By Sophia Papastavrou, Gender Specialist & WPSN-C Steering Committee Member and Sarah Keeler, Policy and Advocacy Specialist & WPSN-C Steering Committee Member
The recent Liberal Party victory under Prime Minister Mark Carney presents more than a political transition—it signals Canadians’ collective desire for unity, inclusive leadership, and principled engagement at home and abroad. With this renewed mandate, Canada now has a critical opportunity to reclaim its global leadership on the Women, Peace and Security agenda, grounded in the principles of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and its subsequent resolutions.
We propose that advancing this leadership relies on Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) as a crucial cornerstone that must be maintained, strengthened, and further grounded in the lived realities of women’s movement building, particularly through a recognition of the expertise, knowledge, and resilience embedded in communities of care in the majority world.
The FIAP has long stood as a beacon of progressive international engagement, rooted in the principles of gender equality, human rights, and inclusive peacebuilding. Central to this is Canada’s commitment to the WPS agenda—a transformative framework heralded as amplifying women’s leadership in peace and security processes while also confronting the structural inequalities that perpetuate conflict and exclusion. As gender specialists working in the humanitarian sector and engaged with WPS processes, we have witnessed the potential of Canada’s leadership to shape global discourse and help shift practice toward more inclusive, rights-based peacebuilding.
The Women, Peace and Security Network – Canada (WPSN-C) has been instrumental in advancing this agenda. As a coalition of over 80 civil society organizations, academics, and activists, WPSN-C works to ensure that Canada’s WPS policies are informed by grassroots realities and feminist expertise. Its recent publication, Foundations for Peace in Turbulent Times, offers a detailed analysis of Canada’s third National Action Plan on WPS (2023–2029), highlighting achievements and identifying areas for improvement, particularly in policy coherence and the inclusion of marginalized voices in decision-making.
Established as a formal civil society partner in Canada’s WPS National Action Plan Advisory Group, WPSN-C plays a direct role in oversight and policy guidance, in a relationship that is often described as ‘critical friendship’. While Canada’s engagement with civil society has not been without challenges, this partnership ensures that the federal government’s commitments are not only upheld, but remain responsive to grounded realities of women’s movement building and to a rapidly changing global context.
From September 2024 to March 2025, WPSN-C, with support from the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives through the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations in New York, led a series of dialogues with civil society partners in Canada and internationally. These sessions focused on strengthening collaboration between governments and feminist networks to develop and implement effective, intersectional WPS initiatives. Participants from 19 countries expressed admiration for Canada’s approach and shared insights on the importance of centering WPS work in justice, rights, and true local ownership by a civil society representative of diverse intersecting identities. They also highlighted the importance of adequate resourcing for civil society.
The insights shared through these dialogues reflect a broader truth: policies on paper only matter if matched with political will, sustained resources, and robust accountability. By bridging grassroots experience and policy influence, the Network reinforces Canada’s credibility as a gender equality champion and pushes for continuous, transformative change. These efforts also underscore the vital role of civil society in ensuring that WPS commitments are effectively implemented, monitored, and evaluated, particularly by utilizing feminist approaches that not only measure impact using tools that are relevant to power dynamics and gender justice in local settings, but in the very definitions of successful intervention. Transformative and flexible feminist approaches must be more than buzzwords. They must shape the ways in which FIAP approaches accessibility, distribution, and measurement of aid.
To move forward, Canada must take bold and immediate action. Strengthening FIAP and the National Action Plan requires not only institutional coherence, but also an unwavering commitment to feminist, intersectional, and decolonial approaches, including in the ways we track and measure impact and understand peace itself. To ensure a strong and responsive FIAP that is positioned to upholds gains already achieved and meet emerging challenges, the following steps are crucial:
- Centre the voices and leadership of Indigenous Peoples, 2SLGBTQI+ communities, persons with disabilities, and those affected by conflict and displacement across all stages of peacebuilding—from prevention to negotiation to post-conflict recovery.
- Ensure policy coherence by aligning FIAP with the WPS agenda both domestically and internationally.
- Ground FIAP in strong feminist MEAL systems, drawn from direct engagement with and feedback from funding recipients.
- Ensure that staff across government are equipped with the appropriate training and skills to identify and implement feminist approaches that align with locally driven measures of impact and success.
- Streamline FIAP so that barriers to funding are reduced for women’s rights and women-led organizations working on the frontlines of humanitarian response and community care.
Feminist peace is not just the absence of war—it is the presence of justice. It is built through partnerships with Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQI+, and disability justice advocates; through policies that decolonize aid and center mutual care, cooperation, and community resilience; and through a foreign policy that recognizes peace as a feminist imperative.
In a context of democratic backsliding, climate crisis and persistent conflict, transformative action is essential – Canada must step forward with political courage and renewed feminist ambition.With the momentum of a united electorate and the strength of a vibrant civil society, the government has both a responsibility and a unique opportunity to lead by example. It means funding feminist movements, centering those on the frontlines of crisis and resistance, and committing to long-term structural change. The world does not need another symbolic leader. It needs countries bold enough to shape peace in the image of justice, equity, and truly inclusive and collaborative leadership. Canada can—and must—be a driving force in that vision.
The views in this blog are those of the authors only and do not necessarily represent those of the WPSN-C or its membership.
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