IWCA Launches Canadian Chapter to Connect Women Across the Coffee Value Chain

The International Women's Coffee Alliance formally launched IWCA Canada on March 19, positioning the new chapter as a strategic node between Canada's sizeable consumer and roaster market and coffee-origin communities worldwide, making it the 37th chapter in a network IWCA says now spans six continents.

Isabelle Huard, Muna Mohammed, and Elsa Ouagmi co-founded the chapter, with Cheryl Hung joining as secretary and Cynthia Elie as administrator. The founding team brings together expertise in event organizing, advocacy, academic research, and industry leadership. Huard, who serves as president, spent a decade building that foundation before the chapter formally existed. "To me, IWCA Canada is more than a formality," she said. "It is at the intersection of international cooperation, coffee excellence, and the most essential empowerment of women. This chapter proves that solidarity can redefine our industry, creating a space where women's talent and equity meet to build a fairer value chain."

IWCA Global described the chapter's mission in its announcement: "Guided by the values of social justice and women's empowerment, IWCA Canada's mission is to connect the national coffee community and support women at every stage of the value chain, while building sustainable bridges to the global IWCA network." The chapter's operational plan rests on three pillars: network development, education and capacity building, and visibility and representation.

Canada's specific position as a major consuming market gives the chapter a role that goes beyond national networking. The purchasing decisions made daily in Canadian cities ripple directly to the economic realities of women producers at origin. A Toronto roaster sourcing from Guatemala, a Vancouver buyer negotiating with Colombian cooperatives, a Montreal café owner selecting which farms to feature: each of those decisions shapes women's livelihoods at the other end of the supply chain. IWCA Canada's structure is designed to make that connection explicit and actionable.

The founding work to establish the chapter, IWCA said, "reflects years of dedicated groundwork and a shared commitment to lasting, structural change." The 37-chapter count carries its own weight within the IWCA framework, representing roughly 25 years of chapters building shared knowledge and collective support across producing and consuming countries alike.

IWCA Canada can be reached at info@iwcacanada.org, on Instagram at @iwca_canada, and on Facebook as IWCA Canada.