2025 program
Dive into the 2025 program of Exprimer l’invisible, a peer-led event. Discover a series of activities, personal stories, artistic creations, and discussions that celebrate diverse life experiences and place the voices of people with lived experience at the heart of the event.
WELCOME – 8:15–9:00 A.M.
ALL DAY – 9:00 A.M. TO 7:00 P.M.
Room M-465
Continuous Video Screening
Video capsules and short documentaries showcasing artistic initiatives createdby and for people with lived experience, community organizations incorporating art into their approaches, and accessible science communication videos.
Rooms M-425 and M-450
Art Exhibition
More than 20 art stations featuring artists with lived and living experience. Some artworks are available for purchase (cash preferred).
Room M-460
Safe Space
Psychosocial support, harm reduction and safer-use supplies.
OPENING – 9:00 A.M. – AUDITORIUM (R-550)
9:00–9:10 A.M.
Opening Remarks
Barbara Rivard (harm reduction worker, Méta d’Âme, and person with lived and living experience)
9:10–9:30 A.M.
Kanienkeha:ka Ohen:ton Karihwatehkwen
Debbie Delisle (Cultural Consultant)
An introduction to the words that comes before all else. Cultural teachings and knowledge presented here by past and present artforms.
9:30–10:00 A.M.
Discover how AIDQ’s Résonance project is transforming substance use practices by
valuing lived and experiential knowledge
Jeannine Foisy (Peer Support Worker, AIDQ)
Julie David-Delisle (Lived and Living Experience Development and Knowledge Mobilization Officer, RSSS)
During this presentation, we will cover the following topics:
- What is AIDQ’s Résonance Project?
- What is lived and living experience?
- Why is it important to value it?
- How can it be integrated?
- Challenges and opportunities
- The Activities of the Résonance Project
This presentation is intended for anyone seeking to improve substance use services by recognizing and valuing knowledge gained through lived experience.
10:00–10:30 A.M.
Reborn in the Reflection of Street-Involved Children’s Gaze
Philippe Malchelosse (Executive Director, Point de Rue and Coop les Affranchis)
Chad Badger (Coordinator, Point de Rue and Coop les Affranchis)
Presentation of the journey of a person experiencing homelessness as they find their place in the community. Without naming them, this presentation explores concepts related to the process of social inclusion, particularly through art and culture!
BREAK – 10:30–10:50 A.M.
10:50–11:00 A.M.
Addiction Slam
Flo Martel (person with lived and experiential knowledge)
A slam showing that words can heal and transform. A piece that expresses hope through pain.
11:00 A.M.–12:30 P.M.
Exprimer l’invisible: The Panel Discussion
Mathieu Rioux (person with lived and living experience, artist, writer for L’Injecteur)
Léopold Nault (person with lived and living experience, multidisciplinary artist, outreach worker at Maison d’Haïti)
Karine Bertrand (Full Professor, Addiction Studies and Research Programs, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke; Scientific Director of IUD; Chairholder of La GID – CIHR Research Chair; and Co-Director of the Inclusion Axis, ICRIS Québec Node)
Maria Nengeh Mensah (Full Professor, School of Social Work, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM))
Hugues Lévesque (person with lived and living experience, involved with SYDALIS, artist)
Hinde Oueriemmi (Community Development Officer, SYDALIS)
Marilou Vinet (Intervention Coordinator, Cirque Hors Piste)
Bawè (person with lived and living experience, activist, performance artist
(drag))
As part of the Exprimer l’invisible: L’Art de prendre la parole project, this panel discussion explores the impact of art on marginalized people, as well as its role in harm reduction and research. Structured as a roundtable discussion, people with lived and living experience will share their life stories, the empowerment strategies they have used to achieve greater balance in their lives, and the impact of art on their journeys. In addition, professionals and allies in the substance use field will discuss their roles and contributions in supporting change and reducing stigma through art.
LUNCH – 12:30–1:45 P.M.
Starting at 12:30 P.M.
Collective Artwork (Room R-515)
Creation of a collective mural that will be displayed during the reception at the end of the day
*Open to everyone until 3:30 p.m.
1:45–2:45 P.M.
