Today marks a powerful moment for YWCA Canada, as we launch our 2025-2028 Strategic Plan: Centering Excellence and Equity. It is a bold vision rooted in our core belief in justice, safety and dignity for women, girls and gender diverse people.
This plan is our collective response to the calls we’ve heard — from our member associations, survivors, partners, advocates, youth leaders, frontline workers, and national and global allies. It is a blueprint for change. A declaration that hope is not passive; it is audacious, and it is necessary.
Looking Back: A Year of Impact
As Board Chair, Denise Christopherson and I shared in our newly released 2024 Annual Report: Acknowledging our Past, Building a Bold Future, the foundation we strengthened in 2024 set the stage for bold action ahead.
In 2024, in partnership with 29 YWCAs across Canada:
- We reached over 330,000 people, providing urgent financial support to survivors, financial literacy training to thousands, and new tools for hundreds of frontline staff to better prevent and respond to gender-based violence.
- We advocated for systemic change on the national and international stage. In Canada, our advocacy helped secure $50 million in federal funding for housing for women and families fleeing violence and maintain a dedicated minister for Women and Gender Equity, through strong feminist coalition work. We continued pressing for affordable, accessible childcare and survivor-centred policies. At UN Commission on the Status of Women, we called for survivor-centred policies and amplified youth and Indigenous leadership.
- We maintained a strong financial position through diligent stewardship and generous partners who believe in the causes we defend with passion.
- Our voice reached far and wide — with over 53 million media impressions and hundreds of media mentions, our movement’s relevance and resonance continue to grow.
Most importantly, behind every number is a real-story story of safety, resilience and possibility.
Introducing: YWCA Canada’s 2025-2028 Strategic Plan: Centering Excellence and Equity
As National CEO, I am pleased to share our new strategic plan for the next four years, one that builds on decades of action It comes at a critical time, amidst a global backlash against equity, gender equality, and a gender-based violence epidemic here in Canada.
Shaped through months of dialogue with communities, local YWCAs, the national team and board, and sector partners, the plan reflects a courageous, community-powered direction forward that is grounded in feminist values and committed to systemic transformation.
A Refreshed Vision and Mission
Vision
- Empowered women, girls and gender diverse people in a just, safe and equitable world.
Mission
- As a national voice for feminism in Canada, we drive gender equity through informed advocacy and by uniting the collective strength of YWCAs across the country.
Three New Strategic Pillars of Change
The strategy is powered by three pillars:
- Lead with Purpose
- We’re renewing our mission and vision, amplifying youth leadership, and prioritizing reconciliation and antiracism efforts, led by equity-deserving people.
- Cultivate a United Movement
- We’re strengthening our federation’s infrastructure and standards, honouring regional voices, enhancing collaboration, and building a more resilient foundation for powerful storytelling and collective impact.
- Be Bold
- We’re amplifying our national voice, forging values-aligned partnerships, and advancing a courageous advocacy agenda rooted in truth-based reconciliation, antiracism, and accessibility for a more resolutely inclusive pursuit and safeguarding of gender equity and justice.
Reconciliation, Anti-Racism and Equity at the Heart
Equity is impossible without truth-telling and reconciliation.
In 2024, YWCA Canada issued a formal apology for our historical involvement in programs connected to Residential Schools and ”Indian Hospitals.” Since then, we’ve deepened our truth and reconciliation efforts. Our next step: a multi-year Reconciliation, Accountability, and Inclusion Strategy developed in partnership with Indigenous Elders and leaders. As I have said before, equity is not an outcome but a practice, and it demands consistency, accountability, courage, and collaboration.
Alongside efforts to advance truth and reconciliation, YWCA Canada worked to support the 2SLGBTQIA+ Circle, the Black Caucus, and the Racialized People’s Caucus. These networks provide a safe space for staff, and an opportunity to build collective power within the movement. Working alongside diverse staff and volunteers, as well as partners like the BlackNorth Initiative, we will launch a multi-year Equity and Antiracism Framework to set priorities and transform our systems to ensure they serve all of our constituents. For us, it will likely mean difficult conversations about our existing relationships to child welfare, law enforcement, and private sector organizations; facilitating training for staff and senior leaders; strengthening our coalition work; and building policy infrastructure to meet the moment.
Get Involved
We’re mobilizing for change, and we need you with us.
- Use your voice to call for reconciliation, antiracism and gender justice in your community.
- Stay connected by subscribing to The Feminist Agenda newsletter for updates and opportunities to act.
- Partner with us, donate, or sponsor our work. Your support helps expand our reach, sustain critical programs, and fuel advocacy that creates real change.
What’s Next?
Stay tuned! We’re preparing to launch our most ambitious end-of-year campaign ever, and we’ll be sharing more exciting news in the coming weeks.
This is more than a strategy. This is solidarity in action.
Together, we are building a future that is safer, more just, and more equitable for all.
Explore our 2024 annual report here.
Dive into our new strategic plan here.
