BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Marie Christian

President & Treasurer | Director for Manitoba (joined 2021) || CONTACT: marie@youthincare.ca

Hello! My name is Marie Christian. I am the former director of Voices: Manitoba’s Youth in Care Network, and I am proud to represent Manitoba on the Board of Youth in Care Canada. Over many years and a long and winding road, I earned my BA (2015), BSW (2017), and I recently obtained my MSW in Indigenous Knowledges through the University of Manitoba. Working at Voices and volunteering on the board of YiCC allows me to combine my lived experience with professional and educational experience to help create a better system of care in Canada, for all children and youth in care.

Cheyanne Ratnam

Vice-President | Director for Ontario (joined 2024) || CONTACT: cheyanne@youthincare.ca

Cheyanne Ratnam holds a Master’s in Social Work, is the Co-founder & CEO of the Ontario Children’s Advancement Coalition (OCAC), and is currently living on Treaty 13 Territory (Toronto) and Williams Treaties (Scarborough). She is also the Ontario representative with the National Council of Youth in Care Advocates (NCYICA) and works alongside her National Council colleagues on the Equitable Transitions to Adulthood for Youth in Care project. Her life experiences spanning various identities and histories sparked much of her life’s work and recognition. She is passionate about equity, developing inclusive and accessible anti-racist spaces and processes, ethical youth engagement and social innovation. As a social entrepreneur she has dedicated much of her life/expertise in child welfare, youth homelessness, and human rights issues.

Dr. Melanie Doucet

Secretary | Director for Quebec (joined 2024) || CONTACT: melanie@youthincare.ca

Dr. Doucet has been working to improve the lives of youth in care for nearly 20 years. She is a former youth in care originally from New Brunswick, and is now based in the unceded traditional territory of the Mohawk Nation in Montreal, Quebec. She holds a PhD in Social Work, is an expert consultant, an Adjunct Professor at the McGill University School of Social Work and Université Laval, a member of the McGill Centre for Research on Children and Families (CRCF) and the Director of the newly established lived experience-led organization, the National Council of Youth in Care Advocates (NCYICA). Dr. Doucet is a renowned public and keynote speaker on the importance of equitably supporting youth in and from care from a rights-based and humane perspective, and is an award-winning researcher. She continues to work as part of provincial, territorial and national youth in care advocacy communities on child protection policy and practice reform initiatives, and is currently leading the Equitable Transitions to Adulthood for Youth in Care project alongside the members of the National Council of Youth in Care Advocates.