Fleming College

Peterborough ON – (June 4, 2019) – Fleming College is pleased to announce the closing keynote speakers for the sold out Ontario Association of Child and Youth Care (OACYC) Provincial Conference, Weaving Perspectives: Challenging Ourselves and Others Through Storytelling and Narratives, Irwin Elman, Wendy Hayes and Cheyanne Ratnam. The conference will occur June 5 – 7, 2019 at Fleming College’s Sutherland Campus in Peterborough, Ontario.

Irwin Elman served as Ontario’s first independent Child Advocate for over 10 years, while Wendy Hayes and Cheyanne Ratnam are founding members of the Ontario Children’s Advocacy Coalition, and bring the expertise of lived experience and work with marginalized and vulnerable young in Ontario.

The joint closing keynote will address the fact that advocates have their own story. Their combined passion and purpose stems from lived experience, exposure to the pain of others, bearing witness to social injustice and the violation of human rights. Child Advocates and Youth Champions, Irwin, Wendy and Cheyanne will each speak about their trajectory in life, and the action steps taken towards these end goals. This will be an interactive keynote with audience members encouraged to take part in reflective practice, and consider how this practice can be carried forward with the young people they work with. 

The three-day conference partners with Indigenous Traditional Knowledge Holders and non-Indigenous practitioners to deepen understanding and ways of knowing relevant to working alongside young peoples and families in Child and Youth Care practice. The conference will also create space for those from oppressed populations and will include a variety of workshops that focus on Black, LGBTQ+ and disability perspectives. For more information about the provincial, national and international presenters contributing to the conference, and additional workshop descriptions, please visit:  http://oacyc-conference.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2019_OACYC_Revised_Conf_program.pdf

The conference holds an online silent auction with proceeds going towards Niijkiwendidaa Anishnaabekwewag Services Circle (NASC) and the International Child & Youth Care Network. The auction is open until June 6 at 9 a.m. To view and bid, please visit: https://www.32auctions.com/organizations/53170/auctions/66053

As co-hosts, the OACYC and Fleming College are striving to ensure the conference is accessible to all persons. The conference has received full sponsorship from the Canadian Hearing Society to support any identified needs for ASL interpreters, deaf interpreter’s intervener services and CART (real-time closed captioning) services. For more information about the conference and other sponsors, please visit: http://oacyc-conference.org.

About Fleming College
Located in the heart of Central Ontario, Fleming College has campus locations in Peterborough, Lindsay, Cobourg and Haliburton. Named for famous Canadian inventor and engineer Sir Sandford Fleming, the college features more than 100 full-time programs in Arts and Heritage, Business, Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, General Arts and Sciences, Health and Wellness, Justice and Community Development, Skilled Trades and Technology, and Continuing Education. Fleming College has more than 6,800 full-time and 10,000 part-time students, and 71,000 alumni.

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Media, for more information please contact:

Sara O’Halloran

Communications Officer 

sara.ohalloran@flemingcollege.ca 705.749.5530 x 1366