From Mitzie Hunter — President & CEO of the Canadian Women’s Foundation

The New Year often carries a sense of renewal—of hope and purpose. After the first few weeks of 2025, you may be struggling to hold onto that feeling. We’re in the midst of major national and global shifts that can make us feel powerless.

Do not despair. This isn’t the first time we’ve navigated unprecedented, unthinkable, and unpredictable change.

We, at the Canadian Women’s Foundation, with our steadfast community of partners, donors, and supporters, have remained a bold force for positive change since 1991. Our strong legacy has brought people together through our shared goal of building safety, power, support, and rights for women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans, and nonbinary people all over Canada.

Together with you, we will continue to champion gender equality.

We will continue to empower women, girls, and gender-diverse people who face multiple barriers. Women like Vinaya, a graduate of the Dream Cuisines program in Vancouver, BC, which supports newcomer women to launch food businesses. She says: “The program gave me and other newcomer women a runway to take off and fly, empowering us with business skills, confidence, and community.” Vinaya is now running her own business, Elaichi Patisserie.

Hers is one of the many lives transformed thanks to your support. In our 2023-2024 fiscal year, we impacted 1,172,621 lives from coast to coast to coast, funding:

  • 498 programs serving Black women and girls
  • 473 programs serving First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities
  • 504 programs serving people living with disabilities
  • 511 programs serving newcomers
  • 506 programs serving people in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community
  • And so much more…

That kind of impact isn’t possible without strong leadership, and I’m grateful to my predecessor, Senator Paulette Senior, for her indelible imprint on the Foundation and its people. She continues to inspire us and shape the future of gender equality in Canada through her work in the Senate.

Since I joined the Foundation as President and CEO six months ago, there have been so many moments where I’ve felt the power of our collective impact. Some of them include:

  • Proudly marking Emancipation Month in August knowing that the Foundation supports almost 500 programs throughout Canada that serve Black women and girls.
  • Feeling energized by the powerful conversations and connections made between diverse women entrepreneurs at our Feminist Business Summit in Montreal in September.
  • The thrill of announcing millions of dollars in investments to strengthen our work in the North – from Whitehorse, Yukon, to Kuujjuaq, Quebec (and beyond!) – in December. We are so grateful to Women and Gender Equality Canada and Definity Insurance Foundation for supporting Indigenous-led initiatives to address the unique challenges experienced by women, girls, and gender-diverse people in this region. This work will be guided by the Northern Women and Girls Advisory Committee and our new Northern Manager, Alyssa Carpenter, founding leader of the Western Arctic Youth Collective and 2024 Young Inuk Woman of the Year named by Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada—welcome to the team Alyssa!
  • Feeling honoured to receive a $1 million gift from the Slaight Family Foundation that enables us, in partnership with DAWN Canada, to launch The Root Change Initiative to address gender-based violence and disability and build a network of support throughout the country.
  • Being proud to partner with Canada Innovates on the launch of the Women Founders Investment Preparedness Program, starting this month. The program will provide access to mentorship, expertise on investment preparedness, and an investor partner network to help women and gender-diverse participants grow their businesses.

Reflecting on what we can accomplish together renews my hope in the face of many gendered challenges ahead.

We know that our work is more essential than ever. And you play a key role in making it happen, as part of our active and engaged community. From the 82,000+ people who’ve signed up to be Signal For Help Responders, to the overwhelming responses we received from our AwarePod campaign and the launch of our Feminist Creator Prize, we’re seeing more people taking part in conversations about power, safety, rights, and support for women, girls, and gender-diverse people in all spaces, from the digital and the private all the way to the public.

This is just a slice of what this community can achieve. Imagine what’s possible with more support from people like you.

Please help us spread the word and invite your family, friends, coworkers, and more to join the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s community at yescountmein.ca. Together, we will raise our voice and strengthen spaces so that women, girls, and gender-diverse people have what they need to thrive now and into the future. You can help us realize another year of transformative impact in 2025.

In solidarity,

Mitzie Hunter — President & CEO of the Canadian Women’s Foundation