Meseret Haileyesus 

Executive Director, Canadian Center for Women’s Empowerment

Meseret Haileyesus has worked tirelessly on economic justice and health equity. She is the founder of the Canadian Centre for Women’s Empowerment (CCFWE), the only Canadian organization addressing economic injustice with a keen interest in addressing systemic barriers and other challenges that prevent women's economic safety through ground-breaking policy advocacy, research, education, and economic empowerment. Meseret works to influence public policy and legislation decisions that support women to make a successful transition to economic independence in Canada. She seeks to fill the gaps for the development of new approaches to address economic abuse by reviewing existing systems, policies, legislation, and procedures with financial institutions, industry regulators, local and national government, the family justice system, consumer lawyers, and academics.

 She serves on the Board of Directors at Centertown Community Health Centre, End FGM Canada Network, and is a member of the Network for the Advancement of Black Communities Public Policy Advisory Council to address equity and mental health challenges faced by Black youth and their families in Canada. She is a Chair of the YOLO Anti-racism Advisory Committee. 

She is also the founder of Maternity Today, an international organization that improves and promotes the health of women and newborns through superior advocacy, research and education. Haileyesus is also an ambassador for various global initiatives working toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly on Maternal, Child, and Newborn Health. 

Meseret ' pioneering work on economic abuse and coerced debt, the Economic Justice Project has been featured in media across Canada including CBC, Yahoo Finance, Canadian Center for Policy Alternative, Globe and Mail, Healthy Debate, Toronto Sun, Ottawa Citizen, and National Post. Her work was recognized by 31 city mayors across Canada and at the House of Commons. 

Over her career, Haileyesus has been the recipient of several prestigious awards. Named a top 10 L’Oréal Paris National Woman’s Worth Awardee, Forty under 40 award recipient in 2021 from Ottawa Business Journal, Top 3 recipient of the National RPA Award from Honorable Nina Tangri, Member of Parliament from Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade/ Economic Development in 2021, recipient of Women of Inspiration 2021 (Social Impact and Authentic Leader Award), and named one of the 100 Most Accomplished Black Canadian Women in 2019 and Top 100 Women to Watch in Canada 2020.