Ololade (Lola) Ogunsuyi has discovered her niche working with the Canadian Red Cross as a site manager, supporting residents and staff at long-term care homes in Ontario. With her penchant for sharing knowledge and solving problems, Lola has instilled confidence in teams as they work to turn the tide against COVID-19.

“Learning sewing came to me as a blessing for myself and the community,” Minara Begum, a resident in Camp 5 said fondly. Minara lives in the camp, with her parents. They had been living on aid provided from different agencies for people who fled from violence in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.

Home fires can happen anytime and anywhere but are most likely to occur during winter in Canada. According to the Commissariat aux incendies de la Ville de Québec, 4 in 10 fatal home fires occur between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., when the household is asleep.

Ten years ago, on the afternoon of March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake triggered a tsunami along Japan’s Pacific coast. Villages, towns and cities along a 70-kilometre stretch of coastline were damaged or destroyed. More than 15,000 people lost their lives. Canadian Red Cross humanitarian worker Kathy Mueller went to Japan to support the Japanese Red Cross in its immediate response to the tsunami. This is her story.

Staying active isn’t just good for your body, it can also have a powerful impact on your mental health. Many Canadians are spending a significant portion of their day sedentary. Recent findings from the Canadian Health Measures Survey (2022–2024) reveal that adults spend an average of 9.3 hours each day sitting or lounging. Only 42% of people are hitting the national recommendation of keeping their sedentary time down to nine hours a day. 

If you’re a teacher or educator, you may be wondering how to introduce your students to global societal issues like armed conflict. It’s a big subject! Fortunately, tackling global issues such as war and peace from the lens of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) can help students understand states’ responsibilities in reducing suffering and protecting civilians.

When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a year ago, it didn’t take long for newcomers to Canada to start knocking harder on the door of the Battlefords Immigration Resource Centre in Saskatchewan.
“People were being laid off from work. Families were struggling to make ends meet. One lady was crying. She had no food to feed her family. We basically pulled funding out of our reserve fund and gave her some money."

The Canadian Red Cross was founded in 1896, and since the very beginning women played a crucial role. To mark International Women's Day on March 8, we‘re going  back in time from the beginning of the Red Cross to celebrate the victories, big and small, of women in Canada.