Dr. Aditi Sivakumar

Young Woman of Distinction

Dr. Aditi Sivakumar is an Obstetrics and Gynaecology resident doctor, and a dedicated women’s rights advocate, elevating the voices of systemically marginalized communities.

After witnessing the devastating effects of gender-based violence through her undergraduate volunteer work at a local domestic violence shelter in Ottawa, Dr. Sivakumar knew she needed to act. In 2018, she launched My Empowerment Platform, an easily accessible web application dedicated to providing women and girls facing violence with the information they need to find safety. This impressive endeavor took on new importance during the pandemic when many women were trapped at home with their abusers and experiencing increased violence. Aditi has since expanded the platform’s offerings to include sexual and reproductive health resources through the use of animation and videography.

Beyond My Empowerment Platform, Aditi is the youngest person in the world to be appointed Board Vice Chair to the Partnership for Maternal Newborn and Child Health hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO). Her work there has encompassed impressive achievements such as co-leading the Global Forum for Adolescents—the largest forum for adolescent health and wellbeing in the world—and What Young People Want (formerly 1.8 Billion Young People for Change Campaign) which aims to gather the perspectives, opinions, and aspirations of young people across the world.

Aditi's efforts have earned her the prestigious Diana Legacy Award, an honour given to twelve youth social change-makers worldwide in commemoration of the late Princess Diana, and a 2023 Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case, which recognized individuals "who have made outstanding contributions to the goal of equality for women and girls in Canada."

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Nancy Barber

Corporate Leadership

Nancy Barber has spent her career blazing a trail for women in the aerospace industry. Starting as an intern at Bombardier, she navigated the male-dominated field and became the company’s first female Chief Operating Officer, where she was responsible for delivering the largest Business Aircraft Program in the industry.

Now serving as Senior Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer at De Havilland Canada and President of Women in Aerospace Canada (WIA-Canada), Nancy is committed to opening doors for the next generation of women and gender diverse professionals. Under her leadership, WIA-Canada has grown tenfold, expanding its reach and impact through mentorship programs, career development initiatives, and newcomer integration programs. These efforts have directly supported hundreds of women and non-binary individuals in their careers. She also partners with leading aerospace companies to drive meaningful Diversity, Equity & Inclusion transformations, ensuring lasting change across the sector.

Nancy’s impact has been widely recognized. She is a recipient of the prestigious Elise Award for Business from the Northern Lights Aero Foundation, and was named one of Women’s Executive Network’s 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada (2020).

Beyond aerospace, Nancy is deeply committed to fundraising and advocacy for cancer research. As a survivor, she has dedicated countless hours to raising awareness and funding through her fundraising team, Pink Armour, winning the Women’s Challenge Award for top fundraiser six times. In 2015, Nancy served as the keynote speaker at the CIBC Run for the Cure opening ceremonies, inspiring many with her leadership, resilience, and advocacy.

A trailblazer, mentor, and industry leader, Nancy Barber continues to reshape the aerospace landscape, ensuring women and gender diverse individuals have the opportunities, support, and visibility they deserve.

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Carly Kalish

Social Justice

Carly Kalish is a champion for survivors of human trafficking. Early in her professional career, as a trauma therapist at East Metro Youth Services (EMYS), she saw just how pressing and underrecognized the human trafficking was in Toronto. She became a critical ally and counsellor for hundreds of girls and women – many of whom were unaware of the crimes being perpetrated against them. Her knowledge of exploitation and tireless efforts to improve support services led to the formation of an anti-human trafficking coalition of 30 community partners. At EMYS, Carly designed Toronto’s first-ever human trafficking trauma program – and earned a $500,000 grant to sustain it long-term.

As Executive Director, and now Chief Executive Officer of Victim Services Toronto, she leads a team of counsellors, social workers and advocates who provide 24/7 support to over 18,000 survivors of crime each year, including many fleeing gender-based violence. One of her biggest successes is the expansion of Exit Route, a program that provides rapid and seamless support to survivors of human trafficking and intimate partner violence by embedding resources directly into police divisions across the city.

Another of Carly’s significant accomplishments is Reclaim, a program that alleviates the burden of fraudulent debt that traffickers often force upon survivors—a devastating, often overlooked issue. Using this project as evidence, she worked with a range of multi-institutional partners to help draft Bill 41, which legally frees survivors from their coerced debt, and ensured that the bill passed all three readings in Queen’s Park.

Carly is the recipient of several awards, including the prestigious Attorney General's Victim Services Awards of Distinction (2018) and Justice Canada’s Excellence in Victim Service Award (2024).   

