Black Mental Health in Justice [VIDEO] - 2024 AGM panel discussion

The African Nova Scotian Justice Institute (ANSJI) held it's 2024 annual general meeting on Sept. 24, 2024, at the Delmore "Buddy" Daye Learning Institute (DBDLI) in Halifax.

Following a business meeting and report to the community a discussion panel took place on the topic of Black Mental Health in Justice.

The participants included ANSJI board member, Jude Clyke; ANSJI special advisor and former ANSJI acting director, Robert Wright; and the current ANSJI executive director, Shawna Paris-Hoyte, KC.

The panel was moderated by ANSJI board member, Folami Jones.

PowerPoint (from the 34:15 mark): Racial Disparities and Mental Health in the Criminal Justice System: Challenges and Reform

Bios:

Jude Clyke was born in Truro, NS, and grew up on the Island, one of the three traditional Black communities in the area. He continues to reside in that same small community with his wife, daughter, and grandchildren 50 years later.

Jude has been employed with Correctional Service Canada for 24 years, primarily as a parole officer. However, for the past five years, he has focused on Anti Racism, Diversity, and Inclusion within the organization, which is much more aligned with his lifelong passions for advocacy and community development within the African Nova Scotian community.

In addition to his work, Jude is a life coach and owner of Unshackled Solutions Coaching and Consulting.

He is an active volunteer, serving in various capacities, including on the

Futureworx and ANS Justice Institute Board of Directors, and as part of the Apex Golf Tournament Organizing Committee, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this summer and raised almost $15,000 for the Apex Scholarship through a fundraiser featuring Lawrence Hill.

He is currently supporting a six month Health and Wellness Program for Seniors and Retirees and has been facilitating a bi weekly online support group for Black men called Mindful Conversations. He is also part of a group called Brothers Helping Brothers, which supports formerly incarcerated Black men.

Jude has been a basketball coach for over 20 years and is back coaching at the Community Y this year.

He has a passion for family, fostering growth and creating positive change within the African Nova Scotian community.

Robert Seymour Wright is a queer, African Nova Scotian Social Worker and Sociologist whose 35-year career has spanned the fields of education, child welfare, forensic mental health, trauma, sexual violence, and cultural competence. He recently completed terms of service as the founding Executive Director of both the Peoples’ Counselling Clinic (Nov. 2017 March 2024) and the African Nova Scotian Justice Institute (Fall 2021 March 2024) and currently continues at the Peoples’ Counselling Clinic as Director Emeritus, Consultant and Therapist. Robert’s identity and work are grounded in his integrated and activist spirituality.

Robert has served in developmentally critical and notable positions throughout his career. He was the first Race Relations Coordinator for the Dartmouth District School Board, the Executive Director of Family and Children’s Services of Cumberland County and the Executive Director of the Child and Youth Strategy of Nova Scotia. He was an early practitioner of what has come to be known as Equity, Diversity and Inclusion work and he pioneered the introduction of Impact of Race and Culture Assessments™ (IRCAs™): A specialized, forensic, clinical presentence report for people of African descent. This latter work has received national attention. In August of 2021 the Government of Canada funded to expand the implementation of IRCAs nationally.

Shawna Paris-Hoyte is the Executive Director of the ANSJI and Executive Director of the National Institute of Forensic Social Work. She is best known as a practising lawyer. However, Shawna has practised as a clinical therapist for approximately 20 years and holds licenses in Nova Scotia and Ontario.

She specializes in pediatric and adult mental health and addiction services, having worked for 16 years on the EMHAS team with the IWK in Halifax and her practice concurrently for 20 years.

Shawna is certified in a variety of evidence-based approaches and specializes in adult mental health capacity assessments. She is the only ANS providing services under the provincial ACDMA. She has also been an adjudicator under the Involuntary Psychiatric Treatment Act in Nova Scotia.

Shawna operates a small private practice providing psychotherapy services to members of the racialized and new Canadian community in Ontario as well as to racialized members of the Canadian Armed Forces and Veterans Canada."

Folami Jones is an Indigenous African-Nova Scotian whose community dates back over 400 years in Nova Scotia. She is completing her articles at McInnes Cooper’s Halifax office. Folami brings extensive experience and knowledge in anti-Black racism theory, community mobilization and social equity policy. She is trained in Trauma Informed Practices, Restorative Practice, and Dialog for Peaceful Change.

During Folami’s articles with McInnes Cooper, she has worked directly with the African Nova Scotian community assisting with will and estate planning. She was also a key organizer in supporting the new BIPOC MC network. Her practice includes Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), Estate Law, Class Action and General Litigation. Her previous work experience before law, included advising organizations and institutions on cultural responsiveness to organizational change. She has extensive work and leadership within the African Nova Scotian communities, where she served on the Board of Directors of the Health Association of African Canadians, African Canadian Investment Co-op, African Diasporian Association of the Maritimes, and Dalhousie’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee. She currently is an Advisory Council member of Dalhousie’s African Nova Scotian Strategy, and a Board of Director on DownTheMarsh Community Land Trust.

Folami earned a Bachelor of Science in health as a midwife, Practical Nurse Diploma, and finished her Master’s in Education on Africentric Leadership (Thesis uncomplete). She graduated with a Juris Doctor (JD) from the Schulich School of Law in 2021, with the distinguished Judge Corrine Sparks Award and the Muriel Duckworth Discretionary Award. Folami held a senator’s seat in 2019 at Dalhousie as a student representative and became the Vice-President of Dalhousie Black Law Student Association in 2020. Furthermore, she was a guest speaker at the Dalhousie Science Society Symposium and the Speak Truth to Power series."