Olympes de la Parole Canada

Olympes de la Parole Canada (Business Registration Number: 707714739RR0001) is a Canadian nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the voices of girls through education, leadership development, and advocacy centered on gender equality and human rights. It operates a global citizenship project-based learning initiative primarily targeting secondary school girls across Canada to engage with the themes of gender inequalities and empowerment within a social justice framework.

History and Background

The organization is the Canadian edition of Les Olympes de la Parole competition, originally launched in France and subsequently established in other countries including Switzerland, Spain, Tunisia, and Morocco. The competition and initiative are named after Olympe de Gouges, an 18th-century French playwright and activist who authored La Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne (Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen) in 1791. Olympe de Gouges is recognized as a pioneering advocate for women's rights, and her legacy inspired the formation of this academic competition aimed at empowering young women through critical dialogue and activism.

In Canada, the initiative was introduced through the leadership of the University Women’s Club of Montreal (UWCM), which launched the first Canadian edition in Montreal in September 2017, marking the first North American iteration of the competition[4][5].

Mission and Objectives

Olympes de la Parole Canada focuses on reinforcing and promoting girls’ voices by providing a safe and informed platform for discussion. The organization aims to empower high school girls to become critical thinkers and active leaders by reflecting on current issues surrounding gender inequalities and their impact on girls and women. The program uses a dual lens of human rights and social justice to explore these themes and encourages participants to develop projects that contribute to community and societal change[1][2].

Program and Activities

The core activity of Olympes de la Parole Canada is its annual school competition called Voices of Olympia Canada. This global citizenship learning-based initiative invites secondary school girls to participate in a project-based competition revolving around a central theme each year, which aligns with the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UN-CSW) themes and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030) from a Canadian context.

For example, the 2024-2025 edition centers on the question: "Where are the girls in STEM thirty years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action?" This theme encourages participants to critically analyze girls' representation and empowerment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, reflecting on progress and ongoing challenges thirty years after a landmark international declaration on women's rights[2].

Participants develop skills in teamwork, research, critical thinking, public speaking, and leadership through their involvement. They contribute to their communities by implementing their projects and gain opportunities for national and international visibility, including presentations at significant forums such as the NGO-CSW Forum that links civil society with the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women[2][3].

Recognition and Legal Status

Olympes de la Parole Canada is registered as a charity with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), complying with the requirements for not-for-profit organizations in Canada. This status supports their mission to deliver educational and advocacy programs that elevate the rights and voices of girls and young women across the country[3].

Impact and Outreach

The organization has built a national and international network to promote girls' rights and amplify youth voices on global platforms. Its collaboration with forums linked to the United Nations enables young Canadian participants to contribute their perspectives on gender equality issues such as digital education, healthcare access, workplace inequalities, and gender-based violence. This outreach enhances public awareness and policy discourse while fostering a new generation of informed female leaders[2][3].

Olympes de la Parole Canada represents a vital initiative in the landscape of Canadian nonprofit organizations, uniquely combining education, advocacy, and international engagement to support the empowerment of girls and the advancement of gender equality through a human rights framework.