Julie Lalonde

Julie S. Lalonde (born 18 June) is a Franco-Ontarian women's rights advocate, author, and educator. She has created multiple feminist organizations and education campaigns, and has offered many training sessions surrounding sexual violence, harassment, and bystander intervention. Her first book, Resilience is Futile: The Life and Death and Life of Julie S. Lalonde, was published in February 2020.

Early life and education Julie Lalonde was born in Sudbury, Ontario, and later moved to Ottawa, where she currently resides. 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. Her thesis focused on elderly women experiencing isolation and poverty in Ottawa.

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. Since 2013, Lalonde, as the director of Hollaback! Ottawa, has been advocating for OC Transpo to implement initiatives to reduce harassment on public transit. In 2015, the "Let OC Transpo Know" campaign was implemented, encouraging transit passengers to report when they feel unsafe or experience harassment.

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. The project includes a short film posted on YouTube and a series of posters providing advice for both survivors and witnesses of stalking.

On 11 March 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. 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.

Anti-harassment training In 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 alleged she was met with "incredible hostility" from the officer cadets.

The controversy surrounding the alleged hostility was due to Lalonde's position "...men are the problem when it comes to sex assault because most rape is perpetrated by men", according to one Officer Cadet who had attended the presentation. Respect for Lalonde's presentation was lost after she was pressed on sexual assault and intoxication, in particular when both participants were intoxicated claiming men could still be accused of sexual assault.

She received a formal letter of apology from the commandant of the RMC five months after making a complaint. She led similar anti-harassment sessions at a Liberal Party convention with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in attendance. Winner of the 2020 Ontario Speaker's Book Award for Resilience is Futile: The Life and Death and Life of Julie S. Lalonde Shortlisted for the 2020 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award for Resilience is Futile: The Life and Death and Life of Julie S. Lalonde