Judy Finlay is an associate professor in the Faculty of Community Services has been faculty member in the School of Child and Youth Care since 2007.
She is currently the co-chair and principal investigator of the Cross-Over Youth Project, which is designed to learn ways to interrupt the trajectory of youth in the care of the state from entering the youth justice system.
Finlay’s current research (in which she is also the principal investigator) includes:Mamow Ki-ken-da-ma-win: Searching Together: Enhancing wellness through a partnership-based approach to child, family and community in First Nations in remote northern Ontario.
She is a member of the Child and Family Services Review Board and Custody Review Board with the Social Justice Tribunal of Ontario.
Finlay was the longest standing child and youth advocate in Canada and was Ontario’s chief advocate from 1991 to 2007.
She has worked for more than three decades in the areas of child welfare and children's mental health. Finlay has participated in the development of children’s rights agendas, youth capacity building and leadership and community development in Mexico, Jamaica, Japan, Guatemala and Sierra Leone.