Three Women Launch IWCA Canada, Building Infrastructure for Gender Equity at Home
Canada became the 37th chapter of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance this week, and the founding team looks nothing like a typical industry organisation. Three women with roots in Ethiopian coffee, Montreal’s specialty scene, and Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula are building something from scratch—infrastructure for gender equity in a country that consumes coffee but rarely considers who benefits at either end of the supply chain.
Isabelle Huard serves as co-founder and president, Elsa Ouagmi as co-founder and treasurer, and Muna Mohammed as co-founder. Supporting members Cheryl Hung and Cynthia Elie round out the leadership. Their announcement arrived March 19, less than two months before IWCA’s Global Convention in Bali, where the new chapter will join representatives from 36 others.
The Founders
The paths that led here share a common thread: coffee grabbed each of them and wouldn’t let go.
Muna Mohammed was born in Ethiopia as a coffee farmer’s granddaughter but raised mainly in Canada. After a formative trip to Ethiopia following college, she spent 14 years in marketing while devoting most of her free time to learning the trade. A second trip in 2008 crystallised her plans. By 2020 she had launched Eight50 Coffee in Ottawa—the name references 850 CE, the legendary year of coffee’s discovery in Ethiopia’s highlands.
Eight50 now sells through Sobeys and won an award from the Coffee Association of Canada for Cascara Hashara, a sparkling beverage made from repurposed coffee cherry skins. Mohammed has spent years connecting her Ethiopian heritage to Canadian consumers; IWCA Canada extends that work to the broader industry.
Elsa Ouagmi fell into coffee in 2015 while living in Australia, then joined Montreal roaster Kittel in 2017. Now co-owner at Tunnel Espresso Bar, she describes herself as “passionate barista and coffee in chief.” Her IWCA work grows directly from what she was already doing—connecting coffee professionals, particularly women and underrepresented communities, with opportunities.
Isabelle Huard started working in coffee at seventeen. Nearly a decade later, she runs Paquebot Café in Gaspé with Samuel Perreault and writes about fermentation and post-harvest processing. She brings the small-batch perspective—understanding what specialty means in a regional context.
Three Pillars
IWCA Canada’s strategy rests on network development, education and capacity building, and visibility and representation. The approach acknowledges that Canada occupies a different position than producing countries in the global alliance.
“To me, IWCA Canada is more than a formality,” Huard said in the announcement. “It is at the intersection of international cooperation, coffee excellence, and the most essential empowerment of women.”
The chapter won’t focus exclusively on origin—it’s also addressing gender equity within Canadian coffee. Women work throughout the domestic industry as baristas, roasters, cafe owners, and Q graders, yet leadership and recognition still skew male. Building “sustainable bridges to the global IWCA network” means connecting Canadian professionals with their counterparts worldwide while also improving conditions locally.
Consumer Market, Producer Values
Canada’s position as a significant coffee-consuming market shapes what IWCA Canada can offer the broader alliance. The country isn’t sending delegates who grow coffee; it’s sending people who buy, roast, serve, and drink it.
That creates a different kind of influence. Consumer markets drive demand for transparent sourcing, certifications, and premium pricing that reaches farmers. IWCA chapters in consuming countries can advocate for those market signals while building awareness among buyers and roasters.
The founders already operate businesses where those choices play out daily. Eight50’s direct relationship with Ethiopian producers, Tunnel Espresso’s curation of specialty offerings, Paquebot’s small-batch approach in the Gaspé—each represents a model where gender equity becomes a sourcing criterion, not an afterthought.
What Comes Next
Contract negotiations, working groups, events—the usual chapter-building work lies ahead. IWCA Canada can be reached at info@iwcacanada.org and @iwca_canada on Instagram for those interested in involvement.
The timing aligns with IWCA’s expanding global footprint. The Bali convention in May will bring the new chapter into immediate contact with leadership from every corner of the coffee world. The organisation’s recent memoranda of understanding with Cup of Excellence and the Alliance for Coffee Excellence create pathways for women producers to access premium auction platforms—pathways that chapters like Canada can help publicise and support.
Thirty-seven chapters now span producing and consuming nations. The gap between them—between those who grow coffee and those who drink it—remains one of the industry’s persistent challenges. IWCA’s model works by building relationships across that gap. Canada’s entry expands the network on the consuming side, adding capacity where market influence concentrates.
Three women in Montreal, Ottawa, and Gaspé saw what was missing and started building.