Roxanne Joyal

Topics

Presentations

Citizen Engagement
Learn how to engage and empower people of all ages to embrace active citizenship at the local, national and international level. Sharing inspirational stories and effective action strategies, Roxanne coaches audience members in how to make a difference in the world and inspire others to do the same.

Women’s Empowerment and Mentorship
What does empowerment mean for women and how can it be achieved? Drawing on the experiences which led her to be selected as one of 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada, Roxanne shares her unique perspective on these all-important questions and explores effective empowerment strategies that women can use to transform their lives.

The Law and It’s Power
Whether you’re interested in learning more about the letter of the law or exploring its transformative potential in any number of different areas, Roxanne effectively cuts through the jargon to enable audiences to understand this powerful social policy tool and its uses.

Improving our National and Global Community

Empowering through Enterprise

Summary Profile

Roxanne Joyal is a founding member of Free The Children and Me to We. A former parliamentary page in the Canadian House of Commons, her involvement with development work began at a young age, spending six months in the Klong Toey slum of Bangkok, Thailand, where she cared for mothers and children afflicted with AIDS.

With the involvement of 3,500 Youth in Action chapters and schools, Free The Children has built more than 650 schools throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America, providing daily education to more than 55,000 children in 16 countries. Through its Adopt a Village development model, it has established more than 30,000 alternative income projects to assist women and their families in achieving sustainable incomes.

Me to We is a social enterprise encourages ethical living and social responsibility, while also aiming to bring Free The Children's already low administrate rate to 0%, ensuring every penny goes to charitable programs. Me to We includes carbon-neutral international volunteer travel programs, leadership camps, a publishing house, a speakers bureau, the largest organic made-in-Canada clothing line and an Artisan store.

Roxanne graduated with distinction from Stanford after completing a degree in international relations. Upon winning a coveted Rhodes Scholarship, she went on to complete a law degree at Oxford University with an emphasis on family and labor law. Roxanne completed her legal training by clerking for the Supreme Court of Canada in 2005.

Roxanne leads Free The Children's social and economic empowerment initiatives in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Sierra Leone and South Africa.

She also heads Free The Children's micro-lending initiative in Kenya, which seeks to empower women through micro-enterprise.

In her work with Me to We, Roxanne established the Kenya School of the Savannah, a first-of-its-kind facility, designed to educate and engage youth and adults through international volunteer adventures.

Roxanne has been featured as "Faces of the Future: 100 Young Canadians to Watch" in Maclean's magazine, and she is an Action Canada Fellow. In 2005, Roxanne was selected by the Women's Executive Network's Top 100: Canada's Most Powerful Women. Her work has been extensively covered by the CBC, the Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen and the Winnipeg Free Press.