Our team
President
Francine Leduc
For over 20 years, Francine Leduc has been involved in several non-profit organizations and has served on several boards of directors and executive committees. She co-founded the Center of resources for independent living in Metropolitan Montreal (today Independent living – Montreal) in 2001.
She is always available to participate in meetings, debates and all other forms of questions that relate to the full participation of people in a situation of handicap.
She is on the lookout for everything that has to do with and, as well, what can improve universal accessibility, either through her trips, activities, etc. She also advocates for the recognition of our rights and skills in society.
She has been a member of RAPLIQ since its foundation. From then on, she was able to provide them with all my experiences and knowledge acquired during my life.
General Manager
Steven Laperrière
RAPLIQ’s General manager since November 2019, previously entrepreneur in commercial maintenance for 20 years, passionate about municipal politics and involved in his borough of LaSalle and also in Montreal. He has several interventions to his credit during the various citizen question periods of the various bodies.
Through his involvement, he hopes to contribute by improving the quality of life of people and to prove to the young people who will follow us that it is possible to get involved in an organization or in politics, and to do it with the heart, the guts, the head and with honor to inspire them to get involved.
With several strings to his bow, he is very fluent in writing, specially letters of a political nature. He has an excellent sense of judgment and is a good conciliator. He assists people who have suffered discrimination with their complaint before the Human Rights Commissions (Quebec and Canadian). His philosophy: “No longer accept the unacceptable.”
Senior consultant and administrator
Linda Gauthier
She is co-founder, main consultant and spokesperson for the organization. Designer of several RAPLIQ projects, she is also in charge of public relations for the organization. She assists people with functional limitations who are victims of discriminatory or even criminal situations by drafting their complaints and assisting them at the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse or the Canadian Human Rights Commission (mediation, investigation, court) and accompanies them until the file is closed.
She is also a trainer and speaker and participates as a panellist on tables discussing issues related to people with disabilities, sometimes more.
She actively participates in numerous commissions and public consultations. In terms of discrimination, she is very interested in various systems of oppression such as racism, sexism and particularly ableism. Intersectionality is also one of his major concerns and will certainly be the subject of a possible dissertation.
She sits on the advisory committees of the Régie du Bâtiment du Québec (RBQ) and the Canadian Transportation Agency (OTC). She is also a member of the advisory committee of the “Network for Peace and Social Harmony”.
Vice-president
Dr. Christophe Bedos
Dr. Christophe Bedos is a citizen who does not tolerate discrimination of all kinds and who dreams of a united and inclusive society.
A dentist by training, he is also a professor at McGill University.
In his research, as in his teaching activities, he emphasizes access to care and the fight against exclusion.
Treasurer
Laurent Morissette
Laurent Morissette is very ordinary…even regular. And nice… that’s what strangers say. Passionate about the five senses, he knows how to use his openness and liveliness to carry on multiple projects in the midst of a busy academic life. He joined RAPLIQ shortly after its founding; having been convinced that inclusion in Québec is a fight against windmills. He will not back down until the windmills no longer turn their blades! Inclusion, equality and human values…until the last breath!
Secretary
Sylvain Plourde
Sylvain has always been “sensitive” to the inequalities in our privileged society which unfortunately does not succeed in eliminating them. He believes in the importance of involvement in working to improve the society in which we live. He works in the multimedia and entertainment industry with studios that develop special effects for the cinema, animation studios and others!
Executive assistant
Brigitte Nadon
Aware of what was later called “her privileges” from her early childhood, she often went against the grain, preferring to go towards what seemed right to her.
So followed her adult life, defending rights rather than capital and, faced with the obligation to earn a living, the community work was her salvation.
It was with a bit of luck, when a friend called in 2013, that she was struck by ableism. Since then, she has worked in various organizations fighting against this form of discrimination.
It is with great pride that she joined the RAPLIQ family in January 2021.
Administrator
Serge Bélisle
Serge was surprisingly diagnosed with diabetes on February 26, 1999 and he has been completely blind since August 28, 1999.
He got involved right away on the board of directors of the “Association des diabétiques du Nord de Montréal” from the Sacré-Coeur Hospital. He became a spokesperson for the “Diabète Québec’s” awareness campaigns. He has been on the board of directors of the Center resources for independent living in Metropolitan Montreal (today Independent living – Montreal).
He has voluntarily given several awareness-raising conferences in schools and with the Montreal Chamber of Commerce for school dropouts. He is a certified approved trainer &specialist: food, hotel and tourism.
Since 2019, he co-hosts the radio show “Juste pour voir” for which he is solely responsible for the content.
He is very proud to be part of the RAPLIQ family and its board of directors where he can exercise his strengths and his sense of justice.
Administrator
Jacques Bisson
Resident of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Jacques came to know RAPLIQ following his researches after being the victim of obvious discrimination in being refused access to a building because he was accompanied by his Mira’s assistance dog.
As coordinator in the community environment for many years, he created helping relationships. The last ten years, he has been a careful listener for a help line for an organization. To protect the beneficiary’s anonymity, we will not name the association) and he created the website mavilleaccessible.com which is all about accessibility.
” I have the rights of people with disabilities in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and its region at heart. The RAPLIQ is unfortunately unknown around here. People from the region will have the chance to benefit from the experience and expertise of RAPLIQ.”
Administrator
Amélie Allard
I obtained a bachelor’s degree in international development and globalization at the University of Ottawa in 2016. I learned Spanish in Guatemala for two and a half months, where I learned that with a lot of will, it is possible to work miracles and be universally accessible, even with very little financial means. I returned to live in Quebec in 2019 to be closer to my family.
For me, universal accessibility must first go through a collective change in the mentality of society. For a long time, I have observed inequalities in universal accessibility here in Quebec. I will work until I die for universal accessibility. So I decided to join the RAPLIQ team so that together we could work to move it forward.
Administrator
Emmanuelle Champagne
Emmanuelle is a woman involved in her community with various causes. The inclusion of people with disabilities is one of them, as is the fight against discrimination in all its forms. She knew RAPLIQ when she herself was the victim of discrimination. It was then that she was charmed by the beauty of this group, by its energy and by its desire to improve the daily lives of people who, like her, live with a disability. Since then, she has wanted to join forces with the latter to defend a more inclusive Quebec. The file of accessibility to accommodation resources for women victims of domestic violence with disabilities is particularly close to her heart and she does not hesitate to speak about it to the media. The unconditional fight against domestic violence is just one of the many values she has vowed to pass on to her newborn daughter.
Emmanuelle is also a speaker and trainer in mental health with frontline workers. Over the years, she has also been a member of several boards of directors. She also participates in committees that aim to include people with disabilities.
In her professional life, Emmanuelle is an editor and author. According to her, writing is an ally and a powerful tool to defend the values that are close to her heart.
Administrator
Michel G. Pigeon
Having been involved in various organizations and associations by and for people with disabilities, both in Gatineau and in Quebec and Montreal, since the age of 16, it is with great pleasure that I recently joined the RAPLIQ board of directors.
Universal accessibility, social, academic and professional inclusion have always been among the top priorities in my life, so that we can achieve our true potential. My involvement with RAPLIQ aims to continue to advocate for people with disabilities to finally be recognized as full citizens of society, in order to eliminate disguised discrimination against people with disabilities.
Professionally, I have been a CNESST customer relations officer in the Labor Standards sector since 2007 and a union representative at the SFPQ for several years.
(photo to come)