Core Values & Objectives

Empowerment, Inclusivity, Community, Lifelong Learning, Leadership, Collaboration, Respect, Heritage & Tradition

• Objective 1 – To provide a united national voice for all Women’s Institutes of Canada
• Objective 2 – To initiate national programs and provide resource material.
• Objective 3 – To provide a medium of intercommunication among the units of the Federation

Adelaide Sophia Hoodless (née Addie Hunter; February 27, 1858 – February 26, 1910) was a Canadian educational reformer who co-founded the international women’s organization known as the Women’s Institute. She maintained important ties to the business community of Hamilton, Ontario and achieved great political and public attention through her work.^[3]

Erland Lee (1864 – 1926) was a Canadian farmer, teacher, and government employee from Stoney Creek, Ontario. He was a co-founder of the Women’s Institutes, an international organization originally formed to promote the education of isolated rural women.^[1]

Janet Robertson (Chisholm) Lee (1862–1940) was an important figure in the Niagara Region of Canada, best known for her role in the formation of the Women’s Institutes in 1897, and for pioneering the Kindergarten program in Hamilton, Ontario.^[1]

Margaret Robertson Watt MBE (June 4, 1868 – November 29, 1948) was a Canadian writer, editor and activist. She was a woman of great energy and drive who believed strongly in the power exerted by women working together. She is known to members of Women’s Institutes in the United Kingdom for introducing the concepts and practices of the Canadian Women’s Institute movement to Britain in 1914. She is remembered internationally as one of the founding members of the Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW) in 1933.

Emily Murphy (born Emily Gowan Ferguson; 14 March 1868 – 26 October 1933)^[1] was a Canadian women’s rights activist and author. In 1916, she became the first female magistrate in Canada.  She is best known for her contributions to Canadian feminism, specifically to the question of whether women were “persons” under Canadian law.  She was the first president of FWIC.