International Women’s Day 2022 #BreakTheBias: Imagine a Gender-Equal World!

This year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) theme is “#BreakTheBias: Imagine a Gender-Equal World.”

Join MAWS for our IWD webinar on the work of three Manitoban trailblazers and their organizations on Tue, March 8, 2022, at 3-4 p.m. CST! We are proud to be celebrating these women whose invaluable work and leadership in our communities is helping to #BreakTheBias and foster equality, equity, justice and inclusion throughout Manitoba.

Our speakers include: Elder Mae Louise Campbell: Elder and Co-founder of Clan Mother’s Healing Village; Tasneem Vali: First Vice-Chair of the Manitoba Islamic Association (MIA); and, Leah Wilson: Advocacy Co-Chair, Institute for International Women’s Rights – Manitoba. For more information about the webinar and panelists, contact Amber Merucci, Project Specialist, at

Link to attend the webinar: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81238103964

Link to event page on the MAWS website: https://bit.ly/3IFc7MZ

Share the FB event page with your networks: https://fb.me/e/2XSl2ax49

Introducing our distinguished panelists: 

1. Elder May Louise Campbell

Mae Louise Campbell is from the Ojibwa-Saulteaux Metis Nation. She has birthed 5 children and is a Granny and great Grandmother to many. She grew up in the Métis northern community of Kississing Lake-Cold Lake MB, her family originates from Waterhen, and she is one of eight children birthed to William and Marie Campbell.

Elder Mae Louise’s life’s work is centered on protecting and resurrecting that which was almost eradicated under centuries of colonization: Indigenous Spiritual Values and Principles. It is with a sense of urgency that she encourages all peoples to commit to bringing back Ancestral Indigenous knowledge, for it is perhaps our only real hope to bring balance into a world that has suffered the consequences of colonial powers for far too long.

The scale and scope of Elder Mae Louise’s vision is large. She is the Elder in Residence at Red River College and University of Manitoba, Faculty of Social Work (Selkirk campus); Guest Elder and Traditional Knowledge Educator at STFX University, Coady Institute through their National Indigenous Women’s Leadership Program. She sits on Mayor Bowman’s Indigenous Advisory Circle. She developed and operated a Healing Lodge called Grandmother Moon Lodge for 18 years, assisting Indigenous women to find their purpose in life through holistic Indigenous values and principles. She is Wisdom Keeper on the Grandmother Council of Manitoba, known as Kookum Kaa Na Da Maa Waad Abinoojiiak Council: Grandmothers Protecting Our Children.

Additionally, she has sat on the First Nations Advisory Committee Board to Canada’s Prenatal Nutritional Program of Manitoba. She has been Elder Advisor for the Canadian Women’s Foundation on their National Task Force Report on Sex Trafficking of Women and Girls in Canada, and most recently was also a Recipient of the 2016 Indspire National Aboriginal Achievement Awards under the Spiritual-Cultural category. Currently she is Elder and co-founder of the Clan Mothers Healing Village and Knowledge Centre, a contemporary sustainable, innovative holistic model of healing, education and training that will support Indigenous women and girls who have been victims of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking.

Elder Mae Louise is unwavering in her belief that “this dogmatic colonized political world will only change with guidance from our original advisors: The Grandmother Councils and Clan Mother Tribal systems which came before us.” She believes this should be the focus of all Indigenization conversations, giving hope and inspiration for critical change within governance systems which are currently not working for Indigenous peoples.

2. Tasneem Vali  

Tasneem Vali is currently the First Vice-Chair of the Manitoba Islamic Association (MIA).
She has worked as the Manitoba Islamic Association (MIA) Office Manager for five years. She has volunteered as a Girl Guide Leader and Co-District Commissioner, Camp Program Director (Youth Awakening and MIA summer camps), MIA event coordinator, Manitoba Muslim Magazine writer and editor, and member of the funeral services and Winnipeg Harvest food drive committees.

Tasneem was brought up in Sharjah, UAE and went to school in in Detroit, MI. Tasneem started her career in Chicago, IL as an architect and then as an educator in Karachi, Pakistan, before finally putting down roots in Winnipeg, MB.

3. Leah Wilson

Leah Wilson (she/they) is currently a Master of Arts candidate in Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University. Her research focuses on human rights, transitional justice and settler-colonial relations. Originally from Treaty 1 territory, Leah graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Winnipeg in 2019, receiving the Mayor’s Medal and Gold Medal for Human Rights.

Leah’s passions include advocating for gender equity and justice and writing with journalistic pursuits, including work that has been featured in CBC Manitoba. Leah has served two terms on the board of the Manitoba-based Institute for International Women’s Rights as Advocacy Co-Chair, as well as engaging in local community organizing focused on poverty eradication and support for public and social sectors. In 2020-21, Leah held a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Graduate Master’s Scholarship, and she currently holds the Hamlin Graduate Fellowship at Carleton University.