonean award-winning Human Rights Activist, Child Protection and Safeguarding Expert, Keynote Speaker, FGM consultant, Philanthropist, and a mentor. She is a Equality Now and OpEd Project Public Voices Fellow on Advancing the Rights of Women and Girls.
Alimatu is a leading activist and advocate recently recognised with an MBE in the 2023 New Year’s Honours for her services to the prevention of violence against women and girls globally, also highlighting her extensive work on the elimination of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) worldwide.
She is a tireless activist who has dedicated her life’s purpose to enhancing the reproductive rights of women and girls, especially those affected by harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation\cutting, child and early forced marriage, and other forms of gender-based discrimination and exploitation.
She is the founder of A Girl At A Time (SL), a leading organization in Sierra Leone that engages, empowers, and educates young people on issues relating to gender-based violence and advocacy.
Alimatu has displayed great courage and determination in achieving her aspirations of giving women, youth, and minority groups a voice at a local, state, and international level.
She uses her powerful and inspired voice to advocate equality and inclusion and is the winner of several acclaimed award such as the Rosie McGrath for Activism, True Hero from Iranian Kurdish in Women’s Rights Organization (IKWRO) for campaigning against FGM/C and the Tropics Magazine Most Influential African in the Diaspora.
David Pitawanakwat
Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, Indigenous Justice Coordinator at Legal Assistance
David Pitawanakwat (Bii-da-wa-na-kwit) (approaching clouds) J.D.
The Indigenous Justice Coordinator at Legal Assistance of Windsor is currently teaching Indigenous history in education at the University of Windsor. David is from Wiikwemkong unceded territory located on Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron. He earned his Juris Doctorate at both the University of Windsor School of Law and the University of Detroit Mercy. He has been an active member of the Indigenous community on both sides of the Detroit River seeking to deconstruct colonial borders and advocate on Indigenous Issues.
Throughout his career as a student, David was very active in social justice leadership including working on Wayne State University’s Land Acknowledgement. In 2022 he was valedictorian of the Windsor Law Class. He is well known for being a public speaker on behalf of Indigenous issues.
He has been a passionate leader in raising awareness and calling for action concerning MMIWG2S. In October he coordinated A Sisters in Spirit vigil in Windsor on the National Day of Action for MMIWG2S. He calls on governments and non-Indigenous people to join Indigenous people in searching for justice on behalf of MMIWG2s. He asks everyone to join Indigenous people in refusing to accept government delays in responding to Indigenous demands.
Amina Abdulle
Educator, Poet, and Awareness Builder
Amina Abdulle is a Somali-born, Muslim Canadian educator, poet, and awareness builder.
Amina has been working as an educator for over twelve years and is now the Teacher Consultant of Equity -- the first ever, for the Greater Essex County District School Board. Amina is an advocate for decolonizing education and believes that education is the tool to a more fair and equitable future for all.
As a public speaker and poet, Amina has created and led many training workshops that touch on topics including dispelling the myth of the model minority, intersectionality, Islamophobia, and allyship.
Venus Olla, RP, PhD, MSc, BEng, BEd
Clinical Therapist, Educator, and Advocate
Venus Olla is a seasoned Registered Psychotherapist with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario. She holds a Ph.D. in Education and brings a wealth of expertise to the field. Specializing in trauma-informed care and EMDR therapy, Venus is dedicated to addressing the complex issues surrounding gender-based violence. She is a EMDR therapist, certified yoga and yoga nidra meditation teacher, skills which inform how she engages her clients in healing from trauma.
As a Clinical Therapist at the University of Windsor's Student Counselling Centre, Venus provides vital mental health support, particularly in cases of suicide ideation, self-harm, depression, anxiety, and racial traumas. Her therapeutic toolkit, inclusive of mindfulness, psychodynamics, and trauma-informed practices, has proven effective in guiding individuals through the healing process.
