Alright, Now What? (Canadian Women's Foundation)

With Nina Jankowicz, author of How to Be a Woman Online: Surviving Abuse and Harassment, and How to Fight Back. Whether you’re on social media, streaming platforms, game sites, or dating, messaging, and meeting apps, if you’re a woman, girl, or Two Spirit, trans, or non-binary person, you’re at greater risk of hate, harassment, and violence.  

1 in 5 women experience online harassment in Canada. Young women, racialized women, and 2SLGBTQIA+ people are amongst those who face higher risks. Canada’s rising rate hate crimes is in large part due to increased hate in digital spaces against women, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and targeted ethnic and religious groups. 

Gendered digital hate, harassment, and abuse happens every day. It’s pervasive, urgent, and growing. You deserve to be safe and free from harm. 

Over coming months, we’re delving into this with experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every week. We’ll offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we’ll talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Nina Jankowicz joins us today, an internationally-recognized expert on disinformation and democratization and the author of two books: How to Lose the Information War (Bloomsburg Academic, 2020) and How to Be A Woman Online (Bloomsburg Academic, 2022), an examination of online abuse and disinformation and tips for fighting back. She is Vice President at the Centre for Information Resilience, a non-profit focused on countering disinformation. She has advised governments, international organizations, and tech companies, and testified before the US Congress, UK Parliament, and European Parliament.  

In 2022, Jankowicz was appointed to lead the US Disinformation Governance Board, an intra-agency best practices and coordination entity at the Department of Homeland Security; she resigned the position after a sustained disinformation campaign. From 2017 to, 2022, she has held fellowships at the Wilson Center, where she led research about the effects of disinformation on women and freedom of expression. She advised the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on strategic communications under the auspices of a Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy Fellowship in 2016 and 2017. Early in her career, she managed democracy assistance programs to Russia and Belarus at the National Democratic Institute. 

Content note: this episode addresses gender-based violence. 

Relevant Links: How to Be a Woman Online: Surviving Abuse and Harassment, and How to Fight Back (Bloomsburg Academic, 2022), The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence

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Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

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International Women’s Day as we know it grew out of early 20th century action to promote women’s rights and suffrage. After that, its popularity waned. But feminist activism of the 1960s and UN sponsorship of the day in 1975 revitalized it as an occasion to promote women’s rights around the globe.

We need to remember gender justice activism as more than a single movement, as many intertwined movements across many communities. It’s easy to forget how dynamic and evolving these movements have been. We are particularly thankful today to intersectional feminist thought-leaders for addressing how the diversity of our experiences both converge and diverge. They see justice for one as intrinsically tied to justice for all, and nothing less will do.

In this vein, we’re interviewing Dr. Dawn Lavell Harvard, Ph.D., on her take on what it means to Indigenize International Women’s Day. Indigenization as a process of naturalizing Indigenous knowledge to transform spaces, places, and hearts. “The goal is not to replace Western knowledge with Indigenous knowledge,” says Pulling Together: A Guide for Curriculum Developers, “... Indigenization can be understood as weaving or braiding together two distinct knowledge systems so that learners can come to understand and appreciate both.”

Dr. Harvard is a proud member of the Wikwemikong First Nation, the first Aboriginal Trudeau Scholar, and has worked to advance the rights of Aboriginal women as the President of the Ontario Native Women’s Association since she was first elected in 2003. She is Director for First Peoples House of Learning at Trent University and was President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada. She is mother of three girls. Following in the footsteps of her mother Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, a noted advocate for Indigenous women’s rights, Dawn has been working toward the empowerment of Aboriginal women and their families ever since joining the Board of the Ontario Native Women Association as a youth director in 1994. She is also a co-editor of the original volume on Indigenous Mothering, “Until Our Hearts Are on the Ground: Aboriginal Mothering, Oppression, Resistance and Rebirth,” and has released a book along with Kim Anderson, “Mothers of the Nations.” Recently, Dawn co-edited a book with Jennifer Brant, entitled “Forever Loved:  Exposing the Hidden Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada.”

Relevant links: Pulling Together: A Guide for Curriculum Developers (Antoine, A., Mason, R., Mason, R., Palahicky, S. & Rodriguez de France, C., 2018), First Peoples House of Learning at Trent University

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Episode Transcripts 

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As we move into the holiday season, we have seen more news stories about gender-based violence. For every case we do learn about, there are many we don't know about. Those facing violence aren't always safe enough to tell anyone what's happening. Sometimes, they fear a response of judgement, disbelief, or retaliation. And sometimes the response they get is a complicated mixed bag with both positive and negative elements. Addressing gender-based violence and the gender injustice that underlies it means reflecting on these complexities and paying attention to diverse experiences of survivors. Laura, a friend of the Canadian Women's Foundation, shares her personal experiences and insights about the key ingredients of a better response to signs and signals of abuse.

Content note: this episode features a personal experience of intimate partner violence. If you need access to support, you can find a list of services that may be useful to you on our website. 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

Episode transcript

Be a Signal for Help Responder: signalresponder.ca or text SIGNAL to 540-540

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The Canadian Women's Foundation acknowledges the support of Women and Gender Equality Canada.

Northern Canada experiences some of the highest rates of violence, poverty, and health concerns and lower access to basic services. Legacies of colonialism and residential schools have eroded local connectedness and sense of identity.

Indigenous gender justice leaders in the North know the solutions to these challenges and what women, girls, and gender-diverse people need to reclaim connections to land and culture. They’re catalysts for sustainable and healthy futures.

Delma Autut leads the Northern Strategy, a granting partnership between Canadian Women’s Foundation and MakeWay Foundation. With the guidance of the Northern Women and Girls Advisory Committee, strong relationships have been built with groups like Northern Birthwork Collective, which leads an Accessible Doula Support Program and Indigenous Doula Training, and Messy Book Program of Arctic Rose Foundation, which leads after-school programming for girls and youth. Delma shares some of the live issues in the North and what it means to take Indigenizing approaches to building gender justice in the region.

Learn more about the Northern Strategy

Episode Transcript

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

Visit our website and donate today: canadianwomen.org

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We’ve spent four episodes breaking down just how deeply COVID-19 is impacting women, and particularly low-income, racialized, and gender-diverse folks. But the question remains – what are we doing about it? And how can you help? This final episode is about the future of us, and that means all of us.

We’re working on bringing you a second season, and we’re so excited about it. But for now, we have some pressing new data we need to share with you.

Content note: this episode addresses gender-based violence.

Anna Maria Tremonti and Eternity Martis are iconic voices in Canadian media. Both of them have shared their stories of facing intimate partner violence and the shame, silencing, and stigma that came with it. 

They joined the Canadian Women’s Foundation, Women’s Shelters Canada, and YWCA Canada in a dynamic conversation last week. This episode includes part of their conversation.

Anna Maria Tremonti is a long-time journalist for the CBC. She served as senior reporter for The National and hosted The Current until 2019. In February 2022, she published “Welcome to Paradise”, a podcast memoir — and for the first time ever, she disclosed her experience in a marriage to an abusive husband.

Eternity Martis is a journalist and editor who has worked with The Huffington Post, Chatelaine, Maclean’s, CBC, The Walrus, and more. In 2021, she published “They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up”, her bestselling memoir of her experiences with racism, partner abuse, and so much more at university.

Stay tuned for the full conversation, available soon on our YouTube channel.

Be a Signal for Help Responder: signalresponder.ca

Episode transcript

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

Visit our website and donate today: canadianwomen.org

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation

The Canadian Women's Foundation acknowledges the support of Women and Gender Equality Canada.

With Monica Samuel, Founder and Executive Director of Black Women in Motion.

Understanding the abuse and discrimination Black women, girls, and gender-diverse people face offers insight on how we can better support their healing journeys.

Misogynoir is a term coined by Dr. Moya Bailey to describe the distinctive form of anti-black sexism faced by Black women. As limited as race-based data collection in Canada is, the evidence is stunning.

Black women more likely than other groups of people to live in poverty. They're more likely to be paid less than white women. Though they are highly educated, they face disproportionate barriers to entrepreneurial financing and support. They’re racially profiled and over-incarcerated. They’re over-represented when it comes to chronic illnesses and infections like COVID-19.

Add misogynoir to the peril of gender-based violence, and you get studies that show that Black women are less likely to be taken seriously when they report violence. You find fewer responsive and relevant services for Black survivors of gendered abuse.

Starting this Black History/African Liberation Month and going all year around, how can we be changemakers in light of these longstanding problems?

Monica Samuel (She/Her) of Canadian Women's Foundation grantee partner Black Women in Motion joins us to talk about it.

Monica is an African-Caribbean settler living in T’karonto/Toronto, the Dish With One Spoon wampum treaty territory. She is an equity and anti-violence educator, consultant, community builder, and social entrepreneur. Her work as an educator over the last 11 years has focused on anti-oppression, mental health, sexual health, community economic development, and gender-based violence. She has worked with dozens of businesses and academic institutions. Monica is Founder and Executive Director Black Women in Motion, a Toronto-based, survivor-led, grassroots organization that empowers and supports the advancement of Black survivors of gender-based violence. As an advocate, Monica’s work in the non-profit sector is focused on confronting the deep-rooted and sustained impacts of anti-black racism and gender-based violence and re-imagining systems that truly serve the whole of society and not a few. Celebrated in Canada as 2019’s Top 100 Black Women to watch, Monica’s dedication and approach to social justice work have created trauma-informed and culturally-centred resources and opportunities for Black survivors and Black youth across the Greater Toronto Area.

Relevant Links: Three Essential Insights for Black History Month, Black Women in Motion

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

Episode Transcripts

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With Munira Abukar at Stitch Lab T.O.

Women are more likely to live in low-income households than men, especially single mothers. Indigenous women, racialized women, women with disabilities, and trans people also face a high risk of poverty.

Economic stability is the ultimate goal of the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s Investment Readiness Program, funded by the Government of Canada’s Social Innovation/Social Finance Strategy. It equips women and Two Spirit, trans, and non-binary people to succeed in social entrepreneurship.

When they launch their own business ventures, many of them think: how can I generate revenue and help my community at the same time? How can I do business while making the world a better place? The fact that these entrepreneurs face disproportionate barriers to starting businesses and getting financing means we miss out on the economic benefits of their success and on the positive social, cultural, and environmental impact they could create to help us all.

Caught in the daily news cycle of rising costs and inequities, Investees of our Investment Readiness Program are a bright spot. Munira Abukar represents one such Investee in Toronto, Ontario. She’s Project Coordinator of Social Enterprise at Scadding Court Community Centre and Co-Founder of Stitch Lab T.O. Stitch Lab works with local women designers to create their own one-of-a-kind products. It offers women skill development opportunities, and their products are made from repurposed and rescued fabric. Munira is a specialist high skills major with a focus on entrepreneurship. She’s also a former small business owner and long-time grassroots community organizer. She brings her community experience and love of textiles to Scadding Court Community Centre.

Relevant Links: Canadian Women’s Foundation Investment Readiness Program, Stitch Lab T.O.

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

Episode Transcripts

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With Katie Harper at Project Neutral. I’ve heard people say, “climate disaster knows no bounds”. There’s a sense in which that’s true. But impacts of climate change affect different people in Canada and around the world differently, depending on who they are.  

Women, girls, and gender-diverse people often experience harsher impacts of climate change, especially if they are marginalized due to racism, poverty, and other factors. They’re also an important part of effective climate solutions. Gender equality itself is a climate crisis solution. 

Guest Katie Harper is Senior Advisor at Project Neutral. She designs and delivers climate education and activation programs including Talk Climate to Me, an award-winning course for women and allies. Katie has worked on climate engagement in non-profit and corporate sectors for 15 years and holds a Masters in freshwater ecology from McGill University. She delights in stopping to talk to anyone looking at a map on a street corner, and that same desire to make people feel welcome animates her work talking about climate change, and helping people see themselves in a vibrant, healthy, climate-safe future. She lives in Treaty 13 Territory with her husband and two boys, and enjoys mentoring young people in nature connection at The Pine Project outdoor school. 

Relevant links: talkclimatetome.ca 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

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With Yamikani Msosa, Executive Director at the Ottawa Coalition To End Violence Against Women. Misogynoir, a term coined by Dr. Moya Bailey, describes the distinctive form of anti-Black sexism faced by Black women. We’ve explored it in previous episodes. How does it show up in digital spaces? 

The data available paints a distressing picture. UK and US data shows that racialized women are 34% more likely to be mentioned in abusive or problematic tweets than white women, and Black women are especially targeted. They are 84% more likely than white women to be mentioned in these tweets. 

In Canada, 44% of women and gender-diverse people aged 16 to 30 have been personally targeted by hate speech online. Those most likely to be targeted include Black women and gender-diverse people. 

Over coming episodes, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Our guest Yamikani Msosa (they/them) helps us understand these experiences so often under-recognized in research. Yamikani is a Black neurodivergent nonbinary award-winning activist and cultural worker on the stolen, traditional, and ancestral homelands of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation people. They are Executive Director at the Ottawa Coalition To End Violence Against Women. They co-chair the Advisory for Advancing Gender Equity for Black Women, Girls, and Gender Diverse Peoples in Canada Initiative and also founded SEEDS Yoga for Survivors. 

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence. 

