What message would you put on a billboard?
Somewhat cliché, but, “The journey is the destination.”
If you were to get a tattoo of one word, what would it be?
“HOPE.”
Jennifer Flanagan
“Success is the feeling of excitement and fulfillment that comes from getting excellent work done.”
Birthplace Fredericton, NB
What age do you feel Some days, 20; others, 120
Occupation President and CEO, Actua
Book you gift most Girl Positive by Tatiana Fraser and Caia Hagel
Favourite drink Coffee in the morning and wine at night. Sometimes I switch the order.
Favourite place in Canada New Brunswick
If you could have dinner with any woman, alive or dead, who would it be?
My granny Gwendolyn, especially now that I am old enough to chat with her as a friend, ask her questions about what her life was like, and tell her about mine. I wish that she had known my children so that they, too, could have received the benefit of her influence.
What is the best investment you’ve made?
Always hiring people smarter than I am and investing in their success.
How has your view of feminism changed over your lifetime?
I grew up with a great deal of privilege. It wasn’t until I was older that I understood what that privilege meant and embraced a feminist identity. I now view everything through a feminist lens, have chosen to marry a feminist, and together we are raising our daughters to be unapologetic feminists. To me, the pursuit of gender equality is the most significant social issue of our time.
If you had the gift of a year off, in a paused world, what would you work on?
I would divide the year into sections with priority given to family, fresh air, and learning: perfecting my French in the south of France; learning more about Indigenous peoples in Canada; writing a book; taking my kids on a trip to the Arctic; sleeping for two months (at least).
What does Canada need more of?
Canada needs more women and Indigenous people in top jobs in every sector, especially in science and technology. These jobs are still predominantly held by men—we are missing the voices of some of Canada’s most innovative and talented people. We will not achieve our full social and economic potential as a country until this diversity is achieved. This vision is at the core of my leadership of Actua.
What message would you put on a billboard, and where?
The message would be “You Matter. Now Go Be Excellent” and I would position the billboard somewhere where the highest number of Canadian youth would see it.
If you were to write a book, what would its title be?
First Aid Tips for Breaking through the Glass Ceiling.
What are Canada’s best traits?
The diverse makeup of its population. Being able to raise my children with peers and role models from all different backgrounds is critical for them to grow up with an open mind, respectful of and knowledgeable about all cultures.
What are the characteristics of the people you keep closest?
I love people with big brains and social justice hearts. Also, loyalty, genuineness, fun, and humour are crucial.
Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently when you were first starting out?
I would have allowed myself to make way more mistakes and embraced those failures. Most of us are taught to avoid failure at all costs and this is holding a lot of youth back from achieving their potential. Actua strives to create safe spaces for youth to fail smart, learn, and move on.
Margot Franssen
“Success means you did what you knew was right for you and you were able to hold your head up high when it was all done.”
Birthplace Heerlen, Netherlands
What age do you feel 40ish
Occupation Philanthropist, activist, board member, and founder of The Body Shop Canada
Book you gift most I Feel Bad about My Neck by Nora Ephron
Favourite drink Malbec
Favourite place in Canada My cottage
How has your view of feminism changed over your lifetime?
It hasn’t. Feminism is humanism and that doesn’t change. If anything, I embrace the partnership of men more in this journey because if we are to get to the finish line, we need them by our side, understanding our situation, and it can only be understood standing in our shoes.
What will it take to achieve gender parity?
Quotas. Nothing else has worked and nothing else will work. An exchange of, or giving up of, power—even a little so others can have some of their own—is never an easy situation.
If you had the gift of a year off, in a paused world, what would you work on?
I did do this three years ago to rewire myself, which I do every ten years. I rid myself of every toxic person in my life. I read, watched films and documentaries, exercised, rested, and generally decided how I would move forward with my passion to end human trafficking in Canada.
What has been a defining moment in your personal or professional life?
Receiving the rights to Canada for The Body Shop without paying a fee because I asked for it. If you are going to stand on thin ice, you might as well dance. When I asked for the rights to Canada, I had no retail experience, no business background, and no cash. I only had moxy and a desire to make a life.
What message would you put on a billboard, and where?
“The road is bumpy; stay the course.” I would paste it on the inside of every girl’s locker in school.
What is the best investment you’ve made?
My philosophy degree. The quest for truth, justice, and equality can be applied to business and philanthropy and activism, as well as philosophy.
Where do you feel most powerful?
At a boardroom table. I now know that my point of view, which is often miles away from the norm, creates debate that gets us to a more creative solution.
