International Women's Forum Canada

The National Women’s Forum was created in 1979, with Forums in various States across the US. There was a growing footprint of exceptional American women that were united in building better leadership through the exchange of ideas,peer-to peer support, friendship and power. As U.S. Forums organized and grew across other parts of the country, many of them, in turn, helped to develop Forums in other states and other countries across the globe. Patricia Gabel, who was already a member of the Vermont Forum, founded IWF Canada (IWFC) in Montreal in 1995 with other founding members including Micheline Bouchard, Diane Bussandri, Mary Larson, Lucie Pépin, Dorothy Reitman, Michèle Thibodeau-Deguire and Mackie Vadacchino. The determined founders of IWFC invited other accomplished Montreal women leaders from across various sectors and communities to join them in advancing Canadian women’s leadership and to participate in an international community of women leaders. In April 1995 at the Mexico City Global IWF Cornerstone Conference, IWFC was officially admitted as a Forum. In Canada, IWFC was formally incorporated and issued letters ofpatent on October 26, 1995 with Patricia Gabel as our Founding President. As IWFC expanded from its Montreal base, other local Chapters were established across Canada: Toronto (1999), Calgary (2004), Ottawa (2000), Atlantic (2001), Waterloo (2007), Edmonton (2009) and Winnipeg (2022). Vancouver joined in 1998 and became an independent forum (IWF Vancouver) in 2007. Today, IWFC has a membership of more than 750 women leaders from across Canada. These leaders represent the highest levels of the public service, the arts, social justice, business, technology, professional services, entrepreneurship and academia.