Relevant links: Trisha Hersey (@thenapministry), The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

With Hillary LeBlanc, a winner of Canadian Women’s Foundation’s inaugural 2024 Feminist Creator Prize. As an Acadian-Senegalese woman, Hillary has spent her career working in the non-profit sector, sharing stories of those in marginalized communities she herself has lived experience in. Hillary founded BlackLantic, a podcast bringing East Coast voices to the world. As a journalist, she has written for Narcity, CBC, ByBlacks, Addicted Magazine, and more. She produced her own radio series and hosted several red carpets. Hillary has received distinction from the House of Commons, was named Digital Innovator at the Black Business Professionals Network Youth Changemaker Awards, and was nominated for Youth Entrepreneur of the Year by the Black Business Initiative. She holds a degree in English from l’Université de Moncton. 

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence, mental health, and addiction. 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

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X: @cdnwomenfdn 

With Monica Bancheri, Winner of the 2025 Feminist Creator Prize

Monica, also known as Gay Italian Nonna, is a queer, masculine-presenting lesbian, talk show host, and community builder dedicated to creating safe spaces for women and the LGBTQ+ community. Through her content and talk show, she helps people find connection, friendship, and belonging. Her Talk Show unMASCed shines a light on trans icons, LGBTQ+ leaders, inspirational women, and creatives- amplifying the voices that shape our culture.

Within her content, Nonna Monica speaks towards mental health and inclusive beauty content, ensuring all women feel seen and celebrated. Her work is rooted in empowerment, representation, and fostering a meaningful community.

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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With Corinne Ofstie.

Content note: this episode addresses femicide. “December 6, 1989 was a terrible moment that became a transformative movement,” writes Canadian Women’s Foundation President and CEO Paulette Senior in The Toronto Star. “Every year on December 6, we need to revive the momentum anew. Advocates made sure that the 1989 massacre led to stricter firearm laws and new anti-violence efforts. We need the same energy in 2022 to end abuse in sports and male-dominated sectors, build safety for Indigenous women, Black and racialized women, women with disabilities, and others at elevated risk, and reverse rising rates of femicide, family violence, and sexual assault we’ve seen in Canada over the last few years. There is never a year when Dec. 6 should not rejuvenate our movement.”

We still have much to do to end this preventable violence. Many of us are mindful of and mourning the recent Winnipeg police announcement of charges laid against a man for the murder of four Indigenous women, a man linked to white supremacist ideology. Many of us are mindful of and mourning these rising rates of gender-based violence, the impact of which will reverberate for years.

Corinne Ofstie (she/her), Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services (AASAS), addresses the issue of femicide today. Amongst her other work, Corinne is a member of the Rebuilding Lives Committee for the Canadian Women’s Foundation and an Expert Advisory Panel member of Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability.

Corinne is a registered social worker with expertise working as a cross-sector coordinator within community, system and government organizations in both the sexual and domestic violence services sectors.  In her role with AASAS, Corinne works to achieve the goals and objectives of numerous special projects including the Healthier and Safer Alberta Workplaces project which includes an anti-workplace sexual harassment awareness campaign and training.  Among her many achievements, Corinne co-chaired the provincial Collaborative Justice Response to Sexual Violence Committee and was a member of the Gender Equality Network of Canada from 2017 to 2020. In 2018, Corinne was awarded Avenue Magazine’s #Top40Under40.

Relevant links: Be a Signal for Help Responder

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

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Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation

With Dr. Lee Airton, Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies in Education at Queen's University. International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia is coming up on May 17. 

The UN says that only one out of three countries legally protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Only one out of 10 protect people based on gender identity, and only a handful based on sex characteristics. 

We can’t end gender injustice without ending discrimination widely faced by 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. A 2023 Global News story reports that, “Canadian LGBTQ2 community members and advocates say the past year has been difficult and scary amid a notable rise in hate crimes, threats and protests against drag queens and transgender people in particular.” This tracks with a rise in police-reported hate crimes based on sexuality and gender identity, which rose nearly 60 per cent between 2019 and 2021 to the highest level in five years. 

Dr. Lee Airton (they/them) brings clarity in these tough times. Their research explores how Canadian K-12 education and teacher education are responding to gender identity and gender expression protections in human rights legislation. In 2012, Dr. Airton founded They Is My Pronoun, the first Q+A-based blog about gender-neutral pronoun usage and user support with over 30,000 visitors in 2017 alone. In 2016, Dr. Airton founded the No Big Deal Campaign, a national social media initiative that helps people show support for transgender peoples' right to have their pronouns used. In 2021, Dr. Airton and their research team launched gegi.ca, the first bilingual self-advocacy resource for K-12 students experiencing gender expression and gender identity discrimination at school. Dr. Airton's first book, Gender: Your Guide, offers practical steps for welcoming gender diversity in everyday life, and has been adopted as a key professional development text in teacher education programs, school districts, public sector and private sector organizations. With Dr. Susan Woolley, they recently edited Teaching About Gender Diversity: Teacher-Tested Lesson Plans for K-12 Classrooms.  

Relevant links: www.leeairton.com 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠⁠⁠canadianwomen.org⁠⁠⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor.  

Episode ⁠⁠⁠Transcripts⁠⁠⁠  

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LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠The Canadian Women’s Foundation ⁠⁠⁠  

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Feminist philanthropists aren't afraid to be challenged. This episode we're joined by Vidya Nair from the Equality Fund and Kerry-Jo Ford Lyn from the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice to discuss how we can undo some of our long-held fundraising best practices in order to move into meaningful action.

In this back-to-school season, we launched the Got Your Back campaign to support girls and gender-diverse young people in their struggles with mental health, healthy relationships, identity, belonging, and confidence in the pandemic. It got us thinking about future ramifications for diverse girls and young people – both millennials and Gen Z. We’re joined by Anjum Sultana, National Director of Public Policy & Strategic Communications at YWCA Canada, who shares what it would take to prevent a “lockdown generation” and why planning for the long-term is so important … especially since policy solutions too often take a short-term approach.

Support the Got Your Back Campaign

Read Preventing a Lockdown Generation: A Plan to Support Canada’s youth in post-pandemic recovery 

Visit our website and donate today: canadianwomen.org

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With Hazel T. Biana at DLSU College of Liberal Arts, Paola Ricaurte at Harvard University, Paulette Senior at the Canadian Women’s Foundation, and Benjamin Prud'homme at Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute. Artificial intelligence (AI) is moving at breakneck speed. What are its possible benefits for women and equity-seeking people? Can we implement AI in a way that doesn’t contribute to gender inequalities, harms, and injustices? How do we ensure no one is left out of decisions and implementation of this technology? 

Canadian Women’s Foundation President and CEO Paulette Senior joined in a fascinating panel on AI and Reducing Gender Based Inequalities at the June Conference of Montreal organized by the International Economic Forum of the Americas. You’ll hear clips of her and international experts speaking to benefits and pitfalls we have to act on if we want to achieve gender justice and avoid harms women and gender-diverse people are at risk of around the world in this massive technological tidal shift.  

We start with Hazel T. Biana, Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy at DLSU College of Liberal Arts. Then we move to Paola Ricaurte, Co-founder of Tierra Común, Associate Professor at Tecnológico de Monterrey and Faculty Associate at Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Next is Paulette herself, followed by Benjamin Prud'homme, Executive Director of AI for Humanity at Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute. 

The panel itself was moderated by Naser Faruqui, Director of Education and Science at International Development Research Centre. 

Relevant links: AI and Reducing Gender Based Inequalities panel on YouTube 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠canadianwomen.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor.   

Episode ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Transcripts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   

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Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@cdnwomenfdn ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   

LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Canadian Women’s Foundation ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@canadianwomensfoundation

With Suzie Dunn,  Interim Director of the Law and Technology Institute and an assistant professor at Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law.

Suzie Dunn's research centers on the intersections of equality, technology and the law, with a specific focus on technology-facilitated gender-based violence, artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and social media. She is a research partner on a four-year SSHRC funded research project on young people’s experiences with sexual violence online, DIY Digital Safety. She is also a Senior Fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation, and a member of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund technology-facilitated violence committee.

Suzie Dunn's Bluesky handle: @suziedunn.bsky.social

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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With Dr. Shafeena Premji, physician and Director of Mahogany Medical Clinic and The Village Medical, and Janet Ko, President of The Menopause Foundation of Canada. It’s interesting how Western medicine has framed women’s sexual and reproductive health. It has a history of presuming normalness means youth and reproduction, so ageing and not reproducing means “abnormal”. Take the term “menopause”, sometimes described as estrogen deficiency, a diminishment of ovarian activity, and a failure of endometrial development. 

No wonder we aren’t eager to talk about menopause. Of course, this ties to our cultural fear and loathing of getting older and the lack of medical research that accompanies it. It's particularly intense for women and gender-diverse people, who face ignorance and invisibility as they get older. 

Dr. Shafeena Premji and Janet Ko join us to dig into menopause – before, during, and after – and the gaps those who go through it contend with. 

Janet Ko is President and Co-Founder of The Menopause Foundation of Canada. Her personal journey to get support convinced her that menopause was an urgent gender equity issue. Janet has held numerous senior leadership positions and is an award-winning communicator. She’s dedicated to helping women thrive through their menopausal years as a passionate speaker and advocate.  

Dr. Shafeena Premji is a family physician and founder and director of Mahogany Medical Clinic and The Village Medical, where she offers prenatal care, women's health consultations, and a menopause clinic. Dr. Premji serves on Board of the Canadian Menopause Society and the Medical Advisory Board of the Menopause Foundation of Canada. She’s dedicated to supporting women through their menopausal transition and supporting her colleagues in identifying helpful menopausal treatments.

Relevant links: The Menopause Foundation of Canada 

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Episode ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Transcripts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   

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Experiences of homelessness are not a monolith; women and gender-diverse people may have unique experiences and unique challenges when faced with situations of housing precarity. But the lack of recognition, investment in, and tailored responses to these experiences has contributed to the ongoing invisibility of women's homelessness.

Following on the heels of the encampment evictions at Lamport Stadium in Toronto, our host Emma Partridge sat down with Khulud Baig (Women's National Housing and Homelessness Network) and Kaitlin Schwan (The Shift) to explore the ways we have failed the unhoused community in Canada and what an intersectional, human-centred response to homelessness would involve.

The September 20th federal election approaches fast and furious. What does it mean to "vote for gender justice" this time around? Ann Decter, Senior Director of Community Initiatives and Policy at the Canadian Women's Foundation, shares key issues for us to think about as we lift our pencils at the polls. She tells us what Up For Debate, an alliance of women’s rights and gender justice advocates, is all about. Plus, she gives us insight on why the votes of women and gender-diverse people matter so much in Canada ... even if your favourite candidate loses.

With Barbara Perry, Professor in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at Ontario Tech University, and Director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism at Ontario Tech University. A recent House of Commons report speaks to the rise of ideologically motivated violent extremism in Canada, based on xenophobic, gender-driven, anti-authority, and other personal grievance-driven ideas and ideologies. The report says that, in the age of social media, it can “elude the terminology and analytical frameworks long used by our law enforcement and national security agencies”, and these “longstanding national security threats have been joined by a new breed of violent extremists, lone actors, and leaderless movements whose alliances and espoused causes are constantly mutating.” 

In Canada, we’ve seen a 72% increase in hate crimes since 2019. It’s due to increased hate in digital spaces against women, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and targeted ethnic and religious groups.  

Over coming episodes, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Here to draw lines between rising extremism and gendered digital abuse is Barbara Perry, Professor in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at Ontario Tech University, and Director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism. Barbara holds a UNESCO Chair in Hate Studies. She has written extensively on social justice, hate crime, and right-wing extremism. Her books include Diversity, Crime and Justice in Canada, In the Name of Hate: Understanding Hate Crime, and Right-wing Extremism in Canada. Her work has been published in journals representing diverse disciplines: Theoretical Criminology, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Journal of History and Politics, and American Indian Quarterly. Dr. Perry continues to work in the area of hate crime, and has made substantial contributions to the limited scholarship on hate crime in Canada, including work on anti-Muslim violence, antisemitic hate crime, hate crime against 2SLGBTQI communities, the community impacts of hate crime, and right-wing extremism in Canada. She is regularly called upon by policy makers, practitioners, and local, national and international media as an expert on hate crime and right-wing extremism.

Relevant links: The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

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Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

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It's 2022 and the gender pay gap still hurts us. What does the data say? And what are some real life stories behind the numbers?

The gender pay gap refers to the difference in average earnings of people based on gender. It’s a widely recognized indicator of gender inequities, and it exists across industries and professional levels. There are different ways to measure the gap, but no matter how you cut it, the gap still exists. And it’s not just about gender. Gender pay gaps are worse for those who face multiple barriers, including racialized women, Indigenous women, and women with disabilities. Though it differs by age group, the gap starts from young and carries into the senior years.

Ahead of Equal Pay Day on April 12, Suzanne Duncan, Vice-President of the Canadian Women’s Foundation, and Paulette Senior, President and CEO of the Canadian Women’s Foundation, tell us stories of where they’ve heard about the gap or experienced it in their own lives.

Read The Facts About the Gender Pay Gap

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With Libby Ward, social media influencer (@diaryofanhonestmom). Digital hate, harassment, and violence hurts so many women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans, and non-binary people in Canada. Content creators who address gender justice issues like Libby have a lot to teach us about it.

Kelly Odenweller’s research identifies gendered stereotypes and assumptions about mothers and motherhood. They can easily make mothers feel as if they’re not living up to an ideal. If other people treat them poorly because of these stereotypes, they can feel isolated, anxious, and depressed. 

