Solidarité ethnique de la Yamaska

The Team

Management

Anne-Laure Pravert

Director General

A resident of Québec since 1999, Ms.Pravert has a Master's in Social Psychology from Université Lumière Lyon 2 in France, a certificate as a senior technician in communications and publicity, and a professional studies certificate in administration and secretarial work. Having laboured more than 10 years in the domain of community work, she has occupied positions as a guidance counsellor, an educator specialised in work with teens in difficulty, an employment counsellor, and as an animator and trainer. Before acting as director at SERY, she was a member of the administrative council for a period of two years. 

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

Joanne Ouellette

Supervisor of Employment Services

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.

Jean Claude Favier

Assistant, 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.

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

Ron McKay

Supervisor of Volunteer Services

Born in Ontario, Ron moved to Québec in 1998, with the desire of better understanding Quebec’s language and culture.  Still here after a number of years, this interest has since grown to include Québec’s immigrant community.

Having obtained a B.A. in Educational Studies and psychology, followed by a B.Ed in Primary Education, language and education have often been catalysts for him toward the discovery of other cultures.  First as a language instructor to Francophone students in 1999 and then to international university students in 2002-03, this passion led him to a sojourn in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in 2004-2005.  While overseas, he worked as an English teacher at the secondary level, as a computer science teacher at the primary level, and as a sports instructor for children from families with limited resources.

Ron comes to SERY with a number of years’ experience in various domains of volunteer work (literacy work, direction of youth programmes, sports and music workshops for youth), all of which he plans on putting to good use as the Coordinator 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

Jacques Lamy

Supervisor of Early Childhood Services

Following his university studies in Social Services, Mr. Lamy began his professional career with a 5-year involvement in Bolivia. During this intense period, he had the opportunity of being involved in various aspects of Bolivian society and culture. During this period, he was able to establish parish social services in an urban context, to direct a Diocesan charity work, to manage an orphanage, and to set up a juvenile delinquent centre. Equally, he participated on all levels in the Oruro region's International Youth Chamber of Commerce. Upon his return to Québec, he worked in a social services agency corresponding to the present-day CLSC, and then specialised in alcoholism and substance abuse at Ste-Croix Hospital in Drummondville. His studies on the various angles of psychotherapy and physical therapy led him to open a private practice in psycho-physical therapy. Upon his retirement, he worked firstly as a volunteer at SERY, then finally as the supervisor of this service.