14 Women Impacting Urbanism in Canada
Three women sitting and eating ice cream together on Granville Island (Photo by: Nicole Roach, Vancouver, BC, 2023)
Today, and everyday, we want to celebrate the inspiring and mobilizing women in urbanism across Canada. For this year's International Women’s Day, help us recognize a few women who have made impeccable impacts on gender, equity, mobility, placemaking, and housing in Canada.
Gender
Isla Tanaka
Source: Winter Cities 2023
Pronouns: she/her
Title: Winter City Planner
Affiliation: City of Edmonton
Isla Tanaka manages the 10-year Winter City Strategy for the City of Edmonton as the Winter City Planner, where she works to include and further gender-based approaches to snow clearance and placemaking. Isla recently shared her wealth of knowledge on gender and snow maintenance as a speaker at the 2023 Winter Cities Shake-Up event.
Hear more about Isla’s work in relation to active transportation and safe routes to school and its connection to gender and snow maintenance in winter cities.
Julie Lalonde
Source: Toronto Star
Pronouns: she/her
Title: Public educator/author
Affiliation: Yellow Manteau
Julie Lalonde is a six time award-winning Franco-Ontarian women’s rights advocate, author, and educator. Since the early 2000s, Julie has worked to provide frequent and accessible bystander intervention training sessions to create communities of support and improve the lives of women and girls in Canada.
Keep up to date with Julie and bystander intervention training via Twitter.
Equity
Jennie Geleff
Pronouns: she/her
Title: Project Manager
Affiliation: The Centre for Active Transportation
As a Project Manager at The Centre for Active Transportation, Jennie Geleff works to lead Mobilizing Justice workshops, connecting and supporting organizations to learn and include transport equity in their communities.
Read more about Jennie’s Mobilizing Justice workshops.
Reanna Merasty
Source: Winnipeg’s Classic 107
Pronouns: she/her
Title: Intern Architect and Educator
Affiliation: Number TEN Architectural Group
Reanna is a Nihithaw Iskwêw Architect, educator, and advocate who focuses on place-based conditions, organic design, and reciprocity in her work. In part of her work with the City of Winnipeg, Reanna is tasked with re-naming historical markers and location names within the city to reflect Indigenous history and perspectives. She is also the Co-Founder of the Indigenous Design & Planning Students Association (IDPSA), the first Indigenous student-led organization in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Manitoba.
Follow Reanna’s impacts through her blog.
Jamilla Mohamud
Pronouns: she/her
Title: Urban Planner
Affiliation: Urban Strategies Inc.
Jamilla is a Registered Professional Planner, researcher, and writer who focuses on affordable housing, health equity, and gendered rights to the city. Her impacts include developing public health and inclusionary zoning policy recommendations.
Keep up to date with Jamilla’s work via Twitter.
Mobility
Brett Bergie
Source: LinkedIn
Pronouns: she/her
Title: Author and Educator
Affiliation: brettbergie.com
Brett Bergie is an avid cyclist and community advocate who uses communication, planning, government and organizational relations to advance safe streets, sustainable mobility, and people-centric space in cities. Her advocacy and educational efforts take place around Alberta in non-profits, riding with her son around the province, and in the legislature.
Read more about Brett’s work.
Armi De Francia
Source: Twitter
Pronouns: she/her
Title: Active Transportation Coordinator
Affiliation: Town of Ajax
Through her work at the Town of Ajax and on the board of Our Greenway, Armi De Francia challenges misconceptions about active transportation and works to advance transportation equity, ensuring walking, biking, and rolling is safe and accessible for people of all races, abilities, sizes, genders and intersecting identities.
Read more in Armi’s published work.
Becky Katz
Source: LinkedIn
Pronouns: she/her
Title: Cycling and Pedestrian Projects Manager
Affiliation: City of Toronto
Becky Katz oversees and manages the design, consultation, and implementation of new pedestrian realm and cycling projects throughout the City of Toronto as the Cycling and Pedestrian Projects Manager. Prior to this role, she was the City of Atlanta’s first Chief Bicycle Officer to make the city more safe and convenient to cycle in, including planning and launching Relay Bike Share, the largest shared bike system in Georgia.
Connect with Becky to learn more about her work.
Placemaking
Jiya Benni
Source: Medium
Pronouns: she/her
Title: Project Manager
Affiliation: 8 80 Cities
Jiya Benni is a Project Manager and Urban Designer at 8 80 Cities, incorporating the power of collaborative planning within placemaking and city-building. Some of her projects include co-creating active neighbourhoods across Canada, Vision Zero Senior Safety Zones, and upgrading waterfront slums in the Global South with shipping containers with basic facilities.
Read more about Jiya’s work at 8 80 Cities.
Celia Lee
Source: Sustainable Calgary
Pronouns: she/her
Title: Executive Director
Affiliation: Sustainable Calgary
As Executive Director of Sustainable Calgary, Celia Lee uses her expertise in design and research implementation around topics of poverty, social economies, and environmental design and sustainability to inform city design and policy that prioritizes equitable, healthy, and active transportation. She has also developed an approach to co-designing healthy neighbourhoods and has led multiple School Street projects across Calgary.
Learn more about Celia at TEDxYYC.
Sustainability
Christine Mettler
Source: Green Communities Canada
Pronouns: she/her
Title: Director, Green Infrastructure Programs
Affiliation: Green Communities Canada
Christine Mettler uses her extensive experience in freshwater and green infrastructure protection as the Director of Green Infrastructure Programs at Green Communities Canada, through policy analysis, advocacy, and community organizing. Recently, her team received $1 Million Dollars to advance equitable green infrastructure across Canada.
Read more about Christine’s work.
Housing
Caroline Cochrane
Source: Famous 5 Foundation
Pronouns: she/her
Title: Premier
Affiliation: Northwest Territories
As the 13th and current Premier of the Northwest Territories, Caroline Cochrane, a Métis woman born in Flin Flon Manitoba, led the first gender-balanced legislature in Canada, with women making up half of MLAs. Her work in engaging with residents to reshape policies, programs, and approaches to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation helped residents to obtain, retain, and maintain their homes. Prior to her time in government, she worked as a social worker for nearly two decades.
Learn more about the updated Housing Mandate.
Dr. Kaitlin Schwan
Pronouns: she/her
Title: Executive Director
Affiliation: Women’s National Housing & Homelessness Network
Dr. Kaitlin Schwan is the Executive Director of Women’s National Housing & Homelessness Network, helping to build bridges between evidence, advocacy, and policy to advance housing justice for women, girls, and gender diverse people in Canada.
Learn more about the work of the Women’s National Housing & Homelessness Network.
Dr. Ren Thomas
Source: Dalhousie University
Pronouns: she/her
Title: Associate Professor
Affiliation: Dalhousie University
Ren Thomas is an urban planner, professor, and researcher who has contributed significantly to Canadian academia on topics of affordable housing, policy, and transportation. Her research has focused on co-operative housing for adults with Autism, housing needs of older LGBT Canadians, and expanding the non-profit housing system in Nova Scotia, among others.
Connect with Ren and dive into her research.
Women are Urbanism
We are inspired by the women mentioned above, and many others who are working to make Canadian cities more accessible, equitable, and livable. Celebrate International Women’s Day with us by harnessing intersectional feminist planning in your city today, and everyday. As we are all better for it.