It’s caring community and allyship that can make a world of difference. No wonder motherhood content and content about raising kids is so popular in digital spaces. Mothers may seek it out to find belonging, connection, and representation. 

The trouble is that digital spaces also carry risks for diverse mothers and caregivers. They might find themselves targeted online based on their motherhood, as much as they’re targeted for other elements of who they are. 

Over coming months, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Our guest Libby Ward is a digital creator, speaker, and mental health advocate. She’s known on Instagram and TikTok @diaryofanhonestmom and she’s committed to changing the motherhood narrative. She’s been recognized as a mental health advocate by TikTok, and has been featured on BBC, Good Morning America, Global News, and more. Her bestselling journal, entitled The Honest Mom Journal: The Struggling Mom’s Guide to Struggling Less, has helped thousands of mothers. 

Relevant Links: Libby Ward on Instagram and TikTok, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

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Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

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With Prachi Gupta, author of They Called Us Exceptional: And Other Lies that Raised Us. The Canadian Encyclopedia says the model minority is a stereotype that “depicts Asians as hard working, successful at school and in the workplace, and as economically prosperous.”  

It may seem like a positive stereotype. But it divides non-model and model racialized communities, ignores vast disparities in wealth and well-being faced by pan-Asian people, and trivializes the impacts of racism. 

That the model minority stereotype is racist is no question. But how does it impact people differently depending on their gender? How does it work to alienate us from ourselves and from each other? 

We’re joined by Prachi Gupta, award-winning journalist and former senior reporter at Jezebel. She won a Writers Guild Award for her investigative essay “Stories About My Brother.” Her work was featured in The Best American Magazine Writing 2021 and has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post Magazine, Marie Claire, Salon, Elle, and elsewhere. They Called Us Exceptional: And Other Lies that Raised Us is her debut memoir, named one of the top 40 books of 2023 by Amazon and top 18 memoirs of the year by Audible. She lives in Brooklyn. 

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence. 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

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With guests Robyn Doolittle and Christina Frangou.

Equity-seeking journalists including women and racialized reporters investigate some of the most important and hidden stories. Whether writing articles for newspapers or magazines, editing, posting on social media or digital media, or blogging, we need them to give voice to issues otherwise unheard. This makes the harassment and abuse they experience at disproportionate levels particularly vexing. It’s harmful to them as people and media workers, and it runs counter to the goal of making things better and fairer in Canada. We can’t achieve that goal without a diverse news media landscape and truth in reporting.

Every year, the Canadian Women’s Foundation presents The Landsberg Award in partnership with The Canadian Journalism Foundation to acknowledge and inspire feminist journalism It's named after iconic journalist and author, Michele Landsberg. Past winners include Connie Walker, investigative reporter behind CBC’s Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo podcast, author and journalist Elizabeth Renzetti, and Toronto Star’s Alyshah Hasham and Wendy Gillis.

We’re joined Robyn Doolittle, who won the Landsberg in 2018, and Christina Frangou, who won this year.

Robyn Doolittle is member of The Globe and Mail’s investigative team and a two-time winner of Canada’s Michener Award. She has probed suspicious business contracts, political corruption, and Canada’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her “Unfounded” investigation, which explored the ways that Canadian police services handle sexual assault cases, prompted a national overhaul of policy, training and practices around sexual violence. Her latest book, “Had It Coming – What’s Fair In The Age of #MeToo?” was shortlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize for non-fiction. Doolittle was named Journalist of the Year in 2017.

Christina Frangou is a journalist, writer, and editor based in Calgary, Alberta. Her reporting has garnered multiple awards and nominations. She specializes in writing about health, medicine, and social issues: in 20+ years as a journalist, she’s written about addiction, bereavement, refugee health, firearm violence, safe consumption sites, and medical assistance in dying. On the lighter side, she writes about things like skiing and traveling and her favourite hairstylist. Selected credits include: The Globe and Mail, The Guardian, The Walrus, Maclean's, Chatelaine, and Reader's Digest.

Relevant links: We need systemic change so that journalists can do their jobs free from abuse, by Paulette Senior (TVO)

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This week we're talking about the Me Too Movement, workplace harassment during the pandemic, and what we can do to end it for good. Join us as we discuss the climate surrounding sexual violence in Canada with our own Keetha Mercer and Michelle Squires.

With Dr. Hadiya Roderique, writer of Black on Bay Street and other articles, cultural critic, lawyer, researcher, speaker, and consultant. 

Equal Pay Day is symbolic of how far into the next year the average woman works to have earned what the average man earned the previous year. In Canada, women make 88 cents for every dollar men make. But there’s more than one gender pay gap because those who face gender inequalities are a diverse population. Racialized women make 67 cents to the dollar for racialized men, Indigenous women make 65 cents to the dollar for Indigenous men, newcomer women make 71 cents to the dollar for newcomer men, and women with disabilities also have lower average incomes compared to men with disabilities. 

We would be wise to think of it as gender pay gaps, plural.  

Canada has had pay equity laws since the 1970s. But pay gaps and unfairness in pay persist. Girls face a summer job gender pay gap of almost $3.00 per hour. Women post-secondary students leave school with lesser means to pay off student loans. And the gendered pension gap means that women retire with about 80% of the pension men retire with. 

Dr. Hadiya Roderique joins us to address gender pay gaps, their impacts on Black and equity-seeking women, how bias plays out in workplaces, what we need to do about it. Hadiya is a researcher, writer, speaker, consultant, and recovering Bay Street lawyer. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Journalism at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus, where her research focuses on racist discourse in how journalists write about race in Canadian media. She holds a J.D. and M.A. in Criminology from the University of Toronto, and completed her Ph.D. in Organizational Behaviour at the Rotman School of Management. She is an award-winning writer, probably best known for her piece Black on Bay Street, which set Corporate Canada ablaze, and earned her recognition as one of Canada’s Top 25 most influential lawyers by Canadian Lawyer’s magazine in 2018. She sits on the Board of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund and on the Equity Diversity and Inclusion committee of Ultimate Canada. 

Relevant Links: Equal Pay Day and Gender Pay Gaps: Infographic  

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With Mandi Gray, author of Suing for Silence: Sexual Violence and Defamation Law. #MeToo made headlines around the world in 2017 and thousands publicly shared their experiences of sexual victimization. The “me too” movement was first established in 2006 by American activist Tarana Burke. #MeToo has been called a watershed moment for gender equality, giving a powerful platform to sexual violence survivors. 

And many of us have experienced sexual assault and harassment in our lives. In Canada, 30% of women over age 15 report experiencing sexual assault at least once. The rate of sexual assault against Indigenous women and women with disabilities is even higher. 

But some survivors who said “me too” found themselves subject to defamation lawsuits that, in some cases, might drag on for years. What are the legal matters behind these civil suits? 

Our guest Mandi Gray is an assistant professor at Trent University. She has been involved in anti-violence activism since 2008. Her debut book, Suing for Silence: Sexual Violence and Defamation Law, critically examines the growing trend of men accused of sexual violence suing their accusers. 

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence. 

Relevant links: yescountmein.ca 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

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With Brianne Miller at Nada.

In these rocky economic times, affordable, sustainable food seems elusive. Can you do food business in a way that does good? How are women and equity-seeking people leading the way?

Lots of women and equity-seeking people get into entrepreneurship. It makes sense. Those who face barriers to stable, safe employment have to get creative.

They often get entrepreneurial. They have dreams of not only running their own businesses, but doing good in the world while they do it.

But these same entrepreneurs also face barriers to growing and financing their business ambitions. That’s why our Investment Readiness Program is so special. It helps business enterprises that do good in the world - run by and for women and gender-diverse people - get investment-ready. Some of these social purpose businesses are still in the concept stage. Some are in a launch or growth stage.

This brings us to Brianne Miller, founder of Nada in Vancouver, British Columbia, a certified B-Corporation and carbon negative package-free grocery store and delivery service on a mission to connect people to a more equitable, just, and regenerative food system. Nada is one of our Investment Readiness Program Investees that's up and running and doing its thing.

Brianne is a marine biologist turned social entrepreneur with a passion for driving positive change through inspiring collective climate action. She is committed to revolutionizing the food system across the supply chain so that future generations can continue to enjoy and benefit from the world’s oceans. She is a United Nations #notwasting food ambassador, a Coralus Venture, UBC Land & Food Systems mentor, and a former member of Vancouver Food Policy Council. Her food systems work has been featured widely in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Fast Company and Nada was most recently recognized as 1% for the Planet's Business Changemaker of the Year.

Relevant Links: Canadian Women’s Foundation Investment Readiness Program, Nada

Special offer: first time customers can get $20 off orders over $100 with code 'ALRIGHT', using this link: https://www.nadagrocery.com/discount/ALRIGHT

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Episode Transcripts

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What can supporting someone going through abuse actually look like? And what about the times where we might have ... messed up?

Our new Signal for Help Responder Campaign gives people tools and training to respond to signs or signals of abuse because a signal is only as good as its response. And we need to shift our culture of stigma about gender-based violence to a culture of support.

This honest, insightful conversation with Suzanne Duncan, Vice-President of Philanthropy at the Canadian Women's Foundation, speaks to what support can look like and addresses those times in the past when we actually didn't respond to signals of abuse.

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

Be a Signal for Help Responder: signalresponder.ca or text SIGNAL to 540-540

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The Canadian Women's Foundation acknowledges the support of Women and Gender Equality Canada.

In this episode we're talking all about child care, work, and the gendered impacts of COVID-19 with our own Karen Campbell and Ann Decter. Join us as we uncover why women in the workforce are being disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, and what policies or actions would need to be in place at work and at home for a truly gender-equal workforce to be achieved.

Overworked, overwhelmed, undervalued. Last May, we launched The Mother Rising, a campaign to draw attention to the voices of diverse mothers and caregivers in Canada. We learned that many of them were at their breaking point in the pandemic. Their mental health was suffering, and the burdens were even greater for those facing poverty, multiple forms of discrimination, and gender-based violence.

Our follow-up research in May 2022 finds that circumstances have not improved. Mothers are disproportionately impacted today, especially when it comes to their health and careers.

Stacey Rodas, Manager of Public Relations and Online Engagement at the Canadian Women’s Foundation, led this research process and joins us now to talk about it. Stacey has been with the Foundation for five years and has led a number of surveys over the years to gain insight into the attitudes of people in Canada and the needs of women, girls, and gender-diverse people. Her overall goal is to make Canada more livable and lovable. She is a mother to a twenty month old son, and she is also a huge basketball fan.

Learn more about The Mother Rising.

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

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We found that around half of parents and caregivers in Canada believe their children aged 9 to 19 are struggling right now, two years into a global pandemic. But children and young people are a diverse group. We do a disservice when we don’t dig into what different young people face, depending on their unique identities and experiences.

“This is not the first crisis faced by Indigenous youth,” says Resetting Normal: The Impacts of COVID-19 on First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Youth. Released in March 2022, this report is co-authored by Taylor Arnt and Courtney Vaughan with contributor Tori Chief Calf. The report goes onto say that “inequalities are amplified in emergency situations, which result in the most devastating social, health and economic impacts of the virus being borne disproportionately by Indigenous peoples.... Amidst these challenges, Indigenous youth continue to resist settler colonialism in remarkable ways: by advocating for their rights to be upheld, by revering the matriarch, Two-Spirit and elder leadership of their communities, and by protecting the lands and waters we call home. The contributions made by Indigenous youth to building a more equitable and sustainable society must be given due recognition.”

We had the honour of interviewing Taylor Arnt and Tori Chief Calf on the report and the survey of Indigenous young people it’s based on.

Taylor Arnt (she/they) is of mixed Anishinaabe and European heritage, from Treaty 1 territory near Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is a member of Tootinaowaziibeeng Treaty Reserve, and now resides as a guest on  Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səl̓ilwətaɬ territory. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Affairs and Policy Management and has five years of work experience throughout the federal public service, nonprofit, and Indigenous governance sectors. As the second Indigenous Peoples Specialist hired by the Canadian Red Cross, Taylor deployed to 10+ First Nations communities, assisting them through public health and climate crises. Now working as a Policy Analyst for the BC Assembly of First Nations, Taylor advocates for the title and treaty rights of the 203 First Nations communities across British Columbia. She is beginning her Master of Arts in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia in September 2022.

Tori Chief Calf is Blackfoot from the Kainai First Nation, located in Treaty 7 territory in southern Alberta. She is currently in her last year at the University of British Columbia studying social work, where she has a particular interest in social justice, advocacy, and supporting Indigenous peoples and other marginalized communities. In her free time, Tori loves to read, dance, go for long walks, and spend time with those she loves.

Read Resetting Normal: The Impacts of COVID-19 on First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Youth in English, Inuktitut, or French.

Support Got Your Back and show diverse girls and young people ages 9 to 19 that you’ve got their backs. 

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With guest Barbara Perry.

White nationalism is on the rise in Canada. What does it have to do with women?

Researchers Barbara Perry and Ryan Scrivens describe far-right extremism as “a loose movement, animated by a racially, ethnically, and sexually defined nationalism.” They go on to explain that it’s “typically framed in terms of White power, and is grounded in xenophobic and exclusionary understandings of the perceived threats posed by such groups as non-Whites, Jews, immigrants, homosexuals and feminists.”

White nationalism is a core concept in this extremism. And many experts say it’s becoming more mainstream. In Canada, it’s been the basis of all kinds of dangerous things including deadly attacks, misinformation campaigns, and harassment and hate toward public figures, politicians and journalists, particularly racialized women.

In the swirl of media coverage about the issues, it can be hard to sort what it’s about and the implications from a gender and rights perspective.

Last episode, I spoke with journalist Erica Ifill about this topic. In this part two episode, we’re joined by Barbara Perry, Director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism and Professor in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at Ontario Tech University. She holds a UNESCO Chair in Hate Studies, a field in which she has written extensively, and she is generally recognized as the leading Canadian expert on hate crime and right-wing extremism. She is regularly called upon by policy makers, practitioners, and local, national, and international media as an expert on both topics.

Relevant links: Register for #NotOkay: The Chilling Tide of Abuse Faced by Women Journalists online event on November 30 at 1 PM EST; Women and White Nationalism (Part 1) (Episode 37, October 19, 2022);  A Feminist Lens on Alt-Right Ideology (Episode 19, February 9, 2022)

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November 20 is the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, a time to remember and honour the lives of trans and gender-diverse people murdered due to hate, prejudice, and discrimination. It was first held in 1999 to honour the memory of Rita Hester, whose 1998 murder in Boston, Massachusetts remains unsolved. In Canada, violence against diverse Two Spirit, trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people is high and their experiences of gender-based violence is unique. But when we talk about gender-based violence, we rarely focus on their unique experiences, nor have we historically centred their solutions and ideas for change. Fae Johnstone, public speaker, consultant, educator and community organizer, joins us to shine a spotlight on the issues and the changes that need to happen.

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With Mitzie Hunter, new President and CEO of the Canadian Women’s Foundation. Mitzie is a dynamic, community-grounded leader. Her 30 years of leadership spans the nonprofit sector, private sector, and government. Mitzie has a trailblazing track record and many successes championing infrastructure and community improvements. She was the first Black woman to serve as Ontario’s Minister of Education. She also served as Ontario’s Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development and Associate Minister of Finance. 

Mitzie is a respected advocate for diverse women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans, and nonbinary people across Canada. She is known for her expertise in an array of issues, from women’s leadership to inclusive economies to sustainable neighbourhood and city building. 

Mitzie is a founding visionary of the Prosperity Project. She served as Chief Administrative Officer of Toronto Community Housing Corporation, CEO of CivicAction, Vice President of External Relations and Corporate Secretary at Goodwill Industries, and President of SMART Toronto, a technology hub. She is a Senior Fellow with the C.D. Howe Institute and a Canadian Urban Leader at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities. Mitzie has also served in several board leadership positions in nonprofit and public service bodies, including United Way Greater Toronto and TVO. In 2023, Mitzie ran for mayor in the City of Toronto by-election.

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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With Kairyn Potts, social media influencer and creator (@ohkairyn) and writer, actor, model, and TV host. Digital hate, harassment, and violence hurts so many women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans, and non-binary people in Canada. Content creators who address gender justice issues like Kairyn have a lot to teach us about it.

1 in 5 women experience online harassment in Canada. Indigenous, Black, and racialized women and 2SLGBTQIA+ people are amongst those who face higher risks. Thirty per cent of Indigenous women experience unwanted behaviour online. While 8% of cisgender and heterosexual students are targeted for online bullying, harassment, and hate, 27% of LGBQ female students, 39% of transgender students, and 19% of LGBQ male students are targeted for the same.  

Canada’s rising rate hate crimes is in large part due to increased hate in digital spaces against women, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and targeted ethnic and religious groups. 

Over coming months, we’re delving into this with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We’re talking about the problem and what we can do to change it. We’re offering practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we’re talking about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us.

Our guest Kairyn (Kai) Potts (he/him) is proudly Nakota Sioux from Treaty 6 Territory, from Paul First Nation, and the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation. He is a proud Two Spirit person and sits as the National Youth Board Representative for the 2 Spirits in Motion Society. As a former Indigenous Youth Suicide Prevention Team representative, he is a passionate advocate who works to improve the lives of Indigenous youth, particularly queer youth and youth in the child and family services system. 

Kai now makes his home in beautiful Tkaronto where he works as a writer, actor, model, TV host, and continues his advocacy through content creation, frontline workshops, community events. He hosts Snapchat Canada’s first original series Reclaimed and has appeared in the APTN series 7th GEN. 

Kai co-founded the Indigenous gaming organization Neechi Clan in 2022. Kai is an avid gamer and streamer on Twitch and Tiktok who aims to create representation and opportunities for Indigenous youth in the gaming/content creation world. He uses his online platforms to share his culture, makeup, and fashion, his passions like gaming and acting, and some laughs with others. Interesting fact: Kai speaks English, Cree, Stoney (Iithga), Chinese (intermediate Mandarin), and Spanish. 

Content note: this episode addresses gender-based violence and suicide. 

Relevant Links: Kairyn Potts (@ohkairyn) on Instagram and TikTok, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

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Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

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With Rhiannon Wong at Women’s Shelters Canada. The Tech Safety Canada website says technology-facilitated gender-based violence “happens when someone uses technology to harm or control you.” It can take the form of “harassing text or social media messages, restricting access to technology, non-consensually sharing intimate images, using location-tracking technology, or threatening to do any of these.”

The scope of this abuse is big because the scope of gender-based violence in Canada is big. Statistics Canada says that sixty-seven per cent of those who report online intimidation to police are women and girls, and one in five women report experiencing online harassment. 

Over coming episodes, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Our guest Rhiannon Wong is project manager for Women’s Shelters Canada’s Technology Safety Canada project. She has researched and developed practical technology safety resources and training for anti-violence workers and women, girls, and gender-diverse people that address how technology can be used to create safety and misused by perpetrators to commit crimes of domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, impersonation, and harassment. 

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence. 

Relevant links: Tech Safety Canada, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

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Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

With Stephanie Jonsson at Ontario Digital Literacy and Access Network (ODLAN). Organizations working on gender justice, feminist, and 2SLGBTQIA+ issues are subject to online attacks intended to delegitimize and devalue their efforts. Employees who deal with these attacks have little protection. Their mental health is impacted, and their time and resources are wasted. They’re likely to have to leave digital spaces rather than stay and contend with the onslaught.

Over coming months, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

We’re joined by Stephanie Jonsson, co-founder of ODLAN. She’s a Ph.D. Candidate in Gender, Feminist, and Women's Studies at York University. ODLAN raises awareness and trains organizations on the significance of digital inclusion. It acknowledges that colonization and white supremacy created the social conditions that sustain inequality and marginalize queerness - even in digital spaces. The digital divide is part of this ongoing colonization, and digital access and safety for all cannot be achieved until Indigenous communities have full access to digital spaces. ODLAN stands firm in its conviction that digital safety and accessibility remain fundamental to the broader project of decolonization. ODLAN’s mission is to remove digital literacy and access barriers and it provides organizations with tools, knowledge, and training to develop digital inclusion strategies. Stephanie is dedicated to building projects that build the strength and resilience of Rainbow communities. 

Relevant Links: ODLAN’s website, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

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Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

With Frances Meyer, Program Coordinator and Team Lead at the Women’s Business Hub (WBH).

Frances immigrated to Saskatoon from the Philippines 17 years ago and has launched and run several succesful businesses since 2008.

Frances organizes and facilitates business programs for immigrant women entrepreneurs with the WBH team. In her free time, she offers business and life coaching. She specializes in trauma-informed mindset and business mentorship, with a strong focus on helping women lead with confidence and create soul-aligned businesses. Her mission is to empower women to lead with awareness, stability, and support, enabling them to build lives and businesses that allow them to thrive and succeed in their creative endeavors, while also cultivating a fulfilling life in Canada.

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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With Amanda Arella at YWCA Canada. Those who are young face elevated risks of gendered digital harm. Statistics Canada found that, among those aged 18 to 29 years, young women were more often the target of online abuse, with a prevalence almost double the rate of young men. The gender difference was especially pronounced for receiving unwanted sexually suggestive or explicit material, where young women were almost three times as likely to be targeted as young men. 

YWCA Canada found that 44% of women and gender-diverse people aged 16 to 30 report having been personally targeted by hate speech online. Those most targeted include people with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, Indigenous people, and Black people. 

We’re at the end of our series delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators. We’ve been talking about the problem and what we can do to change it. We’ve offered practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we’ve talked about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Our guest Amanda Arella is the Director of Public Policy, Advocacy, and Strategic Communications at YWCA Canada. Amanda is a lawyer, strategic thinker, and passionate advocate for gender equity. She leads advocacy for feminist regulatory responses to gendered online hate, grounded in the recommendations of youth survivors of online hate and technology-facilitated violence. Prior to joining YWCA Canada, Amanda honed her advocacy skills as a litigator at a national law firm, with a focus on administrative, privacy, and health law.   

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence. 

Relevant links: #BlockHate: Centering Survivors and Taking Action on Gendered Online Hate in Canada, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

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Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

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Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

Many of us know what it's like to be told to "lean in". And there are lots of articles on how women and equity-seeking people can better ask for what they need and want at work. It's all meant as helpful advice, but especially in a pandemic where we've experienced historic setbacks in gender equity in the labour market, how helpful is it? Does "leaning in" actually work? What are the more useful questions to ask about building gender justice at work, and what are some of the more useful answers? Sagal Dualeh, Director of the Investment Readiness Program at the Canadian Women's Foundation, speaks to this issue broadly, as well as to her specific work changing the landscape of entrepreneurship so more of us can access its opportunities and promises.

More on the Canadian Women's Foundation's Investment Readiness Program: https://canadianwomen.org/irp-ppi 

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We’ve seen breaking news about the rise of alt-right ideology and its connections with misogyny, racism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination and oppression. It’s not new, but in the COVID-19 pandemic context, it’s resurging in contemporary ways. How does this ideology stand at odds with the goal of gender justice and what do we need to do to address it?

Luna KC joins us on these important issues. Along with her coauthors at the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW-ICREF), Luna wrote “The Rise of the Alt-Right in Canada: A Feminist Analysis”. She also did research on women and COVID-19 in Canada. Luna is now a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Research Network on Women, Peace, and Security at McGill University. Her work focuses on these very issues and sits at the nexus of women and warfare, gender justice, peace activism, and intersectionality.

Read The Rise of the Alt-Right in Canada: A Feminist Analysis

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With Dr. Stacey Bélanger, pediatrician at CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montréal and Mental Health Task Force member at the Canadian Pediatric Society. Young people in Canada aged 12 to 17 say their mental health has declined since 2015, and the decline is more pronounced amongst young women. On top of that, children and youth who are recent immigrants or refugees, racialized, or in rural and remote communities are less likely to get appropriate mental health care. 

Think social media pressures, hyper-sexualization, stereotyping, toxic masculinity, bullying, fear of rising abuse and harassment, climate anxiety, and generally feeling left behind. The list of what girls and gender-diverse young people face today is intense. Their mental health and well-being, as well as their sense of connection, belonging, and confidence have been shaken. Their healthy relationship skill development opportunities have taken a hit, too. 

How can caring adults in the lives of girls and young people smooth the transition back to school? How can we support improved youth mental health, confidence, and healthy relationships? 

Dr. Stacey Bélanger, pediatrician with specialized training in pediatric neurology and a doctorate degree in neurological sciences, joins us. At CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montréal, her focus is on patients with neurodevelopmental and mental health conditions. Dr. Bélanger is also Associate Professor of Medicine at Université de Montréal where she teaches about mental health and mental illness. She authored a book on mental health and has written in peer-reviewed journals on mental health disorders in children and youth. Amongst other roles, she sits on the Mental Health Task Force and Digital Health Task Force at the Canadian Pediatric Society. 

Relevant links: find mental health and other services and resources at canadianwomen.org⁠. 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

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With Fallon Farinacci, Winner of the 2025 Feminist Creator Prize

Fallon Farinacci is Red River Métis and a child survivor who testified in the National Inquiry for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, sharing her story of loss and trauma. 

Later Fallon joined The National Family Advisory Circle, where she worked closely with other MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ family members and the Commissioners for the National Inquiry.  

Fallon continues to share her family’s story and bring awareness to the ongoing Genocide Indigenous women, girls and 2S+ folx face in hopes of bringing change and awareness across Turtle Island.  

Connect with Fallon Farinacci on Social Media

Instagram: @fallonfarinacci 

TikTok: @fallonfarinacci

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With Catherine Abreu of Destination Zero. I’ve heard people say, “climate disaster knows no bounds” and “it discriminates against no one.” There’s a sense in which that’s true. But impacts of climate change affect different people in Canada and around the world differently, depending on who they are.  

Women, girls, and gender-diverse people often experience harsher impacts of climate change, especially if they are marginalized due to racism, poverty, and other factors. They’re also an important part of effective climate solutions. Gender equality itself is a climate crisis solution. 

Our guest Catherine Abreu is Founder and Executive Director of Destination Zero and an internationally recognized, award-winning climate justice advocate. Recognized for her diplomacy, communication, and coalition-building skills, she's one of the world’s top 100 climate policy influencers according to Apolitical. Catherine was named the 2023 National Hero by Canada’s Walk of Fame. She’s a member of Canada's Net-Zero Advisory Body, the expert body tasked with providing advice to government on pathways to meet climate commitments. She is an advisor to the Canadian Climate Institute and sits on the Boards and steering committees of several organizations, including Climate Action Network Canada, the Global Gas and Oil Network, and the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. Catherine is the recipient of the 2020 Jack Layton Progress Prize. She is a vital figure in climate policy and action, shaping global discussions on the transition toward clean energy. 

