Women receive awards named after trailblazers
Watching mothers painfully mourn the loss of their young sons to senseless gun violence in the city is a familiar scene for Dr. Annette Bailey.
The Ryerson University Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing associate professor’s research interests span violence prevention, violence and trauma, trauma and resilience, homicide loss, resilience and grief,
She said a child’s murder is one of the most disruptive psychological trauma parents can be subjected to.
“My work is centred around the loss of Black youths to gun violence and addressing the grief and trauma that mothers face,” Bailey, who holds a PhD in public health science, pointed out. “We know that it is an issue that’s pervasive and has injustice rooted in it, but it is not really recognized as that.”
Advocating for policy change is central to her work.
She conducted a comprehensive key informant assessment across Canada to establish Canadian-specific policy evidence for gun violence survivorship and collaborated with researchers and advocates in several countries to establish policy recommendations for gun violence survivors globally
Bailey, who has also shared policy recommendations with Members of Parliament and other politicians in the House of Commons and whose work has been used to inform the revised Bill C-32 which is the Victims Bill of Rights, was among four Ryerson University members honoured recently with awards named after distinguished Black Canadian women at the ninth annual Viola Desmond Day celebration.
“To have the work I do recognized is important because that’s recognition that the work matters,” she said. “It gives me wind underneath my wings to keep persevering, especially on days when I think that I am not moving as fast as I would like to. I value the opportunity to be given this award. You only have to pick up the newspaper or look at the evening news to see the rapid demise of our Back men. Black lives matter, but lack men’s lives matter also. They need to be given opportunities to take their rightful place in this world. Too many of them are being gunned down at 16, 17 and 18 and the impact is significant on their families, particularly their mothers.”
A Jane & Finch resident for many years and graduate of Westview Centennial Secondary School, Jamaican-born Bailey spent six years at York University as a part-time lecturer before joining Ryerson in 2011.
She was the recipient of the Wanda Thomas Bernard award. The Dalhousie School of Social Work professor and Order of Canada member was last October appointed to the Senate of Canada.
Thomas Bernard, who splits her time between Ottawa and Nova Scotia, attended the event, much to the surprise of Rosemary Sadlier Award winner Donica Willis who was born and raised in Preston.
Source: Ron Fanfair