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Julie S. Lalonde
Julie S. Lalonde (born June 18)[1] is a Franco-Ontarian women's rights advocate, author, and educator.[2] She has created multiple feminist organizations and education campaigns, and has offered many training sessions surrounding sexual violence, harassment, and bystander intervention.[3] Her first book, Resilience is Futile: The Life and Death and Life of Julie S. Lalonde, was published in February 2020.[4] Early life and educationJulie Lalonde was born in Sudbury, Ontario, and later moved to Ottawa, where she currently resides.[5] She attended Carleton University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts (honours) in Canadian Studies and Women's Studies in 2007, and a Master of Arts in Canadian Studies in 2013.[6] Her thesis focused on elderly women experiencing isolation and poverty in Ottawa.[2] As a student, Lalonde spent six years advocating for the creation of an on-campus sexual assault centre for Carleton University, which eventually opened in 2013.[6] CareerIn 2011, Lalonde helped establish and manage the Ontario provincial campaign, Draw the Line, which promotes public education about sexual violence, harassment, consent, and bystander intervention.[7] Around the same time, Lalonde founded the Ottawa chapter, the first in Canada, of Hollaback!, an international non-profit organization fighting to end street harassment.[2][8] Since 2013, Lalonde, as the director of Hollaback! Ottawa, has been advocating for OC Transpo to implement initiatives to reduce harassment on public transit.[9] In 2015, the “Let OC Transpo Know” campaign was implemented, encouraging transit passengers to report when they feel unsafe or experience harassment.[9] As of 2019, Lalonde has continued to have conversations with OC Transpo, pushing for further bystander intervention training and education campaigns.[10] In 2017, Lalonde, in collaboration with Montreal-based artist Ambivalently Yours, created Outside of the Shadows, a bilingual art and educational project about criminal harassment in Canada, based on her own experience of being stalked.[11] The project includes a short film posted on YouTube and a series of posters providing advice for both survivors and witnesses of stalking.[11] On September 29, 2016, Lalonde gave the keynote speech at her hometown's Take Back the Night march in Sudbury.[12] On March 11, 2020, Library and Archives Canada hosted the book launch for Lalonde's debut release, Resilience is Futile: The Life and Death and Life of Julie S. Lalonde.[13] Named one of CBC Books’ best Canadian nonfiction of 2020, Lalonde's memoir details her decade-long experience of being stalked by a former boyfriend.[14] Anti-harassment trainingIn October 2014, Lalonde was contracted to give a series of presentations about consent and sexual violence to the Royal Military College of Canada, where she said she received “incredible hostility”[15] from the cadets. She received a formal letter of apology from the commandant five months after making a complaint.[15] In February 2018, Lalonde offered training sessions about sexual harassment prevention at the NDP convention.[16] She led similar anti-harassment sessions at a Liberal Party convention with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in attendance.[16] In 2019, Lalonde ran bilingual closed-door training sessions about harassment prevention and bystander intervention in the workplace organized by the Prime Minister's Office and the Liberal Research Bureau.[16] Awards and recognitionLalonde has received several awards and recognition for both her activism and her writing.
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Information related to Julie S. Lalonde |
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