Relevant links: destinationzero.earth 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

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Content note: this episode addresses gender-based violence and femicide.

On September 22, 2015, Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdam were murdered by their former partner in Renfrew County, Ontario. Three lives were taken on one day. And friends, family, and neighbours were left grappling with the pain of it.

On June 28, 2022, a jury at the inquest into these women’s deaths recommended that the province declare intimate partner violence an epidemic. And with the help of grant from the Canadian Women’s Foundation, End Violence Against Women (EVA) Renfrew County was able to work with legal experts and hold community consultations to make sure the voices of people in the County were included in the inquest. This is a stunning example of systemic change work that happens with grants from Canadian Women’s Foundation, all due to generous donors and partners who give toward gender justice.

Feminist lawyer Pamela Cross joins us, a well-known and respected expert on violence against women and the law for her work as a researcher, writer, educator and trainer. She works with women’s equality and violence against women organizations across Ontario. One of her key roles is as the Legal Director of Luke’s Place Support and Resource Centre in Durham Region, where she leads the organization’s provincial projects, including research, training and advocacy. Pamela has also been a member of the teaching faculty with the National Judicial Institute, and continues to plan and deliver educational programs on violence against women to Canadian judges. 

Pamela is the 2020 recipient of the Corry Award from Queen’s Law, the 2019 recipient of the Laura Legge Award from the Law Society of Ontario and a 2015 recipient of the Attorney General’s Victim Services Award of Distinction for her work on the issue of violence against women. In 2006, she was awarded the YWCA Toronto Women of Distinction award for her work in the area of law reform. She is a frequent speaker at provincial, national and international conferences. She is also a regular commentator on violence against women and the law for print media, radio and television across Canada.

Read 86 Recommendations for change from the Renfrew County Inquest

Episode Transcript 

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When we think “economy”, it’s easy to imagine stereotypical things: opening bell, chaotic trading floor, ups and downs of stock graphs. But the economy is made up of people and it’s deeply gendered. There is no economy without women—and we haven’t valued them the way we should.

Over half of all female workers are employed in occupations involving the “5 Cs”: caring, clerical, catering, cashiering, and cleaning. Workers in these sectors face a lot of marginalization due to racism and precarious immigration status. These are precisely the types of jobs that are underpaid and under-protected, and they've taken quite an economic hit over the past few years.

This episode features Andrea Gunraj’s May 2022 talk about what it would mean to value gendered care work, included at Concordia University presents “The Walrus Talks: What’s Next” in Toronto.

Andrea is Vice President of Public Engagement at Canadian Women's Foundation. She has 20 years of experience in community-based program development and communications and a passion for innovative public education and non-profit leadership for social change. She has worked with several organizations in the areas of equity, inclusion, systemic anti-racism practice, human rights policy and practice, gender-based violence prevention and intervention, housing and homelessness, and sexual and reproductive health. She is a trainer, public speaker, published author, and holds a Masters in Criminology from the University of Toronto.

Episode transcript

Read Resetting Normal Reports on Building Intersectional Gender Justice in Post-Pandemic Canada

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Content note: this episode addresses sexual violence.

We’ve all been exposed to rape culture, but girls and non-binary youth experience it differently depending on who they are. We don’t always catch these nuances. We’re not always listening the way we should. With back-to-school season coming up, we need to talk about interventions. How are we going push for an end to sexual violence for all young people, of all identities and backgrounds?

Our guest Dr. Mythili Rajiva is associate professor at the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies, University of Ottawa, which is on unceded and unsurrendered Alqonquin territory. Her areas of academic research include intersectionality, feminist media studies, trauma, racialization, sexual violence, girlhood, South Asian diaspora and identity. She is the principal investigator on a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded project that examines landscapes of sexual violence in the lives of adolescent girls with a particular attention to the impact of settler colonialism on Indigenous girls’ negotiations with violence. She was also a recent co-investigator on another SSHRC grant, on the consequences of the mass rape of German women in the last days of World War II; and the rapes and forced impregnation of mainly Muslim Bosnian women during the 1990s war in former Yugoslavia. She is currently serving on the executive of the Faculty/Librarian Union (APUO) as Equity Officer. She recently published a co-edited volume (with Dr. Stephanie Patrick) titled The Forgotten Victims of Sexual Violence in Film, Television, and New Media: Turning to the Margins (Palgrave Macmillan May 2022).

Support Got Your Back and show diverse girls and young people ages 9 to 19 that you’ve got their backs.

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With Molly Hayes, national reporter with The Globe and Mail. Women and equity-seeking journalists investigate under-told stories. We need them to give voice to gender justice matters that otherwise go unheard. Think about the most stunning contemporary stories you’ve seen on gender and equality issues. Chances are that women and equity-seeking journalists were behind them.  

Every year, the Canadian Women’s Foundation presents The Landsberg Award in partnership with The Canadian Journalism Foundation to acknowledge and inspire feminist journalism. It's named after iconic journalist and author, Michele Landsberg. Journalist and activist Gloria Steinem said, “Those who make a revolution and those who write about it are usually two different people. Michele Landsberg is one of the few on earth who is trusted and effective at both.” Past winners of The Landsberg Award include such journalists as Connie Walker, Robyn Doolittle, Christina Frangou, and more.

Today we’re joined by Molly Hayes, who won the 2023 Landsberg Award alongside Tavia Grant and Elizabeth Renzetti for their series on intimate partner violence and femicide in Canada. She is a national reporter with The Globe and Mail. She joined the Globe in 2017 as the inaugural recipient of the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s investigative journalism fellowship, and today reports on crime and social justice issues, including violence against women. 

Relevant links: Gender Gap in Digital News Access 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

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After nearly 2 years of a global pandemic with severely gendered impacts, how are women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans, and non-binary people fairing today? What do the losses in three decades of gender equality gains and alarming trends mean when we're searching for a better way forward? What is the state of gender justice in Canada at the top of 2022?

Paulette Senior, President and CEO of the Canadian Women's Foundation, recently wrote about this topic in The Hill Times, saying, "We need gender justice pursued at a level, pace, and sophistication Canada has not yet known." In this episode, Paulette gives us deeper insight into what's so concerning about the state of gender justice today and where we need to go.

Paulette Senior has devoted her life and career to breaking down systemic barriers and building up diverse women and girls. Her personal experience immigrating to Canada from Jamaica as a young girl ignited her interest in social justice and helped make her the dynamic, grounded leader she is today. She is a sought-after thought-leader on numerous issues including gender equity and gender-based violence, women’s poverty and the gender pay gap, girls’ empowerment, and leadership. Her focus at the Canadian Women's Foundation is to bolster an inclusive national movement for all women, girls, and communities across Canada.

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

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This week, we're talking about how the pandemic has impacted the women's sector, and the future of gender equality in Canada. Join us in conversation with Pamela Uppal, a Policy Director with the Ontario Nonprofit Network, and our own Anuradha Dugal. 

We’re in climate crisis – and marginalized women, girls, and gender-diverse people bear the brunt. Young climate justice leaders are ringing the alarm. It’s about time we listen.

In a sense, climate change and global warming hurts everyone. But we’re not all equally impacted. Some people have more resources to deal with fallout. Some of us are more or less protected from consequences of growing carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas, emissions and the burning of fossil fuel, sea-level rise, methane, and more. It’s a matter of power.

The solution lies not only in mitigation and renewable energy. We need climate justice.

This is where gender justice comes in: the most vulnerable women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans and non-binary people experience the worst outcomes in climate crisis. And their leadership in climate solutions is more important than ever.

Young feminists are strong voices for the intertwined goal of climate justice and gender justice. We can’t have one without the other. Our guest Sydney Piggott (she/her) is a social impact leader and advocate for gender equity, climate action, and social justice on a global scale. She’s been a subject matter expert in several international forums including the Commission on the Status of Women, Women Deliver, Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference for Young Parliamentarians, and RightsCon. Passionate about supporting young changemakers, Sydney has worked with several youth initiatives focused on gender and climate justice including the Ontario Council for International Cooperation’s Youth Policy-Maker’s Hub, Apathy is Boring’s RISE program, Community Knowledge Exchange’s Cohort X, and the Online Thinkathon Challenge in partnership with the European Union. She is also a contributor at Btchcoin News and a member of the Equal Futures Network Advisory Committee. Sydney brings an intersectional feminist lens to all of her work, informed by her proud Afro-Caribbean heritage.

Relevant links: Got Your Back to support diverse girls and young people | Register for the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s September 29 Digital Town Hall | 1MILLION Activist Stories | Vanessa Nakate | Autumn Pelletier

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The issue of trafficking is in Canadian news media all the time. But what is it? Why is the term so confusing? And why is it that matters of policing, prosecution, and prison dominate public policy discussions when learnings from the grassroots tell us a different story of what will effectively address this form of gendered violence? The realities are complicated, the impacts are highly intersectional, and Karen Campbell, Director of Community Initiatives and Policy at the Canadian Women's Foundation, helps us disentangle them.

Read more: Sexual Exploitation/Trafficking: Essential Learnings from the Grassroots Anti-Trafficking Grants Program Evaluation Summary 2016-2021

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With Leslie Woo CRE®, Chief Executive Officer of CivicAction.

Leslie is a respected city leader building sustainable communities and shaping urban development for over two decades in Canada’s fastest-growing urban region,the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. She is a seasoned urban planner, architect, and tireless community activator.

At CivicAction, Leslie has been building leadership programs that are building the next generation of civic-minded leaders. She is leading the growth of the next generation of civic-minded leaders. By equipping them with the knowledge and networks needed to tackle persistent urban problems, she is truly in the impact business.

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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A new survey by Environics Institute for Survey Research shows that 57% of women in Canada identify as feminists, a big increase from the past. The number is especially high for young women aged 18 to 24. In addition to that, 40% of men consider themselves feminists, and 90% of people in Canada believe we need to do more to promote gender equality. 

Is feminism no longer considered a "bad word"? Is calling yourself a feminist less stigmatized and is feminism actually ... trending? What does this mean for the future of feminist movements and our goals of gender justice? Michelle Musindo, Manager of Community Initiatives at the Canadian Women's Foundation, shares her perspectives and addresses the impacts of young feminists today. She also gives a helpful book recommendation in honour of the passing of bell hooks, the legendary Black feminist scholar.

Read more: The Enduring Legacy Of bell hooks by Paulette Senior, President and CEO of the Canadian Women's Foundation (Chatelaine, 2021)

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More about Alright, Now What? Podcast: canadianwomen.org/podcast

With Imran Ahmed from the Center for Countering Digital Hate. Whether you’re on social media, streaming platforms, dating, messaging and meeting apps, or on game sites, if you’re a woman, girl, or Two Spirit, trans, or non-binary person, you’re at greater risk of hate, harassment, and violence.  

It’s easy to forget the basic facts of digital media. Take social media. Social media spaces are run by corporations, many of which are based in the United States. The global footprint of these companies is huge. They hold big social power and cultural sway. There are over 36 million internet users and 33.1 million social media users in Canada. But users in Canada represent only a small slice of the world’s social media users. 

For all the time we spend on social media and the internet, it’s rather under-regulated. What a user wants – safety, connection, belonging, community – is often odds with how the spaces have been set up. In Canada, like the rest of the world, we’ve got a lot of challenges with regulation. It means that gendered digital hate, harassment, and abuse keeps happening every day. 

Over coming months, we’re delving into this with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

We’re joined by Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. He’s an authority on social and psychological malignancies on social media, such as identity-based hate, extremism, disinformation, and conspiracy theories. He regularly appears in the media and in documentaries as an expert on how bad actors use digital spaces to harm others and benefit themselves, as well as how and why bad platforms allow them to do so. 

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence.

Relevant Links: Center for Countering Digital Hate; The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

With Chris Bail, Founding Director of the Polarization Lab. The fact that social media platforms draw out and reward anti-social, polarizing behaviour goes hand-in-hand with the gendered hate and abuse so common to digital interactions. We can’t fix one without fixing the other.   

Nor can we ignore what social media does for us psychologically and socially. We use these platforms to build our personal identities. We use them to find community and a sense of belonging. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It's often a good thing. But it gets dangerous when platforms reward attacking and hurtful behaviour, when they encourage the targeting of vulnerable people, and when they make it easy to exert power over those with less power. 

In that sense, it’s easy to see why women, girls, and gender-diverse people, especially those who face multiple barriers, are so unsafe in digital spaces. Digital spaces reinforce and amplify the unbalanced power and abuse we know too well in our day-to-day lives.  

There’s a glimmer of hope: digital spaces are ultimately human built. The fact that they’re like this is not inevitable and it’s not unchangeable. Over coming months, we’re delving into this with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

We’re joined by Chris Bail, Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at Duke University, where he directs the Polarization Lab. He studies political tribalism, extremism, and social psychology using data from social media and tools from the emerging field of computational social science. He is the author of Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make our Platforms Less Polarizing. A Guggenheim Fellow and Carnegie Fellow, Chris's research appears in leading publications such as Science, the American Journal of Public Health, and New York Times. He appeared on NBC Nightly News, CBS News, BBC, and CNN. His research has been covered by Wired, The Atlantic, Scientific American, and more. He regularly lectures to government, business, and the non-profit sector and consults with social media platforms struggling to combat polarization. He serves on the Advisory Committee to the National Science Foundation's Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate and helped create Duke's Interdisciplinary Data Science Program. Chris received his PhD from Harvard University in 2011. 

