We ran out of time trying to finish this blog post. We will come back and finish it later, but we started to add events and programs that were announced during International Women’s Day.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on International Women’s Day:

“Every day, women and girls strengthen our communities, our country, and our world. They drive our economy as business leaders, help advance our knowledge in all fields, and create opportunity and security as heads of state and government.

“Today, on International Women’s Day, we celebrate the achievements of women in all their diversity, here in Canada and around the world, and we honour those who have challenged norms, lifted up others, and created lasting and substantial change. We also reaffirm our commitment to gender equality, so that all women and girls can contribute to their full potential, and we can build a better, safer, and more inclusive world.  Click here to read more

Today and tomorrow, the Government of Canada is hosting Canada’s Feminist Response and Recovery Summit to focus on the steps that governments, civil society and all Canadians can take to ensure an inclusive response to and recovery from the pandemic that leaves no one behind

Women have been calling for equality for over a century. Until true equality is realized, there’s still work to do. Scotiabank is committed to dismantling the barriers faced by women. https://www.scotiabank.com/saidbefore

BMO’s efforts to foster an environment of diversity, equity and inclusion have been recognized within the bank and beyond.

  • BMO is listed among Equileap’s top 100 gender-equal companies around the world in its 2021 Gender Equality Global Report & Ranking
  • Leaders at BMO have been named as WXN’s Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100. Most recently, Sherri Griffiths, Head, Greater Ontario, Canadian Commercial Banking in December 2020
  • BMO has been included in the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI) for the sixth year in a row
  • BMO Harris Bank appeared on Forbes’ America’s Best Employers For Diversity 2020 for the second year in a row
  • In 2018, BMO announced it is making C$3 billion in capital available over the next three years for Canadian women business owners
  • BMO runs a dedicated website, http://www.bmoforwomen.com, which provides tools and educational resources for women entrepreneurs, including podcast series Bold(h)er
  • The bank is committed to doubling its industry-leading support for women entrepreneurs as part of its Purpose commitments
  • BMO honours the achievements of business and community women leaders through the BMO Celebrating Women Program
  • In 2020, BMO committed US$300 million for small business lending to expand resources for women — Black and Latinx-owned small businesses in the U.S., as part of its BMO EMpower initiative
  • BMO Harris Bank launched WMN•FINtech in 2020, a mentoring program for women-led fintech startups and the latest evolution of the BMO Harris / 1871 Innovation Program, designed to give more women entrepreneurs the opportunity to bring cutting-edge technology and products forward

Customers can check out Amazon Canada’s first-ever International Women’s Day storefront to discover the stories and products of eight inspiring women who are working with Amazon to grow their businesses – including small business sellers, handmade artisans and AWS customers.

Desjardins Group posted a press release that informed us that yy 2028, women in Canada will control 42% of the country’s wealth, but there are still challenges to achieving financial empowerment.

As part of Air Canada’s efforts to promote non-traditional aviation careers to the next generation of women, it established the Captain Judy Cameron Scholarship in honour of the airline’s trailblazing first female pilot. The scholarship recognizes high-potential women studying in aviation and aerospace, and is open to young women pursuing non-traditional aviation careers such as commercial pilots or aircraft maintenance engineers who may not have the financial means to do so.

This year’s winners are: Kahina Gagnon, Urooj Ali, Winnie Ho and Caitlyn Lam.