My nomination is an indication that our hard work in building Canada is recognized. All we do is to serve the community in return for embracing us when we needed it.  

Mehdi Mahdavi
Ottawa Immigrant Entrepreneurship Awards Nominee
In our city’s history, immigrants have always played an important role. They build our economic prosperity, diversify our culture, contribute to our social vitality.

Jim Watson
Mayor of Ottawa
The Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre is so happy to have joined the OLIP Health and Wellbeing Sector Table. It is clear that OLIP cares about immigrants and refugees and…

Wendy Tang, Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre
We are very pleased to have done the “Opportunity Cost of Not Investing in Interpretation” report – it is so important to have clarity on these challenges and…

Hindia Mohamoud, Director, OLIP
OLIP helps to unite and share scarce resources for greater impact by working together in the field of student education.

Walter Piovesan
Associate Director of Education, Ottawa Carleton District School Board
The work and expertise that OLIP brings to our community is so important as it helps us to build bridges and break down silos.  I look forward to our continued work together. 

Jim Watson, Mayor of Ottawa
The target beneficiary of the work of OLIP is the whole community. In this short period we have planted together important seeds for Ottawa’s development.  

Dick Stewart
OLIP Council
Canada has been shaped by people who came from all over the world to build this country. WOW offers a platform for us to celebrate this history and the future it will help…

Alex Munter, Chair of the OLIP Council and President and CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and Ottawa Children’s Treatment Centre
The City of Ottawa will continue to play a lead role in the implementation of the Ottawa Immigration Strategy, just as we did in the founding of OLIP.

Steve Desroches
City Councillor and Deputy Mayor of Ottawa
I was happy to see integration to Algonquin territory and indigenous culture related programming in 2014 WOW. Please continue to involve local Aboriginal organisations and…

Linda Manning
WOW 2014 participant, Senior Fellow, University of Ottawa

Towards the National Action Plan to Address Gender Based Violence

March 29, 2021

At the end of January this year, provincial ministers in charge of women’s affairs agreed to the development of a framework meant to set the standard for provinces and municipalities across the country to better support survivors of gender-based violence and their families, and to prevent it from happening; bringing about systemic change. The framework will also ensure that anyone facing GBV would have reliable and timely access to protection and services.

Driven by the urgency brought by COVID-19 due to its psychological and socially disruptive consequences including a surge in GBV, it was agreed the framework will be developed by end of March 2021. Consequently, consultations have been held nationwide. Among them, the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCACI) hosted a stakeholder and service provider community engagement session focused on identifying the priorities for non-status, refugee and immigrant (NSRI) women.

This engagement process enabled partners, including OLIP, to bring forward the unique needs of NSRI women, while identifying the impact of current policies, programs and protocols that have been implemented in our communities and regions; as well as solutions moving forward. There was an overall agreement that targeted plans and programs for NSRI women that address their compounding challenges in equitable access to housing, education, health and employment are essential to prevent women from entering and remaining in abusive, oppressive relationships caused by dependency.

The development of a national framework to address gender based violence is part of the implementation of the Federal Government’s strategy titled “It’s Time: Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence” that was unveiled in June 20217. This strategy is built on federal initiatives, while coordinating existing programs to lay the foundation for greater action on GBV, across three pillars: (1) Preventing gender-based violence, (2) Supporting survivors and their families and (3) Promoting responsive legal and justice systems.