Organization

Vision

Our vision features a world where girls are empowered to apply the principles of global citizenship to become agents-of-change, and participate in building a fair and equal society where social justice and gender equality thrive.


Mission

To reinforce and promote girls’ voices through global citizenship learning, and strategic advocacy based on learning, leadership, community engagement, and social justice.  

Purposes

This global citizenship learning - based initiative offers a safe and informed discussion space, where high school girls grow as critical thinkers, transcend boundaries, become empowered to join the global conversation on girls’ and women’s rights, and engage in transforming their communities through:

  • Awareness of issues that affect girls and women around the world, and their intersectionality with the United Nations sustainable development goals.

  • Knowledge of the themes that are discussed at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) regarding these issues, and reflection on their prevalence in Canada and their impact in local communities.

  • Actions that address an issue at the local and community level, using critical thinking, teamwork, mentoring and collaboration with local, national and international partners.

  • Promotion of girls' engagement in their communities, propelling the transformative process towards a fair and more equal society.


Framework

We use the UN Agenda 2020 Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for reflection and action, mainly:

  • Objective 1: No Poverty

  • Objective 3: Good Health and Well being

  • Objective 4: Quality Education

  • Objective 5: Gender Equality

  • Objective 13: Climate Action


Values

  • We value social justice, inclusion, equality, compassion, sisterhood, respect and integrity.

  • We believe that education is a human right that leads to equal opportunity, helps challenge all forms of inequities, promotes social justice, and prevents gender-based violence (GBV).

  • We believe that empowering young girls through awareness, knowledge, reflection and community engagement carries the seeds of a transformational leadership, promising a better future.

"Not until the half of our population represented by women and girls can live free from fear, violence and everyday insecurity, can we truly say we live in a fair and equal world", (Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary, 2018).

Source

Brief history

Voices of Olympia Canada is a global citizenship learning - based initiative launched in Montreal in 2017. Through a yearly school competition, high school girls in Canada are introduced to issues discussed at the UN Commission on the status of Women (CSW). In a perspective of Human Rights, they use inquiry, critical thinking, problem solving and team work to understand the intersectionality of challenges faced by girls and women around the world and in Canada, and propose solutions that can be translated into action in their local communities.

The Voices of Olympia Canada school competition is named after Olympe de Gouge, a French politician, playwright, feminist and activist who authored La Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne in 1791. Because of her writings, she was convicted of treason and was guillotined in Paris in 1793.

Inspired by the European model of the competition, Dr. Savary launched the first North American edition of Les Olympes de la Parole in Montreal, while she was president of the University Women’s Club of Montreal, (UWCM). We are grateful to the UWCM for their support.

Phase 1. Local implementation

September 2, 2017- Launching of the first edition in Montreal under the theme: Impact of technology on the empowerment of Indigenous girls and women in Canada.

The three participating schools with four teams were: Villa Maria College, the Sacred Heart School of Montreal, and The Study. Indigenous involvement featuring: Kanawà:ke Combined School Committee chair, Kanawà:ke Education Centre, Mayor of Nunavut, First Nations Television.

December 6, 2018- Launching of the second edition in Montreal under the theme: The feminization of poverty and its impact on the empowerment of women and the development of girls in Canada.

The two Participating schools with three teams were: Collège International Marie de France and Villa Sainte-Marcelline. Community involvement included: Her Street, Fondation Dr Julien, and Stella Musica.

Impacts

  • Videos of competition winners were shared on national and international social media platforms.

  • Second place winners with Jury mention for Best Essay, from the Sacred Heart School of Montreal, published their findings in First Peoples Child and Family Review, Vol.13. number 1, 2018, pp 21-33.

  • Presentation of competition results at the Idea Fair and Learning Circle on Indigenous Gender and Wellness that was organized by the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR ), in June 2019.

  • Les Olympes de la Parole school competition was among the seven Canadian projects nominated for the prestigious WSIS Prizes 2019 of the World Summit on the Information Society, in Category (Action Line) C10.

  • The 2019 first prize winning team of students from Collège International Marie de France in collaboration with the Association des parents de Côte - des - Neiges of Montreal, have implemented weekly reading sessions, delivered to young children of allophone immigrant parents.

  • In 2020, the results of each winning team’s project were published in the United Nations 75 Anniversary eBook "Thank You United Nations, UN 2020".

Phase 2. National implementation

After two years of successful local implementation in Montreal, and following requests from several schools, Dr. Savary decided to open the school competition to all high school girls nationwide. Hence, in 2020, she founded the Voices of Olympia Canada as a not-for-profit corporation, with charity status registered under Canada Revenu Agency no. 707714739RR0001.