Presentation of the digital artwork Inconditionnelles and its creative process
Anne-Céline Genevois (Coordinator of the Art Entr’Elles collective and Co-Artistic Director of the Inconditionnelles artwork)
Marie-Lise (Community Artist with the Art Entr’Elles collective and Director of the Inconditionnelles artwork)
Inconditionnelles offers a sound-based exploration that immerses us in the words of women who have experienced incarceration. Seven voices resonate, asserting their desire to be heard. These intimate stories, told from women’s perspectives, take on a variety of audio forms, ranging from poetry and storytelling to fiction and documentary. The work unfolds as a circle of compassionate listening, inviting us to open our ears and our hearts.
L.U.N.E. Project: By and For Sex Workers
Gabrielle Vaudry (Feminist Advocacy and Shelter Support Worker, L.U.N.E. Project)
Chantal Simoneau (Director, L.U.N.E. Project)
Élisabeth Tremblay (Peer Support Worker, Shelter, L.U.N.E. Project)
Jessica-Corinne Martin (Shelter Support Worker, L.U.N.E. Project)
The L.U.N.E. Project is a community space that supports, welcomes, and works alongside women, trans and queer people, sex workers, and people who have experienced sexual exploitation. Grounded in a by and for peer-led approach and a philosophy of empowerment, L.U.N.E. aims to improve participants’ quality of life through listening, collective action, and artistic creation.
At the heart of our approach is the peer-led principle, where people directly affected are active participants in the project and drivers of change.
Since its creation, L.U.N.E. has developed several impactful initiatives, including the N.U.E. project, now in its fourth edition. This artistic project aims to challenge the stigma surrounding the bodies of women and sex workers by valuing their voices and images with respect and sensitivity.
Peer support workers speak to the transformative power of these spaces: reclaiming a sense of self, building solidarity, and regaining agency.
BREAK – 2:45–3:05 P.M.
3:05–4:05 P.M.
Health Inside and Out
Annie Rainville (Correctional Project Coordinator and person with lived and experiential knowledge, AQPSUD)
Samuel Daigle-Garneau (AQPSUD)
The Association québécoise pour la promotion de la santé des personnes utilisatrices de drogues (AQPSUD) is a provincial organization that, based on harm reduction principles and an empowerment approach, brings together people who use drugs and who are committed to promoting health, preventing sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections, and improving their living conditions.
AQPSUD is the community organization responsible for the development and management of L’Injecteur and l’ADDICQ. This initiative was created in response to a request from the federal government to develop two prevention tools addressing the needs of incarcerated people related to STBBI prevention in prison. These tools are intended for people incarcerated in Quebec’s 27 federal and provincial prisons. They are designed to be participatory, meaning that incarcerated people and people with at least one experience of incarceration actively contribute to their creation by submitting drawings, prevention slogans, and recipes that will be used to illustrate the cookbook and card game.
Monstres and Droit de cité – A Look Back at Two Creative Processes Developed with the Collectif Ex-Placé DPJ
Marie-Ève Bélanger (Monstres)
Emily Laliberté (Artist and Mediator, Coordinator of the Droit de cité Project)
Geneviève Caron (Collectif Ex-Placé DPJ)
Yami Morin (Collectif Ex-Placé DPJ)
Monstres and Droit de cité are two collaborative creative projects developed with the Collectif Ex-Placé DPJ over the past few years. The first is a play featuring powerful testimonies from young people with experience in the child protection system. Blending reality and fiction, the work poetically explores their deeply unsettling stories. The second is a book about youth rights, created by, for, and with them. This unique resource aims to improve access to justice for young people and their families. Bringing together two artists and two co-creators, our presentation will explore the creative processes, the recognition and valuing of young people’s lived and living experience, and strategies for meaningful participation.
4:05–4:20 P.M.
Laughing with a Sex Worker
Toni Bâtard (sex worker, comedian, and filmmaker)
Comedy performance about humorous moments experienced as a trans and neurodivergent sex worker.
4:20–4:40 P.M.
Closing Remarks
Isabelle Boisvert (person with lived and living experience, Coordinator of the Exprimer l’invisible project, and Partnerships Lead for by and for initiatives, ICRIS-CRISM Quebec Node)
5 TO 7 RECEPTION AND EXHIBITION OPENING: ART AS A FORM OF SELF-EXPRESSION – ROOMS M-425 AND M-450
5:00 P.M.
Opening Remarks
Opening Remarks by Barbara Rivard (Harm Reduction Worker, Méta d’Âme, and person with lived and experiential knowledge)
END – 7:00 P.M.
Partners
We would like to warmly thank our partners, without whom this event would not have been possible. Their support, trust, and commitment played an essential role in making this conference a reality.
