A rebel, a renegade: Dr. Wraychel Gilmore crosses the Convocation stage ready to take her child and youth advocacy further
When Wraychel Gilmore lost her mother at a young age, she had a moment of truth that has propelled her into an immense calling.
In that time, her law librarian father insisted on driving her to the Maritimes to see family. It was a detour on that trip that changed Gilmore – to the Supreme Court of Canada.
“[On the tour] My father turned to the last row of seats in the gallery, and he's like, ‘This is where my colleagues from my law firm sit with the research I give them when they come to the Supreme Court,’” recalled Gilmore, who will cross the Convocation stage after successfully defending her doctoral dissertation in the Department of Leadership, Higher, and Adult Education.
He just said it very quietly, she says, but it spoke loudly. “And I sat there and thought, ‘Oh, this is why we're here. You wanted to show me your work and your connectivity to decisions that are made in this country,” she said. “Here I am, a pissed off 16-year-old, mad at the world about everything, with a light bulb moment realizing I am four arms lengths away from the people who are making decisions about human rights in this country.”
Gilmore calcified this moment, building what has been a stellar career as a child and youth advocate. In her time, through the child and youth advocate office she was recruited to founded, she has chimed in on oversight of government services – including child protection and family violence issues, and complex mental health service access for tens of thousands of children and youth. She has even served as an expert witness in the Canadian Senate advocating for a National Commissioner, being the only adult to bring youth delegates into the proceedings.
And now, her dissertation will be re-worked as a trade publication, “Rebels and Renegades: Youth Political Engagement in the 21st Century,” to be published by Dundurn Press in 2026.
From there to here
Before she became an author with a doctorate, she found OISE after some soul searching.
“I came to OISE because I wanted to take the next step in the evolution of my positionality in the sector, that the credibility of getting the Willy Wonka golden ticket, the alphabet soup after your name, the doctoral degree immediately elevates your authenticity,” she says.
But, her professional journey with OISE was more than gaining more influence and clout. She wanted a place to connect with folks who deeply care about their subject material. Her parents walked these hallowed U of T and OISE halls, and the connections made here have been lifelong.
“There was that communal sense of home, that my parents had always instilled in me,” she says.
And, as it happens, her background helped her hit the ground running with doctoral studies over the last few years.
“That's what my supervisor has said to me – that I was capable as the researcher to do the topic I chose because I had the ability to ‘research up’. I had that positionality, of credibility, in political spheres, in the Child Rights sector, in youth advocacy,” says Gilmore.
Daniyal Zuberi, who served on Gilmore’s dissertation supervisory committee – which was chaired by Professor Lance McCready – first saw that potential in the Spring term of 2022, when she completed an independent study course under his supervision.
“I was impressed with her performance in the course and in particular, her final paper on youth involvement in policy-making processes,” says Zuberi, Professor of Social Policy at Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. “I also appreciated her extensive practice experience as an advocate for children. After this course, I was very pleased to be invited to join her PhD dissertation supervisory committee.”
He saw her passion around youth participation in policy, how it “motivated her to design and propose an ambitious doctoral dissertation research project.”
“Over the past several years, Wraychel has been deeply engaged with the academic literature through her courses and research,” said Zuberi. “She built on unique insights and perspectives from her policy experience in order to successfully complete an innovative and important original research project for her dissertation on the experiences of policymakers and their learning from youth participation in advocacy and the policy process.”
Rebels and renegades
Her doctoral dissertation, titled, “Youth Political Consultation: Understanding the factors and conditions of adults learning human rights lessons from marginalized youth to drive policy and systemic change,” focuses on “the rebels and renegades at the highest levels of policy development work in Canada” – that is, folks who are breaking the rules, calling out their colleagues, and standing up to say the system itself is broken.
Her dissertation, a qualitative interview study with 23 elected and appointed national figures, where folks like former Ontario Premier and now UN Ambassador Bob Rae, OISE alumni and Order of Canada recipient Irwin Elman and Senators Stan Kutcher and Marilou McPhedran shared stories from their careers, striving to make space for the voices of those who know what is happening here and now within our schools, mental health supports, and child protection services.
For Gilmore, it doesn’t escape her that, as a child and youth advocate, that her OISE scholarship has been based in a department for adult learners.
“I came to the realization that actually what I was interested in researching was how adults are learning when youth come in the door for political consultation,” said Gilmore. She owes much of her structure and direction in this time to Professor McCready’s wisdom and leadership.
“Here I am saying I'm going to do a multi-year, federal research project but there's no youth voice in it. Lance gave me that emotional space and permission to realize that I could pause my professional work – I will actually be of service to young people – to figure out what's happening on the other side of the table.”
Her dissertation seeks to see how adults are learning about youth participation, the factors and conditions of their motivations to lead and learn. For Gilmore, folks like Rae and Elman approach youth political consultation with a shared history, knowledge and values in how they view the human rights of youth – specifically, how consultations can and should be conducted.
Clearly, youth have a pivotal role to play in the political landscape that exists and the one that will be shaped over the coming years and generations. “Youth are experts in their own lives. Are they evidence or are they experts? If you treat them with humanity, they are experts. Hands down.” says Gilmore.
Professor Marvin Zuker, who served as an internal-external examiner for Gilmore’s dissertation, felt her strong passion for youth participation.
“There is so much to the value of a rights-based approach, that all rights are equal and universal, that all people, including, yes, as Wraychel so powerfully projects, children and youth, are the subject of their own rights and should be active participants in their development, rather than objects of charity,” says Zuker, a Professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education.
“Wraychel has become the advocate for children and their rights and engaging them directly to understand from their points of view what decision makers must do. It is about a rights-based approach. It is about the voice of the child, and having the emotional courage to ask the right questions,” he adds, emphasizing the notion of child’s voice.
The finish line
And within that fiery passion, Gilmore grabbed the bull, her dissertation, by the horns. She defended and finished her studies in three-and-a-half years, all while still working full-time in her consultancy. She was allotted about six years to complete her work.
“Over the course of her doctoral studies, Wraychel has learned to balance academic pursuits with advocacy,” says Zuberi. She wasn’t satisfied with only making academic contributions with her research, and is pleased to see Dundurn Press pick up the manuscript.
“It has been a privilege to see Wraychel challenge herself, learn and thrive over her doctoral career, and look forward to the policy change she creates moving forward.”
With the doctor title bestowed, Gilmore hasn’t lost a step in her advocacy work, but she starting to feel a measure of imposter syndrome.
“I sit on a national board, and last night, one of my fellow directors was walking to the subway with me and said, ‘Okay, so Dr Gilmore—', and I'm like, ‘Okay, you get one free pass, but if you don't call me Wraychel, I'm kicking your shins,” she said, jokingly.
“If I'm going to be introduced as a keynote, or if I'm there in that professional capacity, wearing that hat, yes, absolutely, I want to be called Dr. Wraychel Gilmore, blah, blah, blah’” she added. “I'm still me. It’s still a massive accomplishment, but imposter syndrome is real.”
Wraychel’s continuing advocacy and research can be followed at www.renegadeconsulting.org.