Our Team

 

Kelly Schuler-McDonald

Founder of BRAVE Education and BRAVE Communications

Kelly is the Executive Director and Founder of BRAVE Education for Trafficking Prevention. She is passionate about empowering leadership, research and finding new ways to do what may seem like ‘the impossible’.

Using research combined with visionary talents, she surrounds herself with brilliant disruptive types, and helps collectively combine brilliance to shine light on the who, what, when, where, why and how around prevention education. Committed to empowering and protecting children and youth, Kelly's expertise in research, behavioural change, education and experience with trafficked youth led Kelly to develop research, programming and collaborations to address what is needed to help children from being trafficked in the first place. 

Kelly is a strategic research and creative director, focused on youth empowerment, a presentation coach, publisher and producer of tools to empower individuals, communities and organizations, often addressing complex issues. 

In addition to BRAVE Education, Kelly serves actively in Curation for TEDxYYC, is the Executive Director of BRAVE Communications and is co-founder of a youth empowerment organization, equipping youth to inspire, overcome and influence!

Kelly spearheaded a five year plan for research, education and collaborations that has been successfully awarded the largest funding from Mitacs to date in the area of social innovation. This project’s vision is to help ensure every child in Canada has access to education to prevent sexual exploitation and trafficking, achieved through research, education and collaborations.

 

 

Yvonne Meredith

Early Childhood Educator and Indigenous Youth Leader

Yvonne is mother of five children, married for over 12 years and a Graduate of Child Education. Doing something brave and bold helps you to believe that you are capable of facing those fears, and can overcome anything life throws at you. Yvonne is keen on doing this work, to empower others to have that same boldness, to be brave, and to overcome their fears and vulnerabilities.

Yvonne has volunteered and led teams with BRAVE Education for over two years, leading our initiatives in northern remote communities, where we deliver together with local youth and adult leaders to provide empowering prevention education.

 

Christine Château

Researcher and Educator

Christine is a Red River Métis from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Christine is in her final year of the program at the University of Calgary in the International Community Development specialization (ICD).

Christine’s research interests are drawn from seeing the societal problems that plagued Indigenous people such as poverty, oppression and racism while growing up in Winnipeg. As a result, she wanted to be an advocate for Indigenous people and those who cannot advocate for themselves. 

Trafficking prevention is important to Christine because of the immense effects sexual exploitation and trafficking has had on Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA.The Missing and murdered Indigenous Women and Girls report notes that Indigenous women and girls are more likely than other groups to be targeted for, or to experience, sexual exploitation or trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation.  

 

Mikhaela Gray-Beerman

Researcher and Educator

 

Mikhaela Gray-Beerman is a PhD student in the Social and Political Thought Program at York University, where her research focuses on sex trafficking in Canada. The work she does is informed by the many inspiring women and girls who have entrusted their stories with her. Her most recent publication examines sex buyers’ attitudes. In 2021,

Mikhaela was named one of York University’s Top 30 Changemakers Under 30. Mikhaela is the host and community producer of a RogersTV television program and podcast on human trafficking called Freedom Fighters: Code.

She currently serves on the advisory team for Defend Dignity, a nation-wide charity focused on ending sexual exploitation in Canada, and she serves on the Board of Bridgenorth, a survivor-led organization in York Region, Ontario. Mikhaela is the Development Associate at Dance Awareness: No Child Exploited and she is an Education Advisor and Human Trafficking researcher for BRAVE Education for Trafficking Prevention. 

In 2017, Mikhaela conducted her Masters of Education thesis research on the trafficking of women and girls in West Bengal, India. Mikhaela is published in the Journal for Teaching & Learning, the Journal of Community Safety & Well-being, and the University of Toronto Press. 

 

Ena Lucia Mariaca Pacheco

Researcher and Educator

Ena Lucia Mariaca is a trauma-informed professional in human security with a specialization in survivors of human trafficking, child sexual abuse and exploitation. 

Ena Lucia built a database to track human trafficking cases and to provide supporting data for Bill C-310, a piece of legislation that enhanced the definition of exploitation in the criminal offense of human trafficking. Using information from this database, Bill C-310 also enabled the prosecution of Canadians who committed crimes against children and human trafficking offenses outside of Canada. 

Currently, Ena Lucia is completing her research on male victims & survivors of child sexual abuse and human trafficking for sexual exploitation. Her research investigates male victim identification indicators and explores the unique needs of male survivors after their experiences with childhood sexual exploitation. Ena Lucia’s goals for 2022 are to finish her master’s thesis at Royal Roads and to continue supporting survivors through additional research projects.  

