Yasmin Ali

Past Board Member

Yasmin Ali initially joined the Reference Group of the New Canadian Initiative of the General Child and Family Services Authority in 2014 which later evolved into CMCCF. Yasmin has been on the CMCCF Board since its inception only resigning in 2020 while still being involved at the member level.

Yasmin was one of the founding members of the Canadian Muslim Women’s Institute (CMWI), a non-profit organization that assists refugees and new immigrants to Winnipeg during their settlement period in a new country.  Through programs and services to the newcomer community, CMWI aims to empower women and their families to achieve a sense of belonging, self-sufficiency and becoming financially independent as they make Winnipeg their new home. Since its inception in 2006, Yasmin has spearheaded the organization acting as the Board President and executed volunteer Executive Director duties when required.  CMWI has become known as one of the leading settlement organizations for newcomers in Winnipeg.

A Message to Our Community

After years of dedicated leadership, our Director Martin will be stepping down as CMCCF enters an exciting new chapter. We are deeply grateful for everything he has brought to the Coalition of Manitoba Cultural Communities for Families, and we look forward to what lies ahead together.

As we navigate this transition, we welcome your questions, thoughts, and support. For any inquiries, please reach out to Florence at floxy166@yahoo.ca — she will be happy to hear from you.

Thank you for being part of our community.

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Purpose

The Purpose of These Peace-First: CollaborationNet Pages These pages exist to share what we have learned. Over the past year, Peace-First: CollaborationNet has operated as a time-limited demonstration initiative, which is a space to test ideas, host conversations, and discover what might grow when peace is placed at the center. Conversations took root in informal Peace-First Hubs across Winnipeg, Thompson, Brandon, and Portage la Prairie, with related gatherings in Vancouver and Toronto. Toronto now helps convene national roundtable conversations, linking local dialogue with a broader Canadian exchange. What began as small, local discussions has become more connected — not through expansion or centralization, but through coherence. Across regions, shared themes, tensions, and hopes are emerging. This webpage documents that journey. It gathers reflections, materials, and learning from Hub conversations so others can understand what has been explored and carry it forward. From the beginning, Peace-First was designed as a seed-planting initiative, formally concluding March 31, 2026. Its focus has been to explore how individuals and cultural communities understand inner peace, collective vision, community cohesion, and cultural dignity and visibility. The Hubs are volunteer-led spaces where community connectors and members gather to listen, reflect, and imagine what a peaceful geographic and cultural community might look like in practice. Along the way, we developed background papers, reflection documents, and practical toolkits shaped by lived experience in Manitoba and beyond. This page now serves as a living repository within the Peace-First Library, offering capacity-building tools, framing papers, hub guidance, and shared learning that communities can adapt to their own realities. The purpose is not to centralize authority, but to make learning accessible. Peace-First Hubs are community-led and partner-supported — grounded in relationship, not hierarchy. Supported by ACOMI, ECCM, Palaver Hut, MIA, cultural community members across the country, and allies such as MANSO, Mediation Services, CanU Canada, and PCHS, this work moves through partnership rather than control. This initiative has been made possible through the principal financial support of the Department of Canadian Heritage, with a supportive role played by The Winnipeg Foundation. Their investment has allowed these conversations, materials, and connections to take shape. These materials are not instructions to replicate. They are tools to adapt. This page is more than documentation. It is an invitation. Peace-First is not about imposing a uniform model. It is about strengthening conditions for dialogue, cohesion, and shared responsibility before a crisis. If this resonates, we invite you to explore further, join a national roundtable call, or consider what it would mean to host or support a conversation in your own community. Join a national roundtable call. Complete the survey. The seeds have been planted. What grows next depends on all of us.

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