Margaret Newall

President’s Award
Margaret Newall has a long history of community activism and women-focused philanthropy. She co-founded both Research and Education for Solutions to Violence and Abuse (RESOLVE) and the Prairieaction Foundation and served as the foundation’s Chair for 10 years.

Margaret Newall is a leading voice for ending violence against women. Through Prairieaction Foundation, she and a team of activists set out to raise funds to promote research and education to help end domestic violence. With an ambitious target of five million dollars, Margaret personally campaigned to corporations, governments and individuals across Central Canada until she reached her impressive goal.

This fundraising initiative led to a significant milestone for domestic violence support on the Prairies: the creation of RESOLVE, a research and education network with centres at the universities of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Calgary and partnerships with community-based agencies, government policymakers and researchers across the Prairie provinces.

Margaret also has a deep commitment to causes that support Indigenous women and families and believes that philanthropy plays a key role in advancing truth and reconciliation. Notably, Margaret is supporting the capital campaign to build a one-of-a-kind healing lodge for the Thunder Women Healing Lodge Society—a community-driven initiative committed to breaking the cycle of Indigenous women’s over-representation in Canada’s prisons.

Margaret and her work have been recognized throughout the Prairies and nationally. She holds honorary degrees from the Universities of Regina, Manitoba and Calgary for her contributions to the community. She was also selected as a co-recipient of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Foundation Award for her work on behalf of survivors of family violence and as a founding member of the Prairieaction Foundation.

Margaret is a Member of the Order of Canada, and in 2012, she received the Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of her contributions to Canada.

Margaret has an endless drive to empower those around her to learn, grow and thrive. She embodies the belief that contributing to a community is what makes you a part of it.

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Willa Black

Corporate Leadership
A focused champion for women and girls, Willa Black is a leader and activator.

Over her extensive career, Willa has advocated for women and girls building programs to ensure equity of opportunity through digital access to education and mental health resources, and IT skills training.

As Vice-President of Corporate Affairs for Cisco Canada, Willa is a driving force for change. She understands the role business can, and must, play to address some of Canada’s most urgent social issues. In 2011, she launched the Connected North Network, using technology to connect students in Canada’s north to opportunities not available to them locally — Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programming, Indigenous mentors, virtual field trips, mental wellness resources and more. In 2016 Connected North was migrated from Cisco to charity partner TakingITGlobal and today reaches 130 schools and 25,000 students across Canada’s north. Willa has built an ecosystem of private and public sector partners to scale this network of possibility — bringing the world into northern classrooms. She remains its core champion with a goal to connect more schools and students in Indigenous communities to the opportunities they deserve.

Willa and her team also lead the charge with Girls in STEM programming, building partnerships with Girls Who Code, and managing nationwide hackathons. In 2021, she launched CyberNB with the Government of New Brunswick to provide Cisco cyber security training in high schools’ province-wide.

As Chair of the Connected North Advisory Board and within Cisco Canada, she continues to activate change in Indigenous communities and advocate for women and girls in STEM.

Among her list of numerous awards, in 2018 Willa was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by the Governor General for outstanding service to Canada and received the Women in Communications and Technology: Leadership Excellence Innovator Award.

Through Willa’s fierce and determined leadership, she remains deeply committed to unlocking the potential in women, girls and Indigenous students through making access to technology more equitable.

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Asma Faizi

Professions
Asma Faizi is a pillar of hope for Afghan women and girls in Canada and abroad.

As President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Afghan Women's Organization (AWO), Asma has been instrumental in creating opportunities for Afghan women and girls for several decades, notably by implementing the Afghan Women's Leadership and Governance Training Program, coordinating an AWO Youth Leadership initiative, and representing the AWO on the Steering Committee of the Canadian Coalition in Support of Women.

Globally, Asma is an unwavering advocate for women and girls, leading workshops and presentations on women's rights in Afghanistan, at conferences in Mexico and Thailand, as well as participating in international programs held in Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States. She has ensured that the stories of women and girls who have experienced human rights abuses in Afghanistan were heard by the Canadian government. During her time at AWO, the organization developed initiatives in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan including establishing underground girls' schools, creating trainings, income-generating initiatives, and opening an orphanage for young girls.

