VOICE Youth Advisory Council (YAC)

VOICE YAC current members (https://www.instagram.com/voiceyac.mcgill/)

	Taylor Morganstein - VP Internal Taylor is a third-year medical student at McGill with clinical interests in reproductive health and pediatrics. As a member of the VOICE YAC, she is actively involved in a team researching youth participation in policymaking around end-of-life care. Taylor aims to leverage the insights gained from this experience to enrich her future clinical practice (she/her/hers).
	Jessica Bakar - VP Outreach Jessica Bakar is an undergraduate Joint Honours student a pursuing a BASc in Political Science and Psychology. She was previously a youth delegate to the United Nations’ Commission on Social Development with the McGill Youth Advisory Delegation. Jessica joined VOICE YAC to continue her commitment to youth advocacy, education, and community programming. Her recent work with VOICE includes a knowledge mobilization project addressing youth political engagement (she/her/hers).
	Ariane Isaac-Bertrand - Co-VP Recruitment. Ariane is a fourth 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 3 years ago in an effort to keep an open conversation surrounding childhood ethics and rights, and the importance of promoting youth voices. Through her experience as a student mentor and working in research, she has explored her interest in creating a safe and supportive environment for children, and hopes to pursue a career in law (she/her/hers).
	Sarah Grech - Chair Sarah is a fourth-year Sociology and Urban Studies student who has gained a unique interest in how geographical circumstances have and continue to influence social relationships. Her studies, coupled with personal experiences and extracurricular work with children, have sparked a deep passion for youth advocacy. Sarah is committed to promoting youth representation in academia and her community, using her role in the YAC to amplify young voices and encourage active participation in shaping their environments (she/her/hers).
	Jayna Lunny - Co-VP Recruitment Jayna is currently in her 4th year of studies in the Faculty of Arts studying Political Science with a minor in Anthropology. She joined VOICE YAC as her previous background working and volunteering in child care has made her passionate about childhood ethics and amplyfying the voices of youth. She currently is working with Professor Mary-Ellen on the Canadian Journal of Public Health, where research is being done to find policies that allow for child/youth authors to be included in publications. The main goal being to propose what a CJPH policy about research submissions for and with young people should include (she/her/hers).
	Nika Rovensky - VP Social Media Nika Rovensky is an undergraduate student majoring in Honours Political Science and Russian Language and Culture, and minoring in Economics. As the Equity Commissioner for the Arts Undergraduates Society, she leads the development of equitable policies and training programs at McGill University. She is currently working on a project pertaining to youth perspectives in end-of-life care and medical assistance in dying (MAID) through VOICE. Additionally, she is part of ECOLE, a collective aimed at developing a model of sustainable urban living through applied student research (she /her/hers).

VOICE YAC former members

	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.
	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 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 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 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 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 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 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.