Thread
Making space
How gender equity is built, one question at a time
From one high school classroom to community-wide change, a story about systems, belonging and shared responsibility.
It was Tanya Chassé’s final year of high school and mechanics was one of her favourite classes, a place where grease-stained hands and problem solving felt natural.
Her grades were strong, but none of that mattered when Chassé was called into the guidance counsellor’s office.
“We have a boy who needs your spot in mechanics,” said the counsellor. The alternatives? Library or a spare.
The injustice stung. More than that, though, it was the quiet assumption that she would step aside. She didn’t. By the end of the year, she earned one of the highest marks.
Years later, that moment still shapes her work. It revealed how gender inequality often shows up subtly. A door softly closed, and the expectation that no one will push back
“No one is born thinking women, girls and gender-diverse people are less than. It’s all learned, and that means it can be unlearned.”
Tanya Chassé
Where belonging begins
At the Victoria Foundation, belonging for everyone sits at the heart of our mission, including addressing experiences like the one Chassé had.
Now Manager of Community Initiatives, she leads work focused on women, girls, Two-Spirit and genderdiverse people facing barriers and discrimination.
One way the Victoria Foundation is advancing this work is through the Fund for Gender Equality, a partnership with Community Foundations of Canada and the Equality Fund.
This five-year national initiative supports women, girls, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse-led organizations from coast to coast to coast. The collaboration helps shift power and resources to communities leading the work.
The Equality Fund goes beyond stating a commitment to gender equality by embedding it in every impact investment decision, using clear criteria to assess how investments affect women, girls and genderdiverse people.
Supported by the Government of Canada, the initiative reflects a growing recognition that lasting change requires community-driven solutions and collective momentum.
Locally, the Victoria Foundation distributed $50,000 during the 2019 pilot year, followed by $300,000 to its first cohort in 2021 and $595,000 to its second cohort from 2022 to 2025.
A total of $945,000 has been granted supporting nearly 20 organizations through 47 grants.
Moving forward in a new way
That work comes to life through diverse community initiatives.
In 2025, funding supported programs like traumainformed mental health services for immigrant and refugee women, perinatal care connections for families and programs creating safer access to support for victims of sexual assault.
Organizations like the Victoria Women’s Transition House Society continue to provide critical, on-the-ground support for women and children fleeing violence.
“The rewards of the work that we do aren’t immediate. We often get the impact much later down the line,” said Bahar Dehnadi, Executive Director of Victoria Women’s Transition House. “There are a lot of folks that reach out to us and say, ‘hey, I attended your services five years ago, 10 years ago, and it changed my life’.”
In the arts, Puente Theatre’s Bridging the Gap residency supports Indigenous, Black and racialized women and gender-diverse playwrights with mentorship and professional development, helping address long-standing inequities in theatre.
The Foundation is also examining its own systems. While gender has always been considered, the cohort work sharpened this focus, embedding a more intentional gender lens into governance and recruitment practices and helping shift representation in leadership spaces.
Lasting change can grow from meaningful stories, shared effort and sustained investment, creating communities where everyone belongs.
“It doesn’t have to be loud,” says Chassé. “Sometimes it’s just asking one question and letting that question change how we do things.”
Download the print version
Thread is also available as a print magazine featuring more articles and information.