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Farrah Khan

Activism

Farrah Khan is a globally recognized expert on gender justice. For over two decades, she has worked at the intersections of frontline support, policy innovation, public education, art creation and youth mentorship to create systemic change.

At 16, Farrah began developing the BRAVE Model©, a groundbreaking trauma-informed peer support framework. Since then, she has trained over 100,000 people to respond to sexual violence with compassion and responsibility. Farrah continues to innovate and enhance survivor-centred healing and violence prevention education across the country. This includes leading Toronto Metropolitan University’s Consent Comes First Office and co-developing Use the Right Words, a media guide to advance trauma-informed reporting on sexual violence, which Canadian newsrooms and journalism schools have adopted.

Farrah’s expertise has shaped policy and legislative change on sexual violence nationally and internationally, including as a G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council member and co-chair of Ontario’s Provincial Roundtable on Violence Against Women. As the founder of Possibility Seeds, she spearheaded Courage to Act, the first project of its kind in Canada to address and prevent gender-based violence at post-secondary institutions, benefiting 1.8 million post-secondary students and employees. A sought-after expert, Farrah is featured in CBC, Maclean’s, Chatelaine, and The Guardian. Her writing has appeared in the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail.

She was also recognized with the Governor General Award for the Person’s Case and the Canadian Council of Muslim Women Award.

Farrah is the Executive Director of Action Canada, advancing sexual health and reproductive rights nationwide. She is currently on medical leave recovering from small cell cervical cancer and breast cancer. Her lifelong work reflects a commitment to addressing systemic change rooted in joy, equity, and care. 

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Deqa Nur

Community Leadership

Deqa Nur is a strong advocate for social justice, economic inclusion and local, community driven decision-making.

A proud Somali-Canadian herself, Deqa saw mothers in her community struggling, often overlooked and unable to find supportive services and programs that met their needs. In response, she founded Hooyo Innovation Hub (“Hooyo” meaning “mother” in Somali), an organization dedicated to helping Somali-Canadian mothers build strong economic futures for themselves and their families through capacity building programming.

Since 2017, thanks to her leadership as Hooyo Innovation Hub’s (Hooyo iHub) Executive Director and Project Manager, Somali-Canadian mothers living in Toronto have been able to grow their skills and obtain vital tools for their economic stability, such as food handler certificates and First Aid/CPR training. Participants were also able to obtain home daycare qualifications for free, enabling them to establish their own sustainable businesses.

During the pandemic, Deqa’s dedication helped many of Hooyo iHub’s participants as they were struggling to access virtual services for their families. Through Hooyo iHub, she provided women with tablets and technology literacy education to support their access to services and their children's virtual schooling needs.

Beyond her extraordinary work with Hooyo iHub, Deqa has given back to the Toronto community in a variety of meaningful ways; she acted as an ambassador on Toronto's Vaccine Engagement Team during COVID-19, launched a free tutoring program for youth in Etobicoke and currently serves on the Toronto Police Services Community Advisory Panel and the Central Etobicoke Community Hub initiative (CECHi).  

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Dr. Paula Rochon

Health

Dr. Paula Rochon is a geriatrician and the Founding Director of Women’s Age Lab at Women’s College Hospital, the first lab in the world focused on improving the health and wellbeing of women as they age—an area long overlooked. As the Retired Teachers of Ontario Chair in Geriatric Medicine at the University of Toronto and former Vice President of Research at Women's College Hospital, she has spent her career transforming women's healthcare.

Dr. Rochon’s work has made a profound impact, informing the development of evidence-based interventions that address the unique health needs of aging women. She has published over 300 research articles in numerous medical journals, including the Canadian Medical Association Journal and The Lancet, and has been cited by Health Canada and the US Food and Drug Administration. Through her former role as Chair for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Aging Advisory Board she amplified the health care needs of older adults and women globally.

Her many distinctions include being elected as a Fellow to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Canadian Geriatrics Society (2013). From the University of Toronto, she was awarded the Eaton Clinical Researcher of the Year (2020), the Eugenie Stuart Award for Best Thesis Supervisor (2022), and the President’s Impact Award along with the COVID-19 Science Table Leadership Award (2023) for her outstanding pandemic response contributions.

Paula is also a dedicated mentor. As a professor in the Departments of Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, and Public Health at the University of Toronto, she supports women throughout their careers, and supports researchers, clinicians and future geriatricians in advancing medical research and inclusive care for older adults, particularly women. 

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Join us on May 27 at the Liberty Grand to celebrate these remarkable women. Learn more here.

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