PRESIDENT'S BLOG

October and November have been busy months. Women have been participating in so many activities and having strong voices in the STEM fields.

Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa

As mentioned in my last blog the Leacross Landing development in Orleans Ontario is progressing well. We had one build day in October where alumni and supportive others contributed to the building of the first four structures in phase I. The weather was terrific and all participants were ecstatic being able to give back to the community.

CREWW- MCW (Management Certificate for Women)

A new group has started their Management training at Carleton University. The Leacross recipients represent women in the not for profit sectors, business owners, and women who have experience in STEM degrees.

 

Canadian Society of International Health

CSIH had its annual CCGH (Canadian Conference on Global Health) in Ottawa at the end of October. We invited 10 Canadian and International women to participate in this conference focusing on key global human resources for health initiatives.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend, but a consultant attended and had a roundtable discussion regarding their academic pursuits and issues dealing on the world stage of global health issues. Thank you to Sarah Brown who coordinates the conference, and Alison Amero who facilitated the conversations of the accomplished invitees.

Informed Opinions

Needless to say, focusing on the women’s perspective is a full time job. Shari Graydon has developed phenomenal workshops for women to speak up and be clear. She has launched www.expertwomen.org and also has benefitted from a spoken word workshop Leacross Foundation sponsored with Dwayne Morgan. Watch the Take the Mic video on the right.

Take the Mic video from Informed Opinions

Stephen Lewis Foundation

The power of women, the power of community, the power of family. A Grandmothers’ Movement to End AIDS in Africa “Powered by Love” was launched in partnership with Feminist and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa October 23rd.

 

Rotman Business School

I am so pleased to announce the next two recipients of the Leacross Foundation scholarships. We were enlightened by amazing young women pursuing their MBAs and it was a very hard choice for the committee. Congratulations to Cailin Hillier and Maria Gabriela Ayala.

leacross foundation funding

C3 Coast to Coast to Coast

I was honoured to travel with the coast guard icebreaker from Campbell River to Victoria as part of the Canada’s C3 150+ voyage. Geoff Green was a visionary to focus on 4 areas: youth engagement, environment, reconciliation, and diversity and inclusion. On leg 15 which I participated, we visited numerous first nation communities and discussed new treaties, ate local cuisine, helped build cedar canoes, and discussed the future for the youth. I personally helped out the science team collecting eDNAsamples. In the photo you can see our coast guard ship at Canada Place in the Vancouver harbour. After this excursion, the staff at C3 are working on collecting and creating numerous legacy projects that represent all Canadians.

SOI (Students on Ice)

Another successful year of sending teenage girls to the Arctic. I was so lucky to meet up again with Emily Mittertreiner in Vancouver as I was passing through on the C3 expedition.