JUSTICE AS TRAUMA SUMMIT 2026 RADICAL HOPE
📍The Westin Bayshore | Vancouver BC
Day 3 | Thurday, April 9
8:30–8:30 – Breakfast
8:30–9:30 – Opening Keynote Presented by Southern Law
➜Enduring Trauma, Collective Healing: Psychiatry, Resistance, and the Path to Dignity – Dr. Samah Jabr | Stanley Park Ballroom
Dr. Samah Jabr (she/her) is a Palestinian psychiatrist, author, and advocate addressing psychological impacts of occupation and systemic violence, guiding toward dignity and resilience. Presented by Southern Law LLP, this Day 3 opening keynote explores enduring trauma, collective healing, mental health as resistance, and paths to dignity grounded in cultural wisdom. Participants gain frameworks for trauma-responsive care, solidarity across borders, and justice rooted in humanity.
9:30 – Break
9:45–10:55 – Integration Workshops
➜He Tūmanako: Grounding Radical Hope in Aotearoa’s Justice Transformation – Helen Bowen, Lance Ryan, Tere Davis, Khylee Quince & Katey Thom
Weaving Māori-led He Ture Kia Tika reform, tikanga-based Hei Tatau Pounamu restorative justice, trauma-informed lawyering addressing colonization scars via relational accountability/whānau narratives.
➜Teaching Future Leaders: Preparing a Resilient, Trauma-Informed Justice Workforce – Dr. Tegan Brierley & Natalie Saunders
Dr. Tegan Brierley-Sollis, Wrexham University Senior Lecturer in Policing/Criminology/Trauma, leads Cyfiawnder/TrACE research, created Navigating the Storm animation. Natalie Saunders, Criminology Lecturer/HEA Fellow/PhD candidate on autistic girls, champions neuroaffirming practices. They show classrooms fostering radical hope via trauma-informed/neuroaffirming pedagogy for compassionate justice systems.
➜Transforming Trauma into Collective Justice – Bernadeth Betchi
Bernadeth Betchi (she/her, MA Women/Gender Studies, PhD candidate Black maternal mental health), PMO/CHRC alum, lead plaintiff Canada's largest Black Class Action, testified Senate/UN. Co-founder Ottawa-Gatineau Black Breastfeeding Week/Village Project.
African immigrant/Black francophone/mother/artist/activist/professor illuminates Radical Hope transforming trauma to justice via storytelling/solidarity/ancestral wisdom from her Class Action experience.➜Systemic Oppression, Adult Supremacy & Disrupting Intergenerational Harm – Leslie Priscilla
Leslie Priscilla leads culturally grounded, trauma-informed intergenerational/ancestral healing rooted in children’s rights, decolonizing childcare, challenging adult supremacy/systemic oppression.
Healing-centered approaches transform communities/break trauma cycles: “Healing justice starts at home, where care, accountability, and nurturing disrupt cycles of violence.”
11:00–12:00 – Healing Workshops
➜Polynesian Practices: Healing Tools for Clearing, Restoring & Protecting Self – Moana Paulus
Polynesian Healer, Moana Paulus, supports hundreds of people a year in her private practice, as a bodyworker assisting guests at First Nations Trauma, Grief and Loss retreats with the Ligwilda‘xw Health Society and travelling with Tsow Tun Le Lum’s Cultural Support team.
Fusing techniques from Maori Romiromi (birthright) and Hawaiian Lomilomi (w. permission) lineages, Moana helps release trauma at a cellular level without retraumatization, gently reconnecting body, mind and spirit for balance. Find tips for clearing energetic residue. restoring alignment and protecting power.➜Honouring the Four Directions: A Medicine Wheel Approach to Self-Care – Ally Hrbachek
Ally Hrbachek guides self-care through Medicine Wheel practices honouring the Four Directions.
12:00–1:00 – Lunch
1:00–2:30 – Plenary
➜From Wounds to Wisdom: Intergenerational Healing and Systemic Liberation Across Families, Communities & Systems – Leslie Priscilla, Dr. Samah Jabr, Ally Hrbachek, & Roshell Amezcua, Esq. | Moderated by Myrna McCallum | Stanley Park Ballroom
Coming Soon
2:30–2:45 – Break
2:45–3:45 – Closing Keynote
➜Emotional Justice – Esther A. Armah | Stanley Park Ballroom
Esther (she/her) is the author of the critically acclaimed ‘EMOTIONAL JUSTICE: A Roadmap for Racial Healing, filmmaker, playwright, and CEO, The Armah Institute of Emotional Justice, whose keynote focuses on emotional inheritance and racial healing.She gives language to and explores the role of emotionality in the layers of systemic oppression, and builds pathways towards a sustainable healing practice. In this closing keynote, Esther explores how emotional inheritance shapes, sustains and fuels racial trauma, and how healing harm while heeding history is how we build radical hope.
Using her framework Emotional Justice, participants gain tools for emotional accountability and collective healing.
3:45–4:00 – Closing Remarks & Farewell – Myrna McCallum
7:45–8:15 ❋ Sound Bath | Cowichan Room
12:15–12:45 ❋ Sound Bath | Cowicha Room