 

Angus Cockney

Researcher, Educator and Keynote Presenter

Born in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Angus Cockney spent 13 years in a Catholic-run residential school in Inuvik. It was there where he was told his mother, father and three siblings had died in a house fire back home. Angus shares his story and his story of triumph and resilience to inspire others. 

Cockney has demonstrated breaking the cycle of intergenerational trauma and is an established artist, athlete, motivational speaker.

 

Caitlin Herringer

Researcher and Educator

The inequality of women, men and children in the trafficking industry is still very real today and until all acts of violence such as sexual exploitation, sex trafficking and forced labour are eliminated, many victims forced into this industry will most likely never have their day of freedom.

I believe that prevention in human trafficking is critical. This is why research is so vital to combat human trafficking, it has the ability to create awareness and help reduce and reverse patterns within the human trafficking world. Furthermore, it educates our most vulnerable youth, and improves collective proficiency among organizations who are working to support and protect survivors and victims of human trafficking.   

 

Autta Sylliboy

Community Health Leader & Educator

Autta Sylliboy is a community leader dedicated to the health of children, youth, their families and communities.

 

 

Frederick R. McDonald

Advisor

Frederick R. McDonald is an advisor and contributor to BRAVE Education. Fred is an international, award-winning artist - a painter, poet and photographer - and a member of the Fort McKay First Nation.

Fred was born in Fort McMurray and raised in the bush along the Athabasca River, brought up in the traditional hunting and trapping lifestyle of his parents. Although he has travelled far and wide, Fred’s heart is still with his community and he continues to be an active member of the Fort McKay band. His children and his grandchildren are his inspiration for everything he does and they are ultimately his greatest creation.

 

Amelie

Researcher and Educator

Amelie is in her final year of university majoring in behavioral science and minoring in dance. Amelie has been involved in BRAVE education as a student intern, youth mentor and educator.

 

Lukas

Youth Advocate and Educator

Lukas is an engineering student at UBC who assists BRAVE with social media work, curriculum development, school presentations and bilingual adaptations.

 

Marilyn Bushell

Former Governor of Alberta, Montana, Saskatchewan and Northern Wyoming (AMS&NW) District of Optimist International

A champion of BRAVE Education for Trafficking from the time of its conception, Marilyn a multi-generational member of the Dinner Optimist Club of Calgary and invoked for over 26 years. When president of the club, she was compelled to help launch BRAVE Education for Trafficking Prevention after learning this horrific act happens everywhere. 

 

Denise Dolph

Optimist President, Entrepreneur and Human Resource Development Professional

Denise is a third-generation member of Optimist clubs in Calgary and is currently President of the Dinner Optimist Club of Calgary. Denise is excited about BRAVE Education’s mission to educate about the prevention of human trafficking. With a son, daughter and twin granddaughters, she was stunned to learn how prevalent trafficking is even in her own country, bringing the phrase, “There, but for the grace of God, go I,” close to home. Denise is starting to get itchy feet and is ready to explore the world again.

 

Paula Hammel

Supporter and Connector

As a former RN in child and infant health, Paula’s innate instinct is to protect children. She served previously as the Provincial Coordinator of the Joy Smith Foundation, and has continued to garner expertise and lobby for change. Paula says:  “Children are our future and I feel we must invest in them through preventative health and safety measures." It is our duty as their trusted caregivers and the adults in their lives that are watching out for them to provide this life-saving education. They are, after all, someone’s valued and beloved child. We must embrace our responsibility as adults to be the village that surrounds all children to nurture them in the best ways possible enabling their optimum growth and development.

 

Alyssa

Community Leader and Educator

Alyssa is a Registered Clinical Counsellor living in Nelson, BC.  She has been passionate about supporting those who have experienced trafficking, educating young people about healthy relationships, and bringing awareness about the realities of human trafficking since 2018. Her experience working in London, Ontario, as a youth outreach worker for those who had experienced or were currently experiencing sex-trafficking made her aware of how common it was, as well as the long-term traumatic effects experienced by young people  who had been been victimized (or a perpetrator) of sex-trafficking. It was clear that often individuals experienced both roles simultaneously, given how trafficking works. She moved to Nelson, BC, in 2019 and began working in a Transition Home for women fleeing violence, while completing her Masters in Counselling. Alyssa went to a conference in 2020 for BC Transition Homes, where BRAVE gave a powerful keynote presentation, and knew this was a perfect opportunity to get involved again with anti-trafficking work. Alyssa now has a private counselling practice, and remains extremely passionate about this topic, of helping with prevention through awareness and education.