As a trained lawyer, Asma has been providing free legal services throughout her career, including to help Ontario’s charities, non-profits, low-income entrepreneurs and startups to help improve governance and manage risks; to self-represented individuals in court; on intellectual property, contracts and other business law matters for low-income visual artists; and low-income families whose children face challenges to their rights at school. She has paved the way for new lawyers as a formal mentor to young in-house counsel through the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association's Mentorship Program as well as informally mentoring numerous other young women law students and young Afghan women.

Asma has received the Member of Parliament's Sesquicentennial Citizenship Award in 2017 and was among the ATLAS Women Afghanistan Emergency Task Force that received the 2021 PILnet Pro Bono Publico Award, an award that recognizes extraordinary legal professionals and their dedication to service for the public good.

Asma’s commitment to amplifying voices locally is assured through AWO. Because of Asma, the collective experiences of Afghan women and girls, in Canada and abroad, will be protected and heard for years to come.

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Toufah Jallow

Young Woman of Distinction
Toufah Jallow is a rising brave voice for women and girls who have been impacted by violence.

At 25 years old, Toufah is already an accomplished educator and advocate speaking out against gender-based and sexual violence on the world stage. Toufah was forced to flee her native country of The Gambia at the age of 18 after the country’s violent dictator drugged and sexually assaulted her. Toufah had won a scholarship and funding for community projects in a beauty pageant sponsored by the dictator. After the dictator was deposed, she returned to her country to testify against him, breaking several taboos by speaking publicly on the assault. Her testimony at the Human Rights Watch Report and at The Gambia’s Truth, Reparations, and Reconciliation Commission inspired an outpouring of stories from West African women and sparked a movement and social media campaign, #IamToufah, to address sexual assault and gender-based violence in the country. Later, she co-ordinated with local therapists to provide emergency counselling to survivors.

Since then, Toufah has established and now leads The Toufah Foundation, an organization that helps women heal from sexual and gendered violence. The foundation currently has plans to build The Gambia’s first women’s shelter.

Most recently, Toufah has joined a speakers’ bureau so that she can spread her message to audiences in North America, and around the world. She is also advancing her education by attending George Brown’s Certificate Program to become a counsellor for survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

Toufah’s latest achievement is publishing a book entitled, Toufah: The Woman Who Inspired an African #MeToo Movement, which she co-wrote about her experiences. It was released in Canada in February 2022.

Toufah is boldly challenging taboos in her quest to help women and girls heal from gender-based violence and is an inspiration to young women everywhere.

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Deepa Mattoo

Advocacy and Women’s Rights
As a skilled feminist lawyer and Executive Director of Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, Deepa Mattoo is a passionate advocate for survivors of violence.

Through her remarkable 24-year career, Deepa has supported women and their families through her work at the Clinic and provided training and educational opportunities to direct service providers, legal and justice system players and others across Canada. Deepa specializes in working with forced marriage survivors, non-status and immigrant women, and refugee women experiencing gender-based violence.

Deepa has spearheaded several innovative projects that include a new intersectional risk assessment tool, a High Need Case Management Program, a Criminalization of Women ProBono Program for women who have been charged or convicted of criminal offences, and the #AndMeToo Project for addressing sexual harassment for precariously-employed survivors.

Deepa’s expertise and law reform advocacy work have brought her before the Supreme Court of Canada and the United Nations to speak on a wide range of human rights and social justice issues, including refugee protection, gender-based violence, and the Hague Convention.

Deepa was one of the first Project Coordinators in the early founding years of Ontario's first South Asian legal service. Along with a group of law students and activists, she recognized and responded to the need for better access to justice for South Asians living in poverty.

She has mentored dozens of young women law students and articling lawyers through her co-directorship of the feminist advocacy program at Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, as well as through her role as an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School.

As co-chair of Women’s Shelters Canada working group ‘Promoting Responsive Legal and Justice Systems’, Deepa contributed to the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence and supported feminist advocacy across the country.

Through her visionary leadership, commitment to collaboration, and development of innovative service models, Deepa is an inspiring force for change in the legal sphere and beyond.

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Cheryl Regehr

Education
Cheryl Regehr is a well-established leader and champion for women in academia.