What is your vision for Canada in twenty years?
To be the first country to abolish human trafficking in its entirety.
Tell us about a time when you had to summon all of your courage.
I had just opened my company’s second store and the bank made a mistake on my line of credit (didn’t record that I had one!). All my cheques bounced and every person I owed money to called on the same day. I had no money, no reputation, no back-up plan, and a bank manager I had never met. So I had to decide on my tactic: whimper and beg for the money, or take myself to the bank and demand that all my contractors be repaid that day with a letter of apology from the bank and the line of credit be restored. It was.
What does Canada need more and less of?
More women’s leadership. Less patriarchy.
What does being Canadian mean to you?
Pride.
If you were to get a tattoo of one word, what would it be?
“Onward.”
Tatiana Fraser
“I feel most powerful when I am connected to, and acting from, my intuition and sense of knowing—and after a long run!”
Birthplace Ottawa, ON
What age do you feel 32
Occupation System change strategist and nomad
Favourite drink Coffee
Favourite place in Canada The south shore in Nova Scotia
How has your view of feminism changed over your lifetime?
It hasn’t changed much. My view has been informed by my mother, who is a social justice warrior and has fought against injustice at every stage of her life—I learned about injustice and standing up for what is right through her. She continues to teach me about the contradictions we carry in life, how to see beauty in the muck. My feminism is about social justice and opportunity for everyone.
If you had the gift of a year off, in a paused world, what would you work on?
Listening deeply and being still. I think our commitment to action and driving change is incredibly important and is a va
lue I hold dear to my heart. That said, I believe we live in a world of hyper-consumption, hyper-performance, and a crazy fast pace. The risk is that we don’t take time to listen to our deepest wisdom or the quiet wise voices in the world around us. Only with this commitment and practice can we be better and more strategic in our daily actions and our big vision change.
What does being Canadian mean to you?
I have spent the last twenty years in Quebec in relationship with the francophone community, and moved from the east coast to the west coast growing up and as a young adult. Being Canadian is complicated for me. I feel the responsibility to understand the nuance of identity, inclusion, and exclusion in the context of being Canadian. This means recognizing how Indigeneity predated Canada by tens of thousands of years, and while Canada is a democratic society, I am acutely aware of the structural violence imposed on Indigenous communities historically and today. I am also aware of the historical racism and the outdated systems that maintain inequity in our society. So being Canadian means struggling and learning about how to live and work across difference and contributing to the change. It means being an active citizen who works to contribute to social justice and environmental sustainability.
If you were to write a book, what would its title be?
I just co-wrote Girl Positive: Supporting Girls to Shape a New World. The book aims to reframe the conversation about girls and young women in order to unpack the complexity of the issues girls face so we can shine light on girls’ dreams and possibilities for the world.
When do you feel most powerful?
When I imagine a world where women are leading in new ways, redefining traditional power structures, and innovating on all fronts as a pathway toward social change and environmental sustainability.
What are the characteristics of the people you keep closest?
I am most comfortable standing on the fringe and the outside, so I tend to surround myself with people who live there as well. I am attracted to people who live outside the box; people who challenge the status quo, who are innovating and doing things differently; people who value play and simplicity and are hungry to learn. My life partner is an artist and spent the early days of his life studying philosophy and spirituality. He inspires me and keeps me connected to what matters in life.
If you were to get a tattoo of one word, what would it be?
“Love.”
Dawna Friesen
“Being Canadian to me means freedom, peace, humility, and friendliness.”
Birthplace Winnipeg, MB
What age do you feel 39
Occupation Journalist; Global National News anchor
Book you gift most The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Favourite drink Tea (PG tips)
Favourite place in Canada Home
How has your view of feminism changed over your lifetime?
When we’re young, we tend to think we have it all figured out and we know everything. With age and experience, we begin to realize there are no absolutes and no “right” way a woman should live her life. Freedom to make choices, to be treated equitably on every level, and to not be sidelined or suffer financially because we’re the ones who bear children is key.
If you had the gift of a year off, in a paused world, what would you work on?
I’d work on myself. I’d like to get off the hamster wheel of the twenty-four-hour news cycle and have time for contemplation.
Tell us about a time when you had to summon all of your courage.
When my dad was dying and my mom was just down the hall in the nursing home, in the latter stages of dementia, I was losing both my parents and there was no way to communicate with them in a way that felt meaningful. They could no longer speak. I realized I just had to be present, hold their hands, and reminisce. Sometimes our greatest gift is just to live in the moment. Dad died and Mom followed about a year and a half later. I have no regrets because I told them everything that was in my heart.
Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently when you were first starting out?
I would have realized earlier the importance of family. I let ambition and my sense of adventure drive me. I could have had a better balance.
What is the best investment you’ve made?
A good pair of secateurs.
What does success mean to you?
I know exactly! It’s a quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson that I’ve had on my desk for years: “To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know that one life breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
Hedy Fry
“I came here in 1970 and now I am the longest-serving MP in Canadian history. For me, that says everything about Canada.”
Birthplace San Fernando, Trinidad
Occupation Member of Parliament (MP) for Vancouver Centre
Book you gift most Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Favourite drink A great bottle of red wine
Favourite place in Canada Vancouver
If you could have dinner with any woman, alive or dead, who would it be?
Queen Elizabeth I. At a time when women were disposable assets and chattel, this woman took on the world. I would love to sit down and see what made her tick, how she was so brave to face anyone who went to the Tower of London. She knew how to cling to power, how to strategically maintain that power, and how to get the people behind her vision.
What will it take to achieve gender parity?
Political will. You can have great policies. You can have great legislation. You can say that you want to make these things happen with legislation and public policy. But if there isn’t the passion and the drive and that political will in a leader and party to do this, it won’t happen. For me, anything else is rhetoric.
What advice would you give to young women considering a similar career?
There are rules to the game that have been there for thousands of years. Learn and understand the rules while you’re trying to change those rules. Recognize that sometimes you can’t break those rules. Sometimes you have to give, and sometimes you have to learn how to do things differently. Politics is one way to make an imprint and have influence, but never forget that even in your own small community, you can make a difference. You can be bold and have passion for something. It doesn’t matter what that thing is. Run with it and make it something that you pursue and speak about it. Be bold and unafraid.
What is your vision for Canada in twenty years?
Canada is the country of the twenty-first century. We are the first global nation because people live here integrated with their languages, their cultures, and a sense of their identities intact, but they do have one thing in common: the value system that the majority of Canadians believe in. It’s about compassion, about helping each other, about having a social contract with each other—that strong sense that Canadians have, that makes us who we are. Canada could take that and run with it, believe in it, carry it as a torch with passion, and bring about all the tools we need to make it show—that’s my vision for Canada.
If you were to get a tattoo of one word, what would it be?
“Passion.”
Anne Giardini
“I’ve learned that not all goals can always be pursued at once. Necessity makes prioritizing easier. Do the important things first.”
Birthplace Weston, ON
Occupation Chancellor, Simon Fraser University
Book you gift most Startle and Illuminate: Carol Shields on Writing
Favourite drink Keemun black tea with milk
If you could have dinner with any woman, alive or dead, who would it be?
My wonderful mother, Carol Shields. She died in 2003 and
I have a long list of ideas and topics to talk over with her.
How has your view of feminism changed over your lifetime?
I don’t think my view of feminism has changed very much. I spent my childhood assuming the world would belong to me and my three sisters in exactly the same way as it would to our brother but with the added icing of being able to have children ourselves. As I grew in consciousness about the position of women in the world during my teens and later, I was startled daily by discoveries that this was not to be the case, that in this world men took power and women seemed to cede it. However, I think the world at large can learn in much the same way as a person can learn. Over time we can, if we wish to, examine and put aside prejudices and fears and become better individuals and create better societies. Feminism is a tool in this endeavour. Not the only one, but an important one. It is sometimes a saw, sometimes a hammer, sometimes a wrench, sometimes the finest sandpaper that can put the finishing gloss on something newly imagined and wonderfully made.
What message would you put up on a billboard?
“Either we’re all ordinary, or else none of us is ordinary.”—Carol Shields
What does Canada need more and less of?
We need more trust, joy, and compassion; more creative freedom; and more willingness to extend ourselves into real relationships with each other, the world, and the environment. We need less fear of a world in which disruption has become the norm, accelerated by new technologies, cultural shifts, demographic transformation, geopolitical affairs, climate change, and other factors that sometimes work together, sometimes in opposition. Some of us fear disorder. Some fear the established order. In Canada, we have a wealth of varied perspectives readily available to us. If we listen, if we get out of the way, if we open the gates to new perspectives, if we find new ways to integrate, we will build something startling and wonderful.
Canada 150 Women_Conversations with Leaders, Champions, and Luminaries Page 10