Relevant Links: Polarization Lab, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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With Leigh Naturkach at the Mosaic Institute. We’re still not doing enough to end gendered digital hate, harassment, and abuse on a large scale. Perhaps that can give us the impression that the public doesn’t care or we’re all too complacent to do anything about it. 

The numbers tell us otherwise. In 2023, the Canadian Women’s Foundation found that 88% of people in Canada believe we need to make changes so online spaces are safer for everyone. Fifty-eight per cent of women in particular strongly agree with this idea. Likewise, 88% of people in Canada believe social media companies have a responsibility to keep users safe from hate and abuse on their platforms. 

Despite outsized voices to the contrary, the vast majority of people in Canada want safer digital spaces and we want accountability for users. 

We’re almost at the end of our series delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators. We’ve been talking about the problem and what we can do to change it. We’ve offered practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we’ve talked about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Our guest Leigh Naturkach is Executive Director at the Mosaic Institute. Prior to this, Leigh worked at Women’s College Hospital Foundation, AIDS Committee of Toronto, right here at the Canadian Women’s Foundation, and in media at Corus Entertainment. Her volunteer experience spans two decades in both leadership and frontline roles, focused on gender equity, reproductive justice, support for young people, and in end-of-life rights and care.

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence. 

Relevant links: Pre-registration for Mosaic Institute’s Addressing Online Hate certificate course, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

This series of podcast episodes has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

In this final episode of the season, we talk about how to consistently build accountability and equity into our feminist fundraising and investing practices going forward, with guest Nadia Djinnit from the Cooperation Council of Ontario.

Misogynoir is a term coined by Moya Bailey to describe the unique form of anti-Black sexism faced by Black women. It’s a key topic explored in the documentary, Subjects of Desire, an award-winning documentary written, directed, and produced by Jennifer Holness and Hungry Eyes Media. The film explores Black women and beauty standards and interrelated topics like misogynoir and gender-based violence.

Paulette Senior, President and CEO of the Canadian Women's Foundation, joins us to talk about these essential matters as we recognize and mark Black History Month as well as look forward to International Women’s Day on March 8. Paulette Senior has devoted her life and career to breaking down systemic barriers and building up diverse women and girls. Her personal experience immigrating to Canada from Jamaica as a young girl ignited her interest in social justice and helped make her the dynamic, grounded leader she is today. She is a sought-after thought-leader on numerous issues including gender equity and gender-based violence, women’s poverty and the gender pay gap, girls’ empowerment, and leadership. Her focus at the Canadian Women's Foundation is to bolster an inclusive national movement for all women, girls, and communities across Canada.

Register for Our March 3rd Panel Discussion, Black Women + Beauty Standards: A Conversation on Subjects of Desire. After signing up, you will receive a free private link to view the film in advance.

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

Visit our website: canadianwomen.org

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation

With Sarah Sobieraj, author of Credible Threat: Attacks Against Women Online and the Future of Democracy. The Commissioner for Human Rights in the Council of Europe says, “just speaking out … about issues online, often when related to feminism, gender equality, sexual abuse or specific aspects of women’s rights, such as sexual and reproductive health and rights, may be a trigger for violence and abuse.”  

The goal of this violence, says the Organization of American States, is to “create a hostile online environment for women in order to shame, intimidate, denigrate, belittle, or silence them by means of surveillance, theft or manipulation of information, or control of their communication channels.” 

No wonder that almost one-third of people in Canada are hesitant about using social media or taking part in online discussions due to harassment concerns. We all lose out when women and gender-diverse people are silenced. 

Over coming months, we’re delving into this with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Our guest Sarah Sobieraj is Professor and Chairperson in the Department of Sociology at Tufts University and is a Faculty Associate with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. She’s an expert in US political culture, extreme incivility, digital abuse and harassment, and the mediated information environment. Amongst other books, she is the author of Credible Threat: Attacks Against Women Online and the Future of Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2020), The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility (Oxford University Press, 2014) with J. Berry, and Soundbitten: The Perils of Media-Centered Political Activism (NYU Press, 2011). Her scholarship can also be found in journals and venues such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Politico, Vox, CNN, PBS, NPR, National Review, and The Atlantic, among others. 

Content note: this episode addresses gender-based violence. 

Relevant Links: Credible Threat: Attacks Against Women Online and the Future of Democracy, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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With Kris Archie, Chief Executive Officer of The Circle on Philanthropy.

In Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance, Edgar Villanueva says, “What we can focus on with decolonization is stopping the cycles of abuse and healing ourselves from trauma.” He speaks to how finance, philanthropy, and the ways we “do charity” have been set up to uphold colonialism, systemic racism, and discriminatory outcomes.

Philanthropy, giving, and charity work is often seen as neutrally “worthy”. To ask questions about it can seem like an attack on something inherently good. But the way charity and philanthropy are done in Canada has a long history. There are structures and rules and practices in place that have led to troubling trends today. These trends include very few philanthropic dollars in Canada going to Indigenous, Black, and other racialized communities doing things by and for their own communities. It connects to the reality that diverse women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans and non-binary people have barely benefitted from philanthropic and charity dollars over the years.

Like so many other ways of doing things, the way we do charity and philanthropy in Canada needs challenging and decolonizing, too.

For National Philanthropy Week this week, our guest is Kris Archie (@WeyktKris on Twitter), Chief Executive Officer of The Circle on Philanthropy (The Circle). Kris is a Secwepemc and Seme7 woman from Ts’qescen, a mother, aunty, and engaged community member. She is passionate about heart-based community work and facilitating positive change. In all of her roles, Kris works to transform philanthropy and contribute to positive change by creating spaces of shared learning, relationship-building and centering Indigenous wisdom. She is a PLACES Fellow Alum of 2015 with The Funders Network, a board member with Environment Funders Canada and JUMP! Canada and a newly appointed Dialogue Fellow with Simon Fraser University focused on Indigenous ways of knowing and Philanthropy.

Relevant Links: The Feast House, The Circle on Philanthropy’s Partners in Reciprocity program, Pay Your Rent campaign

Listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. Visit our website and donate today: canadianwomen.org

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn

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Join us for the third season of Alright, Now What?, a podcast that’s all about systemic change and the journey towards gender justice. This season we’re partnering with our friends at the Equality Fund and Community Foundations of Canada to bring you 4 jam-packed episodes with incredible guests who are engaged in fundraising and feminist activism. We'll be digging deep into feminist philanthropy, and how can we redefine the future of giving.

With Marwa Abdou, Senior Research Director, BDL, Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

After over 15 years of multidisciplinary experience abroad, taking on this unique role in June 2022 at the Canadian Chamber has been an opportune and fitting homecoming for Marwa. In her role with the BDL, Marwa leads the Research Center of Excellence and is responsible for developing and implementing an innovative long-term research agenda.

Prior to her role at the Chamber, Marwa served as the Advisor to the Minister of International Cooperation of Egypt for Private Sector Engagement. She also worked directly with and within some of the world’s most renowned multilateral organizations, private sector organizations, and country governments including the World Bank Group, Commonwealth Secretariat, APEC, OECD, Ernst and Young, Nathan Associates and the Asian Development Bank. In addition to leading dozens of capacity and technical assistance projects, consulting on regulatory, legal and policy reforms with these institutions, she also co-authored several publications and working papers.

Marwa’s journey has seen her through a number of professional pit stops spanning the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region where she’s worked on trade facilitation, gender equity, equality, social, and financial inclusion as well as the enablement, engagement and empowerment of the private sector. Still, one driver and common thread has always remained: championing, advocating and catalyzing impactful interventions for vulnerable, underrepresented and underserved groups, including businesses and SMEs, through rigorous data analysis, inventive research and storytelling.

Marwa received her master’s degree in international relations and international economics from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. She received her bachelor’s degree in finance and economics from Queen’s University Smith School of Business in Canada.

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

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X: @cdnwomenfdn 

The Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability recently reported that, in 2020 and 2021, the rate of femicide - murders of women because they are women - has been on the rise. In Canada, a woman is killed by her current or former partner an average of every 6 days. That's a pretty frightening and unacceptable number. And that was the number before the pandemic's spike in risk of abuse. 

What is femicide, exactly? What can we do to end this completely preventable form of gender-based violence as we move into a new year?

Anuradha Dugal, Vice President of Community Initiatives at the Canadian Women's Foundation and a representative of the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability, joins us to speak about this issue.

Content note: this episode features discussion of femicide and intimate partner abuse. If you need access to support, you can find a list of services that may be useful to you on our website.

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

Be a Signal for Help Responder: signalresponder.ca or text SIGNAL to 540-540

Visit our website and donate today: canadianwomen.org

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More about Alright, Now What? Podcast: canadianwomen.org/podcast

The Canadian Women's Foundation acknowledges the support of Women and Gender Equality Canada.

With Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa, author of her 2024 memoir, Unlike The Rest: A Doctor’s Story. Dr. Oriuwa is a graduate of the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine, where she was named the valedictorian of her graduating medical class in 2020. She is a physician, professional spoken word poet, international public speaker, writer, and champion of authentic leadership through genuine human connections. Presently, Dr. Oriuwa is completing her residency in psychiatry at the University of Toronto where she aims to go on to complete further sub-specialist training in forensic neuro-psychiatry. Dr. Oriuwa has served on a variety boards, using her expertise to influence their efforts in creating equal opportunity and curating spaces of wellness and artistic expression. She is a recipient of numerous prestigious awards and honors, including being recognized as one of Best Health Magazine's '2020 Women of the Year' and TIME Magazine's  Next Generation Leaders. Additionally, Dr. Oriuwa was recently honored in Mattel’s #ThankYouHeroes campaign alongside five other women with a one-of-kind Barbie doll made in her image to commemorate her contributions as a frontline healthcare worker. 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

TikTok: @cdnwomenfdn 

X: @cdnwomenfdn 

With Florence-Olivia (Floli) and Marie-Emmanuelle (Emma), together known as The Sis. Whether you’re on social media, streaming platforms, dating, messaging and meeting apps, or on game sites, if you’re a woman, girl, or Two Spirit, trans, or non-binary person, you’re at greater risk of hate, harassment, and violence. 

1 in 5 women experience online harassment in Canada. Younger people are amongst those who face higher risks. 44% of women and gender-diverse people between 16 and 30 are personally targeted by online hate speech. Those most at risk include people with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, Indigenous people, and Black people. 

Gendered digital hate, harassment, and abuse happens every day. It’s pervasive, urgent, and growing. You deserve to be safe and free from harm. 

Over coming months, we’re delving into this with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us.

We’re joined by Florence-Olivia (BA, MA, Law PhD) and Marie-Emmanuelle (BA, MA, Law PhD), the sisters behind The Sis (@the.sisofficial). They are internationally renowned researchers and speakers in the field of prevention and intervention of violence. As public figures and experts in human rights and the elimination of all forms of discrimination, their mission is to make the world a fairer place. They have acted as consultants for businesses, NGOs, public sector organizations, and provincial and national governments. Recognizing that their own studies taught them the importance of democratizing research, they created their platform, The Sis. In its first year of existence, their community grew to over 400,000 people from around the world, exchanging viewpoints on current gender justice issues. The sisters were recognized as two of the 15 most influential people in Quebec in 2022. Their work on social media helped promote the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s Signal for Help to help end gender-based violence.

Relevant Links: The Sis Official on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X; The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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With Hannah Sung (@hannsung, @hannah_tok), veteran of Canadian media and co-founder of Media Girlfriends. Communication in the western world has changed a lot: in 1800s, it was printing presses and telegraphs, then telephone, radio, movies, and television. Next came satellites, email and the internet, mobile phones, and smartphones, all the way to today’s social media, digital content, and remote learning and work.  

Gender inequalities have a way of persisting through these tidal shifts. Right from the start of the internet’s mass popularity, digital spaces presented gendered safety problems. From the 1990s to 2018, 76% of the complainants in cases of technology-facilitated violence reported to Canadian courts of appeal or the Supreme Court were female and 91% of the accused were male. 

Over coming months, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

We’re joined by Hannah Sung, co-founder of the award-winning Media Girlfriends, a production company led by journalists of colour who prioritize inclusion, diversity, and perspectives in media. Media Girlfriends partnered with the Canadian Women’s Foundation to release the Signal for Help podcast. Hannah is a 20+ year veteran of Canadian media and founder of At The End Of the Day newsletter and podcast, an Apple Podcasts Best of 2022. In the past, she worked at the Globe and Mail and CBC. In 2020, she was the Asper Fellow at the University of Western Ontario. Hannah began her career at MuchMusic, where she hosted MuchNews and The NewMusic. 

Relevant Links: Hannah Sung on Instagram and TikTok, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence, Feminist Creator Prize

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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With The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada. As the Department of Finance Canada notes, the federal budget is “a blueprint for how the Government wants to set the annual economic agenda for Canada.” 

As Canada’s public foundation for gender justice and equality, government spending decisions are always a key topic for the Canadian Women’s Foundation. The focus of government spending affects all our lives, every single day, in so many ways. Government investment decisions are powerful tools that can maintain things as they are or profoundly change them, for better or for worse. 

The 2024 Federal Budget was recently released and we co-hosted an analysis of it with Oxfam Canada and other national feminist voices. We discussed how investments stack up for women and gender-diverse people and for moving the needle on gender equality. 

In this bonus episode, we speak with the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau on this very topic. 

Relevant Links: Feminist Federal Budget Response 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

TikTok: @cdnwomenfdn 

X: @cdnwomenfdn

Content note: this episode addresses sexual violence.

“Not every Ontario hospital has rape evidence kits,” reads a recent Toronto Star headline. “A proposed law would change that.” May is Sexual Assault Prevention Month, and the issue of sexual assault evidence kits not being available to survivors in all hospitals - in Ontario and throughout Canada - is an important one. But sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes. Survivors may not feel safe enough to report in the first place. Evidence collection is just one piece of a complicated puzzle.

What’s the issue with sexual assault evidence kits in hospitals? And what’s the deeper story about evidence, reporting, supporting survivors, and ultimately, ending sexual violence? Nicole Pietch, Writer and Advocate at the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC), joins us to share her insights.

Nicole Pietsch is a past counsellor at the Sexual Assault Centre of Halton and current Writer and Advocate with the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres. OCRCC works toward the prevention and eradication of sexual violence. OCRCC’s membership includes community-based sexual violence and rape crisis centres from across Ontario, offering counselling, information and support services to all survivors of recent and historical sexual violence, including sexual harassment and sexual trafficking. Since 1998, Nicole has assisted adults and youth living with violence, including immigrant and refugee women and survivors of sexual violence. Nicole has worked with youth survivors of violence who are incarcerated, those living in an institutional settings, and Deaf youth. Nicole’s written work has appeared in York University’s Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering, and the University of Toronto’s Women’s Health and Urban Life and Canadian Woman Studies/les cahiers de la femme.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, find support options at OCRCC’s website.

Be a Signal for Help Responder: signalresponder.ca

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation

The Canadian Women's Foundation acknowledges the support of Women and Gender Equality Canada.

With Simone Saunders, founder of The Cognitive Corner. Family violence refers to many kinds of abuse and neglect in families. Umbrella terms like this can be challenging. They cover a range of experiences, but they can obscure gender and power dynamics in their broadness. Women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans, and non-binary people face family violence at disproportionate rates that are only on the rise in Canada today.  

Umbrella terms can also make it hard to envision how different people experience things differently depending on who they are. For example, survivors with disabilities have shared how abuse perpetrated by family caregivers tends to get ignored because, in popular imagination, we don’t always see how those who take care of us can also hurt us. 2SLBTQIA+ survivors have shared how a family member’s threats of outing them to other family members can be used as a form of control.  

These nuances of abuse are sometimes treated as mere add-ons. What if the devil is in the details? What if exploring nuances can unlock solutions that make millions of people safer? 

Simone Saunders joins us to address family violence in racialized families. Simone is a graduate level Registered Social Worker and therapist in Calgary, Alberta. She is the founder of The Cognitive Corner—a group psychological practice that focuses on providing trauma-informed and culturally responsive psychological care and psychoeducation to Albertans and Ontarians. In the future, The Cognitive Corner seeks to provide accessible and affordable mental health services to racialized communities, due to the current lack of resources. Simone specializes in the treatment of early childhood trauma, racial trauma, and attachment-based issues, using a mixture of somatic-based modalities and critical theory to address societal/structural inequities. In addition, she is a mental health creator and advocate on Instagram and TikTok, where she aims to normalize mental health struggles and provide accessible psychoeducation. 

A note about content: this episode includes discussion of family and gender-based violence. 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

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Twitter: ⁠@cdnwomenfdn ⁠ 

LinkedIn: ⁠The Canadian Women’s Foundation ⁠ 

Instagram: ⁠@canadianwomensfoundation

Building trusting relationships between all philanthropic partners is key to a thriving, equitable sector. This week on the show, we're joined by Raisa Borshchigova from Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights to talk about how we can redefine giving through collective care, and by listening to and respecting the expertise of activists and front-line workers. 

Content note: this episode addresses gender-based violence.

“Is #MeToo Over?”, headlines are asking. There’s been a resurgence of victim-blaming narratives in the media and popular culture. Why is this happening? What can we do about it?

The deeper story is grounded in our contradictory cultural imagination when it comes to gender-based violence like intimate partner abuse and sexual assault. A recent survey by the Canadian Women’s Foundation found that most people in Canada believe we all have a role to end this violence, but nearly half are hesitant to act and 23% say “intimate partner violence is none of my business if it doesn’t directly involve me.” We may see statistics that prove how common this abuse is, but it’s hidden. We seem unable to fathom just how widespread it is. And we say we believe survivors, but we easily blame them, question their motivations, and worry about the impacts of their allegations on abusers.

Nicole Bedera joins us to dig into these dizzying contradictions. She’s a sociologist who studies how social structures, organizations, and culture create a world where violence is predictable and ordinary. Over the past decade, she has studied sexual violence in contexts like college campuses and has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, Time Magazine and more. She’s a fellow at the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism and an Affiliated Educator at the Center for Institutional Courage.

Be a Signal for Help Responder: signalresponder.ca

Episode transcript

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

Visit our website and donate today: canadianwomen.org

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation

Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation

The Canadian Women's Foundation acknowledges the support of Women and Gender Equality Canada.

With guest Erica Ifill.

White nationalism is on the rise in Canada. What does it have to do with women? 

White nationalism is a core concept in far-right extremism. And many experts say it’s becoming more mainstream. “Hate in Canada: A short guide to far-right extremist movements” (2022) says, “Far-right extremism is a form of ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE) – but one that is difficult to describe. There is no one, single ideology motivating these groups, but there is a shared framework of beliefs, ideas, concepts, and literature that cuts across them.”

In Canada, white nationalism been the basis of all kinds of dangerous things, including deadly attacks, misinformation campaigns, and harassment and hate toward public figures, politicians and journalists, particularly women of colour.

In the swirl of media coverage about these issues, it can be hard to sort out what it’s about and the implications from a gender and rights perspective.

Our guest Erica Ifill offers clarifying analysis on these issues. Erica is a journalist, economist, and anti-racism expert. She founded Not In My Colour, an intersectional business consultancy that creates inclusive organizations and implements solutions to dismantle systemic discrimination. She also co-founded the Bad + Bitchy podcast, which offers a critical analysis of politics and pop culture through the lens of intersectional feminism. She’s a columnist for The Hill Times and she’s written for outlets such as The Globe and Mail, Refinery29, Chatelaine, and Maclean’s.

Relevant links: A Feminist Lens on Alt-Right Ideology (Episode 19, February 9, 2022)

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With Nana aba Duncan (Media Girlfriends) and Eternity Martis. 

Sometimes, it’s the personal stories that can light a fire. Because in the flurry of activity around the viral Signal for Help, a hand gesture we released that means “I need your help”, we can forget we’re talking about real people.  

That’s why we’re releasing the Signal for Help podcast, a mini-series you don’t want to miss.

Gender-based violence is a problem, and we want to support survivors. But too many people who face abuse are shamed, silenced, and stigmatized, and too many people don’t feel confident in supporting them. The Signal for Help podcast explores how we can play a helping role through validation, active listening, and a survivor-led approach.   

Today, you’re getting a sneak peak of the first episode of the Signal for Help podcast, released this week. It's hosted by award-winning journalist, professor, and former CBC Radio One host Nana aba Duncan. It’s produced Media Girlfriends. This episode features Eternity Martis, journalist and editor who has worked with The Huffington Post, Chatelaine, Maclean’s, CBC, The Walrus, and more. In 2021, she published “They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up”, her bestselling memoir of her experiences with racism, partner abuse, and so much more at university. 

If you prefer to listen en Français, check out our French Appel à l’aide podcast produced by Zoé Gagnon-Paquin.  

Find both English and French podcasts on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or anywhere you get your podcast content. 

A note about content: this episode includes discussion of gender-based violence. 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

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With Dr. Barbara Vanderhyden, Corinne Boyer Chair in Ovarian Cancer Research at the University of Ottawa. Like many things related to sexual and reproductive health, there’s elevated stigma about gynecological cancers. Like many health issues for women, girls, and gender-diverse people, there are serious gaps in knowledge and treatment, too. The gaps are bigger for those who face discrimination based on factors like race, ability, and income.   

It’s ironic that modern biological research is based on cells taken from a woman named Henreitta Lacks in 1951 at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Lacks was a Black woman diagnosed with cervical cancer. Her cells were taken without her consent and cultivated into the HeLa cell line, the most commonly used cell line in scientific research today.  

Those most marginalized, dealing with the poorest treatment and outcomes and most stigmatized and understudied health issues are the ones we’ve built our medical practices on. 

Since May 28, International Day of Action for Women's Health, we’ve focused on gender and health matters we may know bits and pieces of but probably need to learn more about. As we wrap up this mini-series, we can’t help but take a long view of equality, justice, and rights in medicine. We’re thankful to the amazing medical scientists trying to turn the tide today. 

Our guest Dr. Barbara Vanderhyden is one of those people. She’s the inaugural Corinne Boyer Chair in Ovarian Cancer Research at the University of Ottawa and a Senior Scientist in the Cancer Therapeutics Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. She loves talking about her research, which focuses on how risk factors affect the incidence of ovarian cancer, and how good models of ovarian cancer can shed light on cancer susceptibility, tumour progression and response to treatment. Dr. Vanderhyden teaches about science, academic integrity, and science communication. 

Relevant links: Ovarian Cancer Canada 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠canadianwomen.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor.   

Episode ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Transcripts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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With Carissa Gravelle at Heart and Stroke Foundation. The link between experiences of discrimination and your health and wellness is undeniable. It's all about the “social determinants of health”. Discrimination based on gender and other connected factors like our race and ability impacts our health in so many ways. For example, we get treated differently based on our gender in healthcare settings. Our access to relevant health services and options differs wildly depending on our gender. Even the medical research that gets funded and acted on depends on our gender.  

In honour of International Day of Action for Women's Health, we’re focusing on gender and health matters we may know bits and pieces of but probably need to learn more about. 

Our guest Carissa Gravelle is passionate about anti-racism, diversity, inclusion, young people, under-represented populations, mental health, and wellness. Carissa has worked in the non-profit sector for over a decade spearheading equity, diversity, inclusion, and access initiatives. Carissa works to advance health equity for marginalized populations and believes in the importance of educating through storytelling and meaningful conversations to change perceptions and inspire social change. 

Relevant Links: Heart and Stroke Foundation 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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With Ziyana Kotadia and Karen Campbell.

Content note: this episode addresses sexual violence. Too Scared to Learn: Women, Violence, and Education by Jenny Horsman (2013) uncovers how violence negatively impacts a student’s ability to learn. It focusses on women’s literacy, but the broader lesson is clear. None of us can properly learn when we’re scared and targeted. This has huge implications for girls, women, and gender-diverse students in all schools, as well as huge implications for post-secondary environments like colleges and universities, where sexual violence is a particular problem.

It’s the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, a great time to talk about ending sexual violence on campus. Our first guest is Ziyana Kotadia, an advocate and writer in her final year of an Honours Specialization in Global Gender Studies and a Minor in Feminist, Queer and Critical Race Theory from Western University and Huron University College. She’s Chair of the Safe Campus Coalition and a contributor to the Our Campus, Our Safety Action Plan, a call for action from students all over Canada. Ziyana is passionate about poetry, performance, and politics and has a keen interest in exploring intersections among the worlds of academia, art, and advocacy. She was the 2021-2022 Vice-President University Affairs for Western's University Students' Council, one of the nation’s leading student organizations, where she championed gender equity projects and the voices of over 35,000 undergraduate and professional students as the Chief Advocate and Stakeholder Relations Manager to the university's senior administration. Her most recent publications include her op-ed “Universities Need a Consent Awareness Week in Ontario” in the ‘Toronto Star’, her second-place winning poem "Heir to A Garden Heart" in ‘Symposium’, and her academic article "Poetry, Prayer, and Politics: An Autoethnographic Exploration of Womanhood in the Canadian Ugandan Khoja Ismaili Diaspora" in ‘Liberated Arts: A Journal for Undergraduate Research’.

Our second guest, Karen Campbell, Director of Community Initiatives & Policy at the Canadian Women’s Foundation. She speaks new research we did in collaboration with the McGill University iMPACTS initiative, documented in a report entitled: Social Media and Mobilizing Change for Community Impacts. It explores the connection between students, social media, and sexual assault on university and college campuses. 

Relevant links: Our Campus, Our Safety Action Plan, Social Media and Mobilizing Change for Community Impacts: Results Report

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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With Jake Stika of Next Gen Men, Fay Slift and Fluffy Soufflé of The Fabulous Show with Fay and Fluffy, Shree Paradkar of the Toronto Star, and Angela Sterritt, national bestselling author of Unbroken. Today’s episode features four of seven incredible speakers at The Walrus Talks Gender-Based Violence, presented by the Canadian Women’s Foundation and held on November 16, 2023. Speakers addressed pressing issues and solutions to end gender-based violence.

Listen to learn how we can become allies to survivors of abuse and work as agents of safety and care from the ground up. 

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence. 

Relevant links: The Facts about Gender-Based Violence 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) occurs at shockingly high rates and has a devastating impact on those targeted. From the doxxing of public figures to the harassment of ordinary folks on social media, TFGBV can take many forms and abusers have a number of tools at their disposal.

We sat down with Rosel Kim and Pam Hrick of the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) to discuss the recommendations for addressing TFGBV that came out of LEAF's Deplatforming Misogyny report. To read the report, please visit: www.leaf.ca/publication/deplatforming-misogyny/

With Brynta Ponn, social media influencer (@bryntaponn, @brynstagram). Digital hate, harassment, and violence hurts so many women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans, and non-binary people in Canada. Content creators who address gender justice issues like Brynta have a lot to teach us about it. 

