Meet the 2015 Femmy Award Winners

We are pleased to announce the 2015 Femmy Award winners! Join us in celebrating their contributions to women’s equality at tonight’s event Thursday, March 5, 2015:

Dr. Angel Foster

Dr. Angel Foster holds an Endowed Chair in Women’s Health Research at the University of Ottawa, where she is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences. She is also an Affiliated Scholar at Ibis Reproductive Health and Co-Founder of Cambridge Reproductive Health Consultants. A 1996 Rhodes Scholar from Oregon, she received her DPhil in Middle Eastern studies from the University of Oxford. She received her MD from Harvard Medical School and her AM in International Policy Studies and BAS from Stanford University. Her research focuses on emergency contraception, abortion, and health professions education and she currently leads projects in ten different countries. She is the Chair of the Population, Reproductive, and Sexual Health Section of the American Public Health Association and a member of the Board of Directors of Backline. In 2004 Dr. Foster was named one of Choice USA’s 30 Under-30 Activists for Reproductive Freedom and in 2009 she received the PRSH Section’s Outstanding Young Professional Award.

Colleen Cardinal

Colleen Cardinal is a Plains Cree from Saddle Lake Cree Nation, AB and she currently resides in Algonquin Territory. Colleen is an Indigenous adoptee of the 60’s scoop, daughter of a residential school survivor and has had two women murdered in her family. She organizes with Families of Sisters in Spirit (FSIS) based in Ottawa. She speaks publicly and candidly about murdered and missing Indigenous women and the impacts of the 60’s Scoop drawing critical connections between genocidal colonial policies and her lived experiences and those of women in her family. She believes that sharing her story is an important part of her healing journey in addition to raising awareness and building solidarity and understanding within Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. Colleen is also a volunteer organizer for the Indigenous Adoptee Gathering 2014 and the upcoming IAG 2015 and in production of a documentary called A Hidden Generation; The Sixties Scoop.

Dr. Dawn Moore

Dawn Moore is an Associate Professor at Carleton University where she researches domestic violence, chronicling the experience of prosecuting abuse through the criminal justice system from the point of view of victims.  She is also founding member of the Mother, Child Coalition of Justice, an organization dedicated to fighting the unfair treatment of women and children in the justice system.  Moore is also the current president of the Ten Oaks Projects, a social justice organization that provides programming and advocacy for children and youth in the LGBTQII communities.  Finally Moore is a regular contributor to the both local and national media, writing on issues including violence against women, rights of women prisoners and the policing of sex trade workers.

Liz Bernstein

Liz Bernstein is a lifelong peace activist and feminist. In the late 1980s, she co-founded The Coalition for Peace and Reconciliation, which drew upon feminist thought and Buddhist/nonviolence teachings to organize peace walks for Cambodians displaced by war.  Liz then became one of the key organizers of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines – which won the Nobel peace prize in 1997.  Arriving in Canada in 2004, Liz took on the Coordination of the Make Poverty History Campaign.  She then became the founding Executive Director of the Nobel Women’s Initiative in 2006, an organization led by six Nobel women peace laureates which has earned a global reputation for supporting international sisterhood and mentoring young feminists. In 2007, Liz and her husband co-founded Ecology Ottawa, a tour de force that is determined to make Ottawa the green capital of Canada. Liz also works tirelessly to help further the work of countless other women’s and environmental organizations.

Sandi Harmer

Sandi Harmer has been a pioneer in addiction prevention for both women and children for 36 years. She has written two drug abuse prevention training manuals, sold worldwide, and wrote the chapter “Building a Feminist Substance Use Treatment Service” for the book Highs and Lows, Perspectives on Canadian Women and Substance Abuse. She is a well-respected speaker and trainer at an international level. Sandi is also a published author of a children’s book, Grumblies and Rainbows, and Inspirational Cards for Kids, as well as an award-winning Community Producer of her Children’s TV show. She is a spiritual intuitive and healer. Her dedication working with marginalized women in the community has earned her nominations for the Y’s Women of Distinction Award in Education and Training and the Dan Offord Award for Excellence in Working with Children. Sandi has received the Community Builder Award from United Way. Her name is on the Wall of Inspiration at Ottawa City Hall.