DisAbled Women's Network Canada

History

The organization began on June 20–23, 1985, at a meeting of seventeen women from across Canada who came together to discuss issues of interest to women with various disabilities, including Maria Barile. The main purpose of this initial meeting was to plan a larger national gathering of disabled women who would then develop the organization's strategies and goals. Early groups formed in Prince Edward Island, Toronto, Halifax, British Columbia, and Montreal and in Winnipeg, that city's existing group for women with disabilities, the Consulting Committee on the Status of Women with Disabilities also joined the network.