Kharoll-Ann Souffrant, RSW, MSW

Born in Montreal and of Haitian origin, Kharoll-Ann Souffrant is a social worker and speaker. She is a doctoral student at the University of Ottawa and a Vanier scholarship recipient. Her thesis focuses on sexual violence experienced by Black women in Quebec in connection with the #MoiAussi (#MeToo) movement of 2017 and #AgressionNonDénoncée (#BeenRapedNeverReported) movement of 2014. Kharoll-Ann holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in social work from McGill University and a college diploma in Youth and Adult Correctional Intervention from the Collège Ahuntsic. She has worked as a volunteer, counsellor and social worker with populations with a variety of psychosocial difficulties as well as in the health and social services network for the past 16 years. Her activism began as a kid.

In recent years, Kharoll-Ann has become particularly known for her activism against sexual violence against women and for promotion of mental health. She has been a sought after speaker since 2015. Kharoll-Ann is regularly called upon to participate in the media on themes related to her areas of expertise. She is a columnist for À Babord, a journal of politics and social movements as well as Ricochet Media. She is currently writing her first essay to be published in 2021 with Les Éditions du remue-ménage titled 'Le privilège de dénoncer' (The Privilege to Report) focusing on sexual violence and minority women survivors in Quebec. For her commitment, Kharoll-Ann has received some twenty community and university awards including the Young Woman of Distinction award from the YWCA of Montreal, the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award and the Relève award from the Order of Social Workers of Québec. She was named one of the most distinguished personalities of 2016 by the Journal de Montréal and ELLE Québec magazine. Winner of Black History Month in 2020, Kharoll-Ann was included in a list of 100 Black women to watch across the country published on the occasion of the Canada International Black Women Event. She has been an Action Canada Fellow for 2020/21.

Kharoll-Ann has been recently selected as a 2020 United Nations Fellow for People of African Descent by the Office of High Commissioner of Human Rights in the context of the UN International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024).

Often described as a quiet force, Kharoll-Ann aspires to a career in teaching and university research in social work. Through each of her actions, she fervently wishes to embody the adult she needed when she was younger, for the greatest number of people.

She is fluent in English, French and Haitian Creole.

Sub-specialties:

hashtag activism
Quebec
sexualized violence against Black and/or minority women
online social movements
how to respond to sexual assault disclosures
Canadian Social Work