(June 16, 2025) - On the evening of June 11, 2025, Laurentian University’s School of Social Work, in collaboration with Black Lives Matter Sudbury (BLMS), presented the Jennifer Keck Memorial Lecture for Social Justice. The lecture, “Abolition As Care: Reimagining Justice, Liberation, and Mutual Aid,*” featured Robyn Maynard, an acclaimed author, scholar, and activist whose writing on borders, policing, abolition and Black feminism is taught widely in universities across Canada, the United States and Europe.
Maynard, author of the award-winning Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present and co-author of Rehearsals for Living, spoke passionately about systemic injustice and the possibilities of abolitionist futures rooted in care, safety, and community accountability. Drawing on her extensive research and lived experience, she challenged attendees to critically examine the structures of state violence and to imagine transformative alternatives.
“Robyn Maynard is an icon in Black activist movements,” said Ra’anaa Ekundayo, co-founder of BLMS. “You simply can’t talk about abolition or Black liberation without engaging with her work which is powerful and inspiring. She reminds us in accessible ways that abolition isn’t just about dismantling systems. It’s a mindset. A way of life. It’s community. It’s inclusivity.”
“We are incredibly grateful to have welcomed Robyn to our community. Her work embodies the kind of critical, justice-focused dialogue that the Jennifer Keck Memorial Lecture series was created to foster. It was moving to see students, faculty, and community members come together to reflect on what abolitionist futures could mean for us all," said Dr. Tanya Shute, Associate Professor, School of Social Work. “We are equally moved to have worked in collaboration with BLMS to offer this opportunity. Their leadership, vision, and skills were vital to the success of the lecture and the conversations it inspired.”
The Jennifer Keck Memorial Lecture series was established in 2004, and commemorates the late Dr. Jennifer Keck, an Associate Professor in Laurentian University’s School of Social Work. A strong feminist, activist and inspiring teacher, Keck had a long history of social activism. Her work was far-reaching and advanced struggles in social justice.
In response to the resurgence of the BLMS movement and the growing call to reimagine systems of care and accountability, a number of faculty members in Laurentian University’s School of Social Work have been shifting some of the content they teach. These changes reflect a broader movement within the profession, with an explicit focus on anti-racism, anti-carceral, and decolonial practices.
“Thanks to the Black Lives Matter movement and activist scholars like Robyn Maynard, schools of social work are becoming more attentive to the growing scholarly literature around anti-carceral social work and mutual aid,” said Dr. Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara, Associate Professor, School of Social Work. “As social workers, we recognize that our efforts have not always been liberatory, and we need to take accountability. We need to ask ourselves how we can practice while keeping social justice in mind. Communities have always been able to take care of one another, and Robyn reminded us of this in powerful ways.”
Maynard’s lecture stands as a meaningful reminder of the transformative potential of education when it centres lived experience, challenges systemic harm, and amplifies the knowledge held within communities themselves.
For BLMS, Maynard’s lecture was both a celebration and a moment of proud reflection on the transformative impact they’ve had in Greater Sudbury since their founding in 2020. The collective’s work has played a powerful role in advancing social justice and amplifying the voices of those too often marginalized or unjustly silenced.
*Simultaneous French translation and ASL interpretation was also provided.
Additional biographical details about Robyn Maynard:
Robyn Maynard is an Assistant Professor of Black Feminisms in Canada at the University of Toronto-Scarborough in the department of Historical and Cultural Studies, with a graduate appointment in the Women and Gender Studies Institute at the St. George Campus.
Robyn Maynard’s writing on borders, policing, abolition, and Black feminism is taught widely in universities across Canada, the United States, and Europe. Maynard is the author of two books, which are each published in French and English. Policing Black Lives: State violence in Canada from slavery to the present (Fernwood, 2017) is a national bestseller, designated as one of the “best 100 books of 2017” by the Hill Times, listed in The Walrus’s “best books of 2018,” shortlisted for an Atlantic Book Award, the Concordia University First Book Prize and the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction, and the winner of the 2017 Errol Sharpe Book Prize. In 2018, the book was published in French with Mémoire d’encrier, titled NoirEs sous surveillance. Esclavage, repression et violence d’État au Canada and won the 2019 Prix de libraires in the category of “essais.”
Rehearsals for Living (Knopt/Haymarket, 2022) co-authored with Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, is a Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, and CBC National Bestseller and was shortlisted for a Governor General’s Award for literary non-fiction. A revolutionary collaboration between two powerful thinkers and activists, this book was translated into French in 2024 under the title Chorégraphies pour le vivant. It is based on letters written between the two authors during the Covid 19 lockdown, articulating Black and Indigenous perspectives on slavery, colonization, co-resistance, and a new way forward. Other honours awarded to Maynard include “2018 Author of the Year” from Montreal’s Black History Month and the Writers’ Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQO Emerging Writers.