Since 2013, Cheryl has served as Vice-President & Provost at the University of Toronto and one of the longest serving Provosts in its history. Former Dean of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and Vice-Provost, Academic Programs, she is a Professor of Social Work with cross-appointments to the Faculty of Law and the Institute for Medical Sciences in the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

Highlighting a determination for transformation are Cheryl’s creation of three new roles at University of Toronto: the Provostial Advisor on Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), which worked to recruit women into STEM programs; the Provostial Advisor on Access Programs, designed to enhance the ability of students from underrepresented groups to access academia; and, the Provostial Advisor on Student Mental Health, focused on enhancing services for students.

Cheryl has worked with other university leaders to develop programs that increase the diversity of faculty members – including implementing a program supporting the hiring of 160 new Black and Indigenous faculty members; addressing sexual violence on campus by aiding in the creation of the on-campus Sexual Violence Prevention & Support Centre; and fostering truth and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

Before Cheryl’s time at the University of Toronto, she was the Director of the Sexual Assault Care Centre at Mississauga Hospital (now Trillium), a leading centre for sexual violence support.

Cheryl has received numerous awards for research and teaching and is the author of six books and more than 150 articles. Her practice includes more than 20 years of direct service in forensic social work and emergency mental health and in the administration of mental health programs. In 2015, Cheryl was named one of the Women’s Executive Network’s 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada.

Cheryl is a prolific scholar and multi-faceted champion who has made a profound difference in the lives of young women.

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Loly Rico

Refugee Rights
Loly Rico is a prominent advocate for refugee women in Toronto.

After fleeing political oppression in El Salvador, Loly and her late partner founded what is now known as the FCJ Refugee Centre 31 years ago. Though she was originally trained as a physiotherapist, Loly’s personal migration experience exposed her to the vulnerabilities many refugee women and children face, and the urgent need for community programs to support healing and safety.

Over the years, Loly and her partner expanded the Centre’s services significantly, offering refugee women and families legal support, a primary health care clinic, and social assistance aid. Loly has focused on providing a multitude of much-needed assistance for undocumented residents of Toronto.

Given her passion and experience, Loly has appeared often in the media and served with a number of partner organizations, including as President of both the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) and the Canadian Council of Refugees (CCR). She advocates for change in government policy and has played an important role in raising awareness about the vulnerabilities refugee women and children face to sex trafficking and other forms of exploitation.

Loly was also fundamental in helping create an innovative program with York University that allows students without permanent status in Canada to enroll in post-secondary education without having to pay costly foreign student fees.

Loly has been recognized and awarded by a number of institutions in the city such as the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture Trevor Bartram Award and the Community Leadership Award from the Salvadorian Canadian Association of Toronto. In 2017, she was announced as the Spirit of Barbra Schlifer Award recipient.

With the creation of the FCJ Youth Network in 2018, Loly continues to advocate for refugee women and echoes the core mission of her centre and her work, “Faced with any need… aim to include, not to exclude.”

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Dr. Sharon Walmsley

Health
Dr. Sharon Walmsley is a trailblazer and advocate for responsive health care for women living with HIV.

Sharon was one of the first Ontario physicians to dedicate her career to the care of persons living with HIV. She quickly learned that HIV-infected women had special needs beyond their medical treatment related to stigma, disclosure, isolation and poverty. She also recognized many women and trans persons acquire HIV through sexual assault or trauma.

As Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto, Director of one of the largest Canadian HIV clinics, at the University Health Network, and Senior scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, Sharon continues to break new ground. Not only has she led important research initiatives on the health needs of women with HIV, she plays a critical role in bringing the voices of women living with HIV into research through community advisory boards.

As Chair of the International Workshop on HIV and women, Sharon has used her leadership to connect researchers, women living with HIV and service organizations to advance further study in the field. As Co-Director of the Canadian HIV treatment trials network, she has helped to shape Canada’s response to the HIV pandemic, including the importance of ensuring the health needs of First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities with HIV are included.

Sharon is a passionate role model actively mentoring and promoting students and researchers, readily including young women collaborators in her projects and sharing opportunities for growth and leadership for women for over 20 years.

Sharon has received numerous awards. Notably for her work in HIV care and her commitment to guiding young women physicians and researchers, Sharon received the Order of Canada in 2017, and in 2021 was appointed Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Sharon’s extensive work and pioneering research on the unique effects of HIV on women and her commitment to mentoring young women physicians and researchers demonstrates a core belief: Change is possible!

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