Hello, everyone. Thank you all for being part of such an important global forum. 

A few weeks ago, I met Aminah, a mom who started her own farm and local business in Canada.

Aminah’s proud of what she’s accomplished, and rightly so. But from finding good childcare to working in an industry dominated by men, she told me it hasn’t been easy.

As leaders and governments, that’s something we have to listen to.

We have to listen when women who do a double shift say they need quality childcare.

When girls say they need access to education.

When racialized women, and Indigenous women, and LGBTQ2 people, say they need justice.

We have to listen, and then we have to act.

With our actions, we can create the real, positive change that people need. Just take, for example, childcare.

This pandemic has made clear what parents and feminists alike have known for decades; that childcare is a necessity. That’s why, in April, we committed $30 billion to build a Canada-wide early learning and childcare system.

This good, affordable childcare will allow around a quarter of a million mothers in Canada to go back to work.

As we rebuild from this pandemic and drive a feminist recovery, this is exactly the kind of results people need, and not just in Canada but everywhere.

That’s why Canada is stepping up significantly not only at home but around the world.

Our government is investing $100 million to support paid and unpaid carework globally.

This new commitment makes Canada the largest national donor to the care economy worldwide. And when it comes to a feminist recovery, we’re not stopping there.

We’re going to continue partnering with feminist organizations at home and around the world. Because in the last 5 years, we’ve seen what we can achieve by working together.

I think of the almost 25 million children whose lives have been changed for the better by the Global Partnership for Education – a partnership Canada will continue to support.

I think of the 100 feminist organizations we’re supporting through the Equality Fund that Canada started – doing everything from defending workers’ rights to supporting health clinics. 

Or the almost $80 million of funding we’re investing for women and girls, which we are committing through action coalitions here, at this Generation Equality forum.

In total, between this investment and the carework commitment, we are investing $180 million here at this forum to advance gender equality.

My friends, this is just the start.

Our world is at a crossroads.

And the path ahead?

Well, it’s the one being built by women and girls,

By feminist movements and women’s organizations,

And by people in all their diversity in every corner of the globe.  

This is a generation that believes in a better future for everyone. And this is a generation that knows we cannot get there if anyone is left behind.

In other words, this is a feminist generation.

And it needs feminist governments to stand with it.