Contested urban spaces: Anti-prison activism in the city of Ottawa

Based on three focus groups featuring abolitionist activists operating in the city of Ottawa, this article draws on carceral geography to analyze modalities of protest and resistance against the daily imbrication of the carceral into the (public and private) living spaces of marginalized and vulnerable populations. The analysis reveals three types of sites, which are differently occupied, used and experienced, both by activists and the marginalized and vulnerable populations many of these activists are a member of. We demonstrate that by investing in sites of governance (to transform the city through disturbing speech), of protest (to fight against surveillance and carceral practices through mutual aid and by making differences visible), and of everyday life (to abolish the exclusionary practices that underpin the carceral, and instead promote supportive communities where people feel safe), participants reinvent the city of Ottawa to make room for differences. This article sheds light on the deeply political nature of everyday life in public and private spaces. In a context where nonconformity is suspect, policed and hindered, living differently is a way of generating the possible.