Event Recap: Annual General Meeting 2026
People enjoying coffee and community at a local café. Photo taken by Alexa Cude at Halifax, NS.
Women in Urbanism Canada (WiUC) hosted its third Annual General Meeting (AGM) on April 23, 2026. Here is a high-level summary of the meeting, including presentations of the Annual Impact Report, Financial Report, launch of the new website, and Strategic Plan, followed by election of Directors and an engagement session.
Audience
Our audience included guests from Ontario, Alberta, Québec, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia! With 40+ registrations, we were able to reach a quorum of members and welcome non-members to learn more about the organization.
Map of current WiUC members (Members Directory).
Organization Updates
For organization updates, the Program Manager presented the Annual Impact Report, covering key organization activities and accomplishments from January to December 2025, touching on topics related to personnel, governance, communications, and partnerships.
In 2025, a major accomplishment was implementing the $235,000 grant we received in 2024 from the Women’s Capacity Fund to deliver the Scale-Up Project. This funding has supported the organization to focus on significant capacity building activities, such as hiring staff, developing organizational strategies and policies, updating the website, conducting internal team training, and much more.
Accordingly, the activities undertaken in 2025 were largely focused internally, doing the behind-the-scenes work to set the organization up for success during the Scale-Up Project and beyond.
Personnel:
With continued support from the Women's Capacity Fund Scale-Up Project, WiUC welcomed a part-time Project Coordinator in January 2025 and a full-time Program Manager in September, strengthening the team's operational and communications capacity throughout the year. Beyond hiring, WiUC built out the policies, resources, and structures needed to support the staff.
Key Accomplishments:
Hired part-time Project Coordinator and full-time Program Manager
Updated and expanded full suite of human resources policies and procedures, including recruitment, selection, and hiring
Introduced a 4-day work week and menstrual leave policy
Established a GBA+ informed staff benefits package
Refined onboarding processes to better support new team members
Governance:
In 2025, WiUC made significant strides in strengthening the foundation of governance. The organization completed its inaugural Strategic Plan, advanced its JEDIIA Strategy, and welcomed new Directors to the Board.
Key Accomplishments:
Developed inaugural Strategic Plan and JEDIIA Strategy began implementation
Updated and expanded governance policies and procedures
Welcomed four new Directors at Large to the Board
33 new Members
Finance:
The WiUC team developed internal financial policies and procedures that bring greater structure and accountability, alongside building a long-term Funding Strategy to guide sustainable revenue growth.
Key Accomplishments:
Developed 2026–2028 Funding Strategy
Established internal financial policies and procedures
Completed internal budgeting training
Secured $3,000 corporate donation
Applied for 3 grants
Retained Bookkeeper and Tax Filer
Communications:
In 2025, WiUC took major steps to ensure communications are as accessible, strategic, and impactful as possible through a full organizational rebrand and a fully redesigned website. A new Communications Strategy was also developed to guide the organization's engagement and outreach.
Key Accomplishments:
Developed redesigned, accessibility-improved website
Developed communications strategy and expanded policies
Completed communications accessibility training with Web Designer Consultant
Reached 18,869 website pageviews
Grew to 661+ newsletter subscribers
Achieved 250,000+ impressions across channels
For more details, follow us on our socials (IG, LinkedIn, X, Bluesky) for the full Annual Impact Report and Strategic Plan documents which will be published soon.
Website Launch
WiUC successfully launched a new, fully rebranded website, unveiling all the hard work that went behind the platform. WiUC participated in months of brainstorming, design, and development in collaboration with the website designer, Lemonade Communications.
The new website strengthens WiUC’s commitment as a community-driven platform that works toward equitable cities across Canada — with improved accessibility, translation, and content that better reflects the organization’s strategic direction.
Screenshot of newly redesigned WiUC website’s About page.
Alongside rebranding deliverables, some of the priorities for this website were to design visual elements that:
Ensure accessibility and device compatibility across all pages and types of media
Prioritize legibility and breathability of the content in each section
Enable flexibility of content development that aligns with our strategic plan, and
Celebrate diverse voices and identities within Women in Urbanism Canada’s community through illustrations and photography used
With this new platform, WiUC hopes to ensure a cohesive online presence as a national-level organization and work toward the sustainable expansion of the community on the topics of gender equity and feminist urbanism. We welcome you to explore our website at www.WomenInUrbanism.ca.
Engagement Session
After the organization updates and website launch, participants were split into breakout rooms based on their locations for a networking session focused on 2 key questions:
Share your name, pronouns, where you're from, and what you do (work, volunteer, or passion project). This question laid the groundwork for introductions and building connections.
What's one urban and/or gender issue in your city you wish more people were talking about? This question created space for participants to share the local issues most important to them, enabling knowledge exchange and building solidarity.
These sessions underscored members’ desire to connect with like-minded individuals from across the country within the gender equity and urbanism sectors.
Election of Directors
During the meeting, all Directors seeking election and re-election were introduced and briefly shared why they are seeking election. The members voted unanimously to confirm the following three Directors for a two-year term:
Aisha Sidiqi - Director at Large
Natalie Cho - Director at Large
Rajah Maggay - Director at Large
WiUC’s newly elected Directors.
Visit About page to learn more about the board.
Conclusion
As WiUC continues to grow, this organization remains a powerful example of what happens when women lead urban change with care, purpose, and community at the centre.
Thank you to everyone who came out, our members, and to the staff and directors who make this organization run!
We wish you all a great spring, and hope to see you next year at AGM 2027!
