Women Working With Immigrant Women

Adapted from the 1979-80 WWWIW Annual Report & other sources

Women Working with Immigrant Women developed as an umbrella organization for agencies and women working with immigrant women in Metro Toronto. Its main goals included information sharing and referral,  acting as a support group, and initiating programmes and services to meet the needs of immigrant and refugee women and women of colour. The organization also engaged in social and political action on issues affecting these communities, including building alliances among different women of colour and immigrant and refugee women’s communities as well as between these communities and mainstream organizations and movements.

[It] first met in April 1974, arising out of a need for support expressed by front-line workers in service delivery to immigrant women. The group was called together through joint efforts of the Coalition of Immigrant and Migrant Services and the YWCA of Metropolitan Toronto. It functioned as a coalition committee for two years and became an independent body in June 1976.

Early in its history Women Working with Immigrant Women was composed of women working as community workers in immigrant aid agencies as well as government departments e.g. Manpower, Labour, Public Health, Secretary of State, etc. By April of 1976 W.W.I.W. had narrowed its focus to the concern of workers in the non-government sector, and members were primarily community workers.

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