Melanie Lefebvre

Research and report writing, data analysis, recommendations

I have been a communications specialist for over 20 years, working extensively with clients to develop appropriate and effective strategies to achieve success. Some of these strategies have included annual reports, newsletters, brochures, policies, press releases, speeches, web content, and more. My clients have included Indigenous governing bodies, Indigenous community organizations and educational institutions, medical companies, environmental organizations, and financial and resources industry corporations, which required developing sensitive messaging to stakeholders around contentious topics. I have written extensively on Indigenous issues and realities in Canada through journalistic contributions, reports and strategic communications materials. As an Indigenous person I have a solid perspective on the realities and needs as they pertain to public policy, social and economic systems, and more. For the past 7 years I have been working closely with the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal advocating for the rights of Indigenous children and their families to acquire safe and culturally appropriate services. Together with Concordia University, we conducted a multi-year study to determine the proportion of families served by Youth Protection that were Indigenous and to understand what tools social workers and other clinical intervention staff needed to provide better services and what some of the obstacles were to providing culturally-appropriate services.