Venus' multifaceted background includes secondary school teaching, postgraduate teaching, program counseling, and a solid foundation in science and engineering. Her dedication to supporting students with diverse needs aligns seamlessly with her role as an advocate and educator.
Beyond her clinical practice, she is an ardent believer in giving back to her community. She is on the Board of Directors for Children’s First, a co-founder of impactful associations like the Black Professionals Networking Association (BPNA) and Black Staff Equity Alliance. Venus actively contributes to community well-being.
With research contributions and a commitment to advancing knowledge, Venus Olla stands as a dynamic professional poised to address the nuanced challenges of gender-based violence.
Jeanne Francis
Activist
Jeanne Francis was born and raised in Windsor Ontario and is a proud graduate of Commerce High School. After 40 years as an accounting and production worker at Ford Motor Company, Jeanne now volunteers with Street Outreach and is passionately working towards justice for her son, Chad Francis.
Nicole Bedford
Documentary Filmmaker
Nicole Bedford is a documentary filmmaker based in Ottawa, ON, unceded Algonquin Territory. Her work regularly explores themes of identity, power, and resiliency. Since launching into film in 2019, she has created and screened several short documentaries and is an alumnus of three mentorship programs (including with the DOC Institute and the National Film Board of Canada). In 2022, she completed her first feature documentary, the smallest steps, about women across generations working to end violence against women in Canada. Currently, she is working on her second documentary feature, Roots & Mesh, about four women from rural Nova Scotia who learn to build community through song.
Kathryn L. Smithen
Lawyer
Kathy is a fair, detail-oriented and fiercely loyal family lawyer. She advocates exclusively for women who are facing family law issues, including gender-based violence and sexual abuse. She is passionate about helping her clients find safety, stability and financial resources for themselves and their children through a trauma-informed approach to navigating the family law judicial system. Clients appreciate Kathy’s ability to help them understand what is happening and what to expect from the judicial system. She has experience from articling in criminal law that she uses to help her clients when they – or their children – are complainants/witnesses in their spouses’ criminal cases.
Kathy’s passion in this area of law came as a result of her personal experiences as a survivor of domestic violence over 30 years ago. She is the mother of a child who was called as a Crown witness in her father’s trial for abusing her mother when she was nine years old. She realizes from the experiences she had supporting her daughter through the process that the children of survivors have unique issues after being exposed to gender-based violence.
In addition to appearing as a complainant in a criminal case against her abuser, Kathy navigated fourteen years in the family law system, part of it as a self-represented litigant forced to face her vexatious litigant abuser in a four-week trial in the Superior Court of Justice, before and during her studies in law school.
Kathy started her career as a family lawyer at the age of 49. She studied as a mature student and single parent at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University where she earned a Juris Doctor degree in 2008. In addition to having strong oral advocacy skills, she regularly relies on her research and writing talents when advocating for her family law clients, which she honed as an undergraduate student at the former Ryerson University as a Bachelor of Journalism degree student in 2002.
Kathy works regularly with women’s shelters, legislators, media, police and other stakeholders to help keep women and their children safe both during and after they leave abusive relationships. She is involved in criminal and family law reform. She appeared in the House of Commons as a witness for the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights during the 42nd Parliament studying Bill C-75, which was proposing amendments to legislation related to intimate partner violence. She is a public speaker and writes about gender-based violence. Kathy is sought after by journalists writing about gender-based violence. She was quoted extensively in "We Are The Dead," a months’-long Maclean’s magazine investigation into intimate-partner violence, which revealed how systems, politicians and people have failed women and girls, written by the late Anne Kingston.
Kathy is the mother of an awe-inspiring, resilient 35-year-old, married daughter who earned a Masters of Teaching degree at the University of Toronto before starting a tutoring agency for elementary and high school-aged students.
At the time of this conference, Kathy is joyfully awaiting the birth of her first grandchild, a baby girl.
Kathy can be reached at kathy@smithenlaw.ca.
Teajai Travis
Poet
