Who We Are

About CIWA

For more than 40 years, the Canadian Immigrant Women’s Association (CIWA) has stood with immigrant and refugee women and their families as they build new lives in Canada. Founded in 1982, CIWA is a gender-focused settlement organization specifically designed around the unique needs, barriers, and strengths of immigrant and refugee women and girls.

We believe that when immigrant women thrive, their families and communities thrive with them. That belief shapes everything we do, from our first conversation with a newcomer to the moment she steps into a leadership role in her new community.

Our approach

CIWA’s work is guided by a simple but powerful theory of change: every woman who walks through our doors is on a journey from settlement to integration to belonging to contribution.

• Settlement — We meet women at their point of need, helping them navigate the practical realities of a new country: housing, language, employment, health, and safety.
• Integration — We help women build the skills, confidence, and connections to fully participate in Canadian life — in the workforce, in their communities, and in the systems around them.
• Belonging — We foster spaces where women feel seen, supported, and rooted — free from isolation and equipped with community and culturally grounded support.
• Contribution — We invest in women’s leadership so they can give back — as mentors, employees, entrepreneurs, and civic leaders — shaping the country they now call home.

What we offer

Today, CIWA delivers over 55 programs and services across the province, supporting women and their families at every age and stage of life — from newly arrived youth to seniors, from single mothers to entrepreneurs. Our team and community of interpreters collectively speak more than 121 languages, ensuring no woman is left without a voice in her own settlement journey. Every client has access to childcare and first-language support, because we know these are not extras — they are what makes access possible.

We are proud to be a provincial and national leader in gender-specific, outcome-based settlement services — and prouder still of the tens of thousands of women who have used our programs as a launching point, not just for settling in Canada, but for truly belonging here.

Our commitment

CIWA is committed to empowering immigrant and refugee women to settle, integrate, belong, and contribute — fully and on their own terms — to the country they now call home.

Charitable Registration Number: 118823657 RR0001

Annual Reports

2025/2026 | 2024/2025 | 2023/2024 | 2022/2023 | 2021/2022 | 2020/2021 | 2019/2020 | 2018/2019 | 2017/2018 | 2016/2017 | 2015/2016 | 2014/2015 | 2013/2014 | 2012/2013 | 2011/2012 | 2010/2011 | 2009/2010 | 2008/2009 | 2007/2008 | 2006/2007

Strategy

CIWA Strategic Plan 2022-2027

Land Acknowledgement

As an immigrant-serving organization, we acknowledge that we work on the traditional lands of the Treaty 7 Nations: the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Piikani, Kainai), the Tsuut’ina Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda (Chiniki, Bearspaw, Goodstoney). We also recognize the Métis Nation of Alberta, Districts 5 and 6 and all the people who make their homes the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.

We honour the diverse histories, languages, and cultures of the Indigenous peoples who have lived on this land for generations. As settlers, we are committed to learning, fostering respectful relationships, and supporting reconciliation. We are grateful for the opportunity to live and work on this land, and we pledge to do so in a way that honors its original stewards.