VOICE Youth Advisory Council (YAC)

Léa Brousseau-Bellavance

Léa Brousseau-Bellavance is a third year law student. She is currently completing a clerckship at the Cour du Québec - Chambre de la jeunesse, and an internship at the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse. Last year, she was a part of the Community Social Pediatrics course on vulnerable children experiencing difficult living conditions and toxic stress. She also worked for more than 5 years for an organization providing services to children and adults with autism and their families, mostly working with non-verbal children with severe behavioral disorders and previously studied political science and communication where she focused on the impact of media and political discourses on public opinion.
Being part of VOICE is an opportunity to pursue her engagement with youth, making sure their agency and welfare are at the heart of the projects she takes part in.

Aïché Danioko

Aïché is an undergraduate Honours student in a B.A. program in Ecological Determinants of Health. She is currently working on a systematic review of the relationship between extreme weather events and child marriage. Through the YAC, she aims to learn more about and contribute to research that ensures that the experiences of youth in various contexts are understood and accounted for.

Ariane Isaac-Bertrand

Ariane is a third year undergraduate student pursuing a BASc in Cognitive science at McGill University, where she is developing her interest in psychology, ethics and neuroscience. She joined the YAC in an effort to keep an open conversation surrounding childhood ethics and rights, and the importance of valuing childrens’ thoughts and opinions. Through her experience as a camp counselor and student mentor, she has explored her interest in creating a safe and supportive environment for children, and hopes to contribute to research in this field.

Kevin Liu

Kevin is a dentistry student who is an advocate for youth engagement. He joined the VOICE YAC to help ensure that research, policy, education, and KMb align with the priorities and experiences of young people. He was invited to testify to the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying in the Parliament of Canada as a young person and as a member of the VOICE YAC, to present his youth-led research on Medical Assistance in Dying for Mature Minors. His other contributions include co-authoring articles on youth engagement and qualitative methods.

Miriam Rosberg

Miriam is in her final year as an undergraduate Honours student in psychology. She has extensive experience working with community youth programming, education, and music therapy, specifically for youth with special needs. Her research training with VOICE has encouraged her to focus her professional efforts on addressing gaps in the development of policy and practice for the protection of youth's rights in those areas. Miriam's latest research involvement has been in the areas of music cognition (for healthy aging and memory), education (storytelling in multilingual children), and as a VOICE research assistant exploring youth agential expression through social circus intervention programs.

Adam Bruder-Wexler (former YAC)

Adam Bruder-Wexler is a second-year law student and he intends to work in entertainment law while simultaneously practicing disability law as well. Before McGill he was a student at Dawson College studying sciences and commerce. Some of his hobbies include playing sports and watching movies and even though he loves to cook but is not very good at it! He joined VOICE because he felt it would give him the opportunity to be a part of ground-breaking research in the advancement of childhood ethics. It has also allowed him to collaborate and develop insight from experts and students in other fields thus diversifying his knowledge and understanding of ethics as it relates to youth. Whether it be education systems, access to healthcare, or indigenous youth advocacy, being a part of VOICE has given him the opportunity to express his passion for childhood ethics in a multitude of fields that he would not otherwise have had access to.

Anna Gignac-Eddy (former YAC)

Anna Gignac-Eddy is a second-year law student at McGill minoring in Hispanic Studies. Human rights, access to justice, and protecting the vulnerable underpin all that she does. Currently a research assistant for Prof. Sébastien Jodoin, her work focuses on disability rights as well as environmental litigation. Outside of school, she gives legal education workshops to high school students with L.E.X. McGill; helps homeless persons navigate the legal system with the Mobile Legal Clinic; and coordinates Montréal Unie pour Semer l’Égalité (MUSE) — a non-profit she founded dedicated to fighting poverty by promoting emerging artists. 
Her experiences empowering youth as a camp counselor and building childhood autonomy in community organizations in Montreal have made her passionate about promoting youth agency and children’s rights. She is especially interested in the relationship between the arts (storytelling, music) and social change, and in giving youth the tools to become agents of this change within their own communities. Being part of VOICE has allowed her to explore these interests and promote youth perspectives through knowledge translation and mobilization. 

Man Hua Lei (former YAC)

Man Hua is an undergraduate student at the Ingram School of Nursing at McGill University. She has actively engaged with the younger population in both recreative and educational fields her whole life. Her experience as an academic and peer tutor, camp counsellor and inaugural member of the Youth Advisory Council has allowed her to create meaningful experiences with youth and explore challenging realities from their day-to-day lives. Being part of VOICE has given her the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations around ethical challenges and to advance knowledge mobilization while protecting youth perspectives.

Fabrys Julien (former YAC)

Fabrys is a second-year undergraduate student at the McGill School of Social Work. She is currently working for Dr. Michael J. MacKenzie’s Child Well-Being Research Group within McGill’s School of Social Work as a Research Laboratory Coordinator, Project Manager and Research Assistant. Joining VOICE’s Youth Advisory Council as an inaugural member in June 2020, she also took on the role of a Research Assistant working with Dr. Franco Carnevale at VOICE.

Her academic areas of interest are related to child welfare, family dynamics, mental health as well as the Trauma Informed Care (TIC) approach and its positive impacts on vulnerable populations.

Past work and volunteering experiences at daycare centres, schools as well as family and children’s shelters has raised Fabrys Julien’s awareness regarding various psychosocial realities. In many situations, she found that children/youth of different ages have the ability to express their strengths, needs, and limits regarding challenges they are facing. Thus, she strongly believes that one ought to take the time to listen to the youth’s opinions and perceptions before making decisions, disseminating research findings, or writing policies impacting their lives.

Ann Nguyen (former YAC)

Ann is an undergraduate student at the School of Social Work of McGill University who joined the VOICE’s Youth Advisory Council in summer 2020 as an inaugural member. She has previous experiences as a peer tutor for the social sciences and as a student representative for the Psychology Department’s Mediation Committee – both at Vanier College. She also had the opportunity to shadow at two hospitals: the CHU Sainte-Justine and the Jewish General Hospital. Her areas of interest include education, mental health, community organizing, and healthcare.

Ruo Lan Wang (former YAC)

Ruo Lan is a second-year student at the Faculty of Law. She joined the VOICE Youth Advisory Council as an inaugural member in summer 2020. She was drawn to the YAC’s mission because of her past experiences working with children with mental and physical disabilities. She wanted to be part of a platform that would allow the youth to express themselves in meaningful ways and provide them with concrete opportunities to influence research and policy.
At the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), she has done legal research relating to children’s and families’ rights. Her past experiences have also informed her of the intersection between childhood and poverty, immigration, and marginalization.
At VOICE, she also works as a Research Assistant under the supervision of Dr. Franco Carnevale on a study relating to families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.