The MMC celebrates women’s every day — yet extraordinary — achievements with our annual Because Mothers Matter Awards. We recognize both prominent Canadian women as well as a number of outstanding mothers from the HIPPY program. These women all show a commitment to their communities and serve as models for the unique role women play in leading social change.
The 2022 Because Mothers Matter Awards took place on Zoom, on May 4th, 2022 from 5 to 6:30 pm PDT.
To view highlights from the event, visit our YouTube page here and scroll through our 2022 BMMA playlist.
Our Response to the Refugee Crisis
The federal government recently announced plans to double the number of protected persons resettled in Canada over the next two years to 45,000. While our efforts are making a difference, the world’s most vulnerable are counting on us to do more.
With the current crises in Afghanistan, Sudan, Ethiopia and now Ukraine, Canada continues to welcome a record number of refugees and those fleeing their homes in 2022 as the world witnesses its highest-ever recorded levels of displacement. The Mothers Matter Centre and its partners have an essential role in meeting newly-arrived refugees’ urgent and complex resettlement needs.
In response to Operation Syria in 2018, the Mothers Matter Centre received a grant to develop human-centered settlement innovations for newly arrived and high-risk refugee mothers and their children to enhance their wellbeing and dignity. These innovations became our Reviving Hope and Home program for high-risk, government-assisted refugee mothers.
In partnership with the Immigrant Services Society of BC, the MMC developed and delivered a responsive, personalized system of settlement services that met the complex and evolving needs of vulnerable, government-assisted refugee mothers from arrival to settlement. Together, we demonstrated that the activities truncated what would otherwise have been prolonged periods of social disengagement and isolation typically experienced by extremely vulnerable refugee women.
More work is needed. The MMC will build on the resources and tools that proved successful in the 2015-2018 Reviving Hope and Home program. At the 2022 Because Mothers Matter Awards, the MMC raised over $80,000 to support HIPPY sites in Canada serving refugee families.
Proceeds from this year’s live auction went to the development of a resource bank that provides families facing particularly precarious circumstances with additional support for critical needs, such as transportation, translation services, childcare, and food security.
This event and our programs are made possible through the generous support of our partners and donors.