Body shaming is defined as “unsolicited, mostly negative opinions or comments about a target’s body” that “can range from well-meant advice to malevolent insults”. That women and gender-diverse people deal with endless commentary about our bodies is nothing new. In our digital age, it’s highly public and downright weaponized, wrapped up with sexist, racist, ableist, homophobic, and transphobic language. Those of us with bodies different than the stereotyped ideal, like plus-sized women, get especially targeted on social media. 

Digital body shaming and blaming has serious implications for our mental health and self-esteem. And adds to the silencing effect women and gender-diverse people face online. The irony of this is that most of our bodies don’t match the limited ideal.

Over coming months, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Our guest Brynta Ponn is a body confidence advocate and content creator. She’s based in Toronto and was raised in a South Asian community. She understands what it’s like to grow up with body image issues. She encourages people to live unapologetically, no matter what their journey with their body is. Her goal is to be a voice counteracting the negativity surrounding outdated beauty standards for women – for young girls, especially. She empowers women of all ages from all walks of life to be kinder to themselves and live their lives confidently and without shame. 

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence. 

Relevant Links: Brynta Ponn on Instagram and TikTok, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

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Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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With Elizabeth Renzetti, journalist and author. Her most recent book is the national bestseller What She Said: Conversations About Equality. In 2020 she won the Landsberg Prize, presented by Canadian Journalism Foundation and Canadian Women’s Foundation, for her reporting on gender equality. She is co-author, with Kate Hilton, of the Quill & Packet series of mystery novels. She lives in Toronto with her family and two very bad cats. 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

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In April, the federal government unveiled a federal budget that includes historic investment in childcare, action on gender-based violence, and other issues of relevance to gender equality matters in Canada. This bonus episode discusses some of the major elements of that budget and what the implications might be moving forward into the future.

On the first episode of this season, we're tackling the question—why do Mothers still take on the bulk of childcare, and what is this doing to their mental health and job prospects? We look beyond stereotypes to the underlying policy and economic reasons for this pattern.

When we think about gender-based violence, we tend to think about physical abuse. But there are hidden forms of violence, including manipulation, control, name-calling, gaslighting, and isolation, that often go unaddressed. This week, we're chatting with Anuradha Dugal and Jacqueline Hall about what emotional abuse looks like in the COVID-19 pandemic, and what we can do about it. 

With Fallon Farinacci, social media influencer (@fallonfarinacci). There are good resources designed to help you better respond to and take care of yourself in situations of digital hate and harassment. Right to Be says there’s “no right or perfect response to harassment.” Their online harassment survival guide says it’s ok to feel vulnerable and turn to your support network when you need it. They talk about how important it is to feel connected in your offline life. 

Research shows how people who harass and hate don’t always do it from a place of power. They often do it from a place of feeling powerless. It’s no excuse for hurting others.  

But what keeps us grounded? Caring community. If we all had more access to caring community – connections that uphold human rights and dignity and positively challenge us to do the same – experiences of hate, harassment, and abuse would not be so commonplace.    

Over coming months, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Our guest Fallon Farinacci is Red River Métis and a child survivor, advocate, and speaker for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. Fallon testified in the National Inquiry for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, sharing her story of loss and trauma. Later, Fallon joined The National Family Advisory Circle, where she worked closely with other affected family members and the Commissioners for the National Inquiry. Fallon continues to share her family’s story and brings awareness to ongoing genocide Indigenous women, girls, and Two Spirit people face in hopes of bringing change across Turtle Island. 

A note about content: this episode addresses gender-based violence and suicide. 

Relevant Links: Fallon Farinacci on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

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Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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We've all seen the news about abuses in the military, but the problem of sexual harassment in Canada goes far beyond any one industry. On today's episode, we're asking the question; why are some industries so much worse for sexual harassment? To explore this with us, we're joined by author and women's rights advocate, Julie S. Lalonde, and Research and Training Director of AfterMeToo, Kate Cornell.

Further reading:

• Western University’s CREVAWC’s Respect At Work
• Demographics of artists in Canada, 2016 Hill Strategies
• Impact of the pandemic on the performing arts, CAPACOA
• Julie S. Lalonde's website

With Sabrina Cruz of Answer in Progress. Disinformation is false information intended to mislead. Misinformation is false information shared without intention of misleading. In this digital world, false information and the conspiracy theories, fake news, and downright lies attached to it seem to spread like wildfire. 

A poll found that people in Canada consider the online disinformation epidemic and climate change as the most serious threats of the modern age. The Government of Canada’s Online Disinformation webpage says it well: “Even if you don’t believe it, false information causes doubt and confusion. It makes it harder to find factual content you can trust. It also may cause you to delay taking an important decision that could affect your wellbeing. False information can also continue to influence your beliefs even after you find out it’s not true ... This effect is known as the continued influence effect and it is another way that disinformation can cause harm.” 

There’s a lot of false information out there when it comes to gender equality and justice issues. We see it all the time, on all kinds of issues: the gender pay gap, why we have to unflinchingly confront racism and white supremacy, why ending transphobia and homophobia is a core part of our work, the scope of gender-based violence, misconceptions about trafficking, you name it.  

Sometimes, misinformation leads to genuine questions. Sometimes, misinformation leads to accusations and attacks. It’s not about the evidence, it’s about making a point. And that point may be grounded in discrimination and disempowering marginalized people. 

What happens when you’re faced with some kind of misinformation, no matter how or why it comes? How can you apply your curiosity as a useful tool? 

Sabrina Cruz is our guest, co-founder of Answer in Progress, a media production company that encourages people to explore their curiosity and shares every stumble and success along the way. Their YouTube channel is over 1 million subscribers strong and covers a wide range of topics, from Teaching an AI to Solve the Trolley Problem to Getting Good Last Minute Gifts. They've collaborated with Google and HISTORY. They want to reignite a love of learning in themselves and their audience. 

Relevant Links: Answer in Progress

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠⁠canadianwomen.org⁠⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Episode ⁠⁠Transcripts⁠⁠ 

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In times of crisis, inequality grows and vulnerable communities can be left behind. That's why the Canadian Women’s Foundation and The Body Shop Canada are teaming up during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (Nov. 25 to Dec. 10) to #ActTogether and encourage people to take action on gender-based violence in Canada.

With Dr. Nasreen Rajani. Gendered digital abuse can take lots of forms: threatening or damaging communication, cyberstalking, non-consensual distribution of intimate images, online dating abuse, hacking, doxing (publishing private information about someone online), flaming (posting insults or personal attacks), impersonation, gendered and sexualized disinformation, and more. 

Studies show that those who experience more unwanted behaviour online include young women, Black, Indigenous, and racialized women, and 2SLGBTQIA+ people. Still, research is thin when it comes to exploring the nuances of gendered digital abuse in their lives. For instance, very little focusses on the experiences and perspectives of racialized women in Canada. 

Over coming months, we’re delving into gendered digital hate and harassment with leading experts and content creators, releasing in-depth episodes every single week. We talk about the problem and what we can do to change it. We offer practical tips to help you in your digital life, and we talk about what it means to “take back the tech” for all of us. 

Our guest Dr. Nasreen Rajani has been involved in ending gender-based violence for about seven years through her research and non-profit advocacy work. Her dissertation examined how racialized and Indigenous activists across Canada use digital tools in their work to end gender-based violence. She has been a volunteer and board member with the Women’s Initiatives for Safer Environments (WISE Ottawa) from 2016 to 2021 and is currently an advisor with the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) on their technology-facilitated gender-based violence project. Nasreen is also a member of the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women’s (OCTEVAW) Black and Racialized Persons Caucus, a strategic advisory board that supports the meaningful implementation of equity, anti-racist, decolonial, and intersectional lenses on OCTEVAW’s work. 

Relevant Links: “I Bet You Don’t Get What We Get”: An Intersectional Analysis of Technology-Facilitated Violence Experienced by Racialized Women Anti-Violence Online Activists in Canada (Canadian Journal of Law and Technology, 2022), Unacceptable: Responding to Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence, The Facts about Gendered Digital Hate, Harassment, and Violence 

Brief Listener Survey: did this episode help you? Fill out and be entered to win a great prize pack! 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

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With Natalie Philbert, Manager of Women’s Programs and Services at Hemophilia Ontario, and Dr. Meghan Pike, pediatrician and clinical fellow in Pediatric-Hematology Oncology at Dalhousie University/IWK Health Centre.  

We don’t always have the language to speak about our periods – let alone menstrual bleeding disorders. What are the signs and symptoms? What are the gaps in care and diagnosis? And how does it connect with gendered inequities?  

May 28 was International Day of Action for Women's Health, so for the next few episodes, we’re focusing on gender and health matters we may know bits and pieces of but probably need to learn more about. Today, we focus on menstrual bleeding disorders. 

Natalie Philbert is a PhD candidate focusing on delay in diagnosis for menstruators with bleeding disorders. Natalie brings a professional and personal passion to the bleeding disorder community given her own diagnosis of Von Willebrand disease Type 1. She co-created a website called heroixx.ca, specifically designed for menstruators with bleeding disorders.   

Dr. Meghan Pike launched the WeThrive App that can identify adolescents with heavy menstrual bleeding.  She is an advocate for free access to menstrual products. Her research interests include patient-reported outcome measures, impacts of cancer treatment on reproductive and menstrual health, and advocacy for menstruators. 

Relevant links: heroixx.ca, WeThrive App (Apple App Store | Google Play) 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠canadianwomen.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor.  

Episode ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Transcripts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  

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We're mindful of crises in the Ukraine, in Afghanistan, in Yemen, and other regions of the world. The goal of gender justice in Canada is intertwined with the goals of peace and safety all over the globe. But the distinct needs of women, girls, and gender-diverse people fleeing conflict as refugees and the interplay of discrimination like racism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism are underrecognized in our responses and in the settlement process. What do we mean when we say that refugee experiences are gendered?

Sizwe Inkingi, Coordinator of the Positive Spaces Initiative at the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI), joins us to talk about it. OCASI acts as a collective voice for immigrant-serving agencies and coordinates response to shared needs and concerns. Its membership is comprised of more than 200 community-based organizations.

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

Visit our website: canadianwomen.org

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Twitter: @cdnwomenfdn

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation

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New legislation about gendered pay inequity will go into force on August 31, 2021. But there are still those who say that a gender pay gap doesn't exist in Canada at all. We're joined by Dr. Sarah Kaplan, Director of the Institute for Gender and the Economy and Distinguished Professor of Gender and the Economy and Professor of Strategic Management at Rotman. She addresses what the gender pay gap really is and what needs to happen to end it.

With Liza Vityuk at McKinsey & Company. Discrimination based on gender and other connected factors like our race and ability impacts our health in so many ways. In honour of International Day of Action for Women's Health, we’ve focused on gender and health matters we may know bits and pieces of but probably need to learn more about.

Our guest Liza Vityuk is Partner at McKinsey & Company. She has more than 15 years of experience in commercial and growth strategies, building digital businesses, and improving customer experience globally. Liza is the Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee in Canada, overseeing efforts for more than 1,300 colleagues. She joins us to speak to McKinsey Health Institute’s 2024 report, “Closing the women’s health gap: A $1 trillion opportunity to improve lives and economies”. It points to some big findings.

• While women live longer than men, they spend 25% more of their lives in debilitating health.  

•  The study of biology defaults to the male body, which results in many treatments being less effective for women. 

•  Women face more barriers to care, timely diagnosis, and good healthcare treatment.  

• And health burdens for women are systematically underestimated, with datasets that exclude or undervalue important conditions.  

This is our last episode of Alright, Now What? for few months. We’re taking a summer break and will start up again in the fall with more great topics and guests. Thank you so much for your listenership and support. 

Relevant Links: McKinsey Health Institute’s, “Closing the women’s health gap: A $1 trillion opportunity to improve lives and economies” report 

Episode ⁠Transcripts⁠ 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at ⁠canadianwomen.org⁠ and consider becoming a monthly donor. 

Facebook: Canadian Women’s Foundation 

LinkedIn: The Canadian Women’s Foundation 

Instagram: @canadianwomensfoundation 

TikTok: @cdnwomenfdn 

X: @cdnwomenfdn

To end gender-based violence before it starts, we need violence prevention and intervention. And rather than seeing violence as something inevitable, advocates view it as something that can be ended with the right mix of policy, practice, funding, services, supports, and education. We're closing this season by speaking to Rachael Crowder, the Executive Director of the Prince Edward Island Rape and Sexual Assault Centre, and Lisa Jewell,  the Outreach and Housing Coordinator at Fort Saint John Women's Resource Society.

After a swift campaign period, the federal election has wrapped up and the results are in. What do they actually mean when it comes to gender justice matters? What policy decisions and changes do we need to keep pushing forward with, especially at this time when gender equality gains in Canada are so at risk, especially for marginalized women? Anuradha Dugal, VP of Community Initiatives at the Canadian Women’s Foundation, shares some initial reactions and provides helpful insights.

We are joined by social justice lawyer and advocate Fay Faraday and Vice President of Community Initiatives at the Foundation Anuradha Dugal to discuss the intersection of paid sick leave and gender. We explore the devaluing of living things within a for-profit, capitalist system and the ideological barriers that promote resistance to paid sick leave and other worker-centred policies.