Solidarité ethnique de la Yamaska

The Team

Management

Joanne Ouellette

Director General

Ms. Ouellette is native to Granby and comes from a big family, most of whom have businesses. Following her studies, she directed her energies toward preschool teaching. She is involved in various school committees and in an athletics training club for children. In addition, she is a member of the administrative council for an organisation which helps children suffering from cancer. She has been working for SERY since its first days.

Welcoming Services

Masami Okumura

Secretary

Trained in accounting and modern languages at the renowned YMCA institute in Tokyo, Masami Okumura has experience as a language school director, a journalistic editor, a bank credit instructor, and as the secretary at her husband’s commerce.  In September 2004, she made the decision to leave her native Japan with her family in order to settle down in Québec, driven by the desire both to experience other cultures and places and to build a better future for her children.  After successfully completing her French-language instruction and a workplace training programme, Masami Okumura joined the team at SERY in June 2007.  In doing so, she thus fulfills a long-standing wish to work as a part of the team as our secretary-receptionist, and does so in offering her trademark smile to all of our visitors!

Cécile Fournier

Supervisor of Welcoming Services

Prior to her employment at SERY, she occupied a government post and was a partner in a private business for a number of years.

Since her beginnings at SERY, she has known successive waves of refugees from Afghanistan, the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, and Kosovo), Columbia, the African continent, and also independent immigrants from the "Initiation to our Region" programme. Thanks to continued training, she has been able to develop, along with her team, a well-known expertise in immigration. Her motto is "Never judge someone before walking 5 km in their shoes."

Isabelle Meunier

Assistant, Welcoming Services

Ms. Meunier has a Bachelor's with a major in Social and Cultural Anthropology and a minor in African Studies. She underwent, in the course of her Master's studies, a research project which involved closely studying Tunisian craftswomen in the industry of hand-made carpets in a rural setting. Her skills in Spanish are a major asset in serving our Spanish-speaking clientele.

Employment Aid

Jean Claude Favier

Supervisor, Employment Aid

After first studying as an electrical technician, then in electronics, Mr. Favier began showing an interest in psychology, and has pursued training in personal development and communications over the years.

Professionally, he began first as a fitter, then as installer, technician, foreman, trainer and independent worker in Europe.

Today, he is a member of the Granby Toastmasters Club, where he serves on the officers' committee as the Training Vice-President and Club President.

His experience in the working world and his personal aptitudes brought him to the responsibilities he now occupies in Employment Services at SERY.

Yancy Vega

Assistant, Employment Aid

 

 

 

 

Independent Immigration

Yvan Paquette

Supervisor of the "Initiation to our Region" Service

Mr. Yvan Paquette is a person of maturity and experience, who has a good knowledge of the region, from the point of view of a past employer, manager, and also as the director of a business of considerable size for a period of 26 years. He has gained much broad experience in customer services over the years. Mr. Paquette is the ideal person for promoting our region to recently arrived independents and to accompany them in their discovery of our surroundings and their own potential.

Volunteer Services

Carolyne Huot

Supervisor of Volunteer Services

 

 

 

 

School Integration

Frey Alberto Guevara

Supervisor of School Integration Services

Born in Colombia, Frey arrived in Granby in autumn 2003. He has a technical training in Audio-Visual Production, obtained at the Workshop Five Design Institute in BogotáColombia.  His love for documentaries as a genre was what first awakened his interest for social, cultural and community issues.

Frey’s continued interest, his own personal experience as a refugee, his AEC certificate in Integration into Quebec Society and a project that he developed conjointly with the Saint-Hyacinthe School Board have all aided him in developing a practical knowledge-base of Quebec’s educational system.  These important factors have equipped him to become a member of the team at SERY.

Making the most of his professional know-how, his commitment as a parent, his volunteer involvements and his altruistic worldview, Frey has headed various projects and activities that aim at easing the integration process for our region’s immigrant community.

Early Childhood

Eloïse van Doorn

Supervisor of Early Childhood Services and Executive Assistant

Eloïse has a Barchelor’s degree in communications and specializes in writing and public relations. Following her studies, she worked at College Jean-de-Brébeuf in Montreal where she was Secretary of the Foundation.

After 6 years in Québec City and Montreal, Eloïse is came back to her home town.

Last year, she was Coordinator of the Cooking School at the Cowansville Loblaws. She organized cooking activities, taught cooking to children and animate different groups. Although her social implication was much appreciated, her desire for new challenges pushed her onward.

She is very excited about her arrival at SERY, because she loves helping people. She believes that every new arrival can make a difference in her life and in the lives of everyone in our city.