Northwestern Ontario Women’s Centre marks International Women’s Day with new leader: IWD 2026

March 10, 2026

On March 5th, 2026 the Northwestern Ontario Women’s Centre hosted the annual Flag Raising Ceremony for International Women’s Day. The event at City Hall saw a crowd of activist, allies, and community members come together to hear the declaration from City Council. This year, NOWC is marking a big transition with the hiring of a new Executive Director, Katie Bortolin. Our current Executive Director, Gwen O’Reilly, is retiring after 35 years in the role. During the event, Gwen reflect on her work over the past three decades and welcomed Katie to share her vision for the future of the Women’s Centre.

From CBC News coverage:

A flag raising ceremony was held at city hall Thursday ahead of International Women’s Day this Sunday, which served as an opportunity to celebrate O’Reilly’s retirement and Bortolin’s new role. As O’Reilly passed over the proverbial torch, she gifted Bortolin a golden hammer “intended to smash patriarchy.”

O’Reilly’s journey in women’s advocacy began more than 40 years ago when she attended her first feminist potluck. In her remarks on Thursday, she spoke about when “sex” was added to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as a protected ground of discrimination, and when pay equity was enshrined in 2001. She also reflected on when women’s studies became a discipline at post-secondary institutions, when same-sex marriage was first legalized, and when funders wouldn’t cover any work related to the 2SLGBTQIA community.

“We need to understand that our economic well-being is not separate from our social well-being. We need to look at the rights of all people, and especially marginalized ones, and fight fiercely to retain them …”
Gwen O’Reilly, speaker at International Women’s Day Flag Raising, 2026

International Women’s Day gives advocates the chance to step out of the trenches and take stock of the progress that’s been made, said O’Reilly.

For Bortolin, she said the day serves as motivation to carry forward the women’s centre’s vision to provide equity for all — and to make sure this work is informed by truth and reconciliation as well as the lived experiences of women and gender-diverse people in the city. “It is a reason for me to feel empowered that we have a community of people who are standing behind us and who are doing work alongside us,” she said.

From SN Newswatch coverage:

Helping women who face violence and trafficking, fighting for access to justice and making sure there’s enough funding to keep serving women in the region are some of the priorities for the new head of the Northwestern Ontario Women’s Centre. The feminist advocacy organization marked International Women’s Day with the announcement it’s hired a new executive director, Katie Bortolin, on Thursday.

Bortolin will take on the role following the retirement of Gwen O’Reilly, who served as executive director for 35 years. “I am profoundly honoured to have the opportunity to take on the role and to fill Gwen (O’Reilly’s) shoes,” Bortolin said. “She has done profound work in our community for such a long time and I am really excited to see where we can go from here.”

Taking on the new role, Bortolin said her main priority is to secure long-term funding to ensure they have the staff capacity to continue responding to current community needs. “It’s a small and mighty staff and we do a lot of really great work and we need provincial and federal funding to be able to support that in the long term,” Bortolin said.

International Women’s Day is important to celebrate for the region, Bortolin said, as Thunder Bay has “really unique challenges” that women face. “There is an epidemic of intimate partner violence, there is an overrise of human trafficking and challenges that women face seeking safety and support. And then the challenges that happen in our legal system,” she said.

From 2014 to 2024, the highest average annual rate of human trafficking incidents in Canada was reported by Thunder Bay police, with eight incidents for every 100,000 people, according to Statistics Canada’s latest report, released in December.

“We have a legal system and not a justice system. So (we’re) looking (at) advocating for women and analyzing the work that’s happening and then asking for action to happen as larger schemes,” Bortolin added.

Below are some photos taken at the event on March 5th: