Connection, Equity & Action
September often feels like a season of transition. Students return to school, workplaces settle into new routines, community programs restart, and many of us begin looking toward the final months of the year.
It is also a month that gives us several opportunities to reflect on what it means to build communities where women, girls and gender-diverse people can participate fully, access the support they need, and live with dignity, safety and opportunity.
This month, Connect Women’s Centre is recognizing important dates that invite us to think about mental wellness, economic equity, gender equality, and our collective responsibility toward truth and reconciliation.
September 10 — World Suicide Prevention Day
World Suicide Prevention Day is an opportunity to challenge stigma, encourage meaningful conversations about suicide and mental health, and remind people that support is available.
Talking about suicide can be difficult, but respectful and open conversations can make it easier for people to reach out when they need help. Canada’s 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline is using Suicide Prevention Month and World Suicide Prevention Day to encourage people to start conversations about suicide and mental health.
Find support
In Nova Scotia, several services are available:
9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline
Call or text 9-8-8, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The service is free and available in English and French. Nova Scotia renewed its agreement supporting the service in July 2026.
Visit the 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline
Nova Scotia Provincial Mental Health and Addictions Crisis Line
Call 1-888-429-8167 for immediate support from a clinician.
For non-crisis mental health and addictions support, Nova Scotians can call the Provincial Mental Health and Addictions Intake Service at 1-855-922-1122.
Explore mental health and wellbeing supports in Nova Scotia
Something we can all do
Check in with the people around you. Listen without judgement. Learn how to have safe conversations about suicide and mental health. And remember that asking for help should never be a source of shame.
September 18 — International Equal Pay Day
Equal pay is about more than a pay cheque. It is connected to economic security, independence, housing, retirement, caregiving, and the ability to build a stable future.
The United Nations established September 18 as International Equal Pay Day to recognize efforts toward achieving equal pay for work of equal value and to call for continued action toward closing persistent pay inequalities.
For women, economic inequality can intersect with other barriers related to race, disability, immigration status, gender identity, caregiving responsibilities and access to employment.
Take action
Use International Equal Pay Day as an opportunity to:
- Learn about pay equity and workplace rights.
- Review compensation and advancement practices within your organization.
- Support policies that address systemic barriers to women’s economic security.
- Create space for conversations about unpaid and underpaid care work.
- Amplify the experiences of women who face intersecting barriers in the workplace.
Economic security is an important part of gender equality.
Fourth Week of September — Gender Equality Week
Canada recognizes Gender Equality Week during the fourth week of September each year. The week celebrates progress toward gender equality while drawing attention to the barriers that women and people of diverse gender identities and expressions continue to experience.
Gender equality affects nearly every aspect of our lives—from employment and income to housing, healthcare, education, caregiving, safety and participation in leadership.
For Women’s Centres, these issues are not abstract.
Every day, centres across Nova Scotia see how systemic barriers can overlap. Someone seeking support with housing may also be navigating income insecurity. Someone looking for employment may also be dealing with childcare barriers. Someone experiencing violence may simultaneously need legal advocacy, financial assistance, mental health support and a safe place to go.
That is why advancing gender equality requires more than addressing one issue at a time.
Learn
Women and Gender Equality Canada has resources exploring Canada’s progress on gender equality, ongoing challenges, historical milestones and activities that can help start conversations with young people.
Explore Gender Equality Week resources
This Gender Equality Week, consider asking:
What does gender equality look like in my community—and who is still being left out?
It’s a question worth carrying beyond one week in September.
September 30 — National Day for Truth and Reconciliation & Orange Shirt Day
September 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day.
It is a day to honour Survivors of residential schools, their families and communities, and to remember the children who never returned home. It is also an opportunity to recognize the continuing intergenerational impacts of the residential school system and our collective responsibility to learn the truth about Canada’s history.
Orange Shirt Day began as a grassroots initiative in 2013. The orange shirt has come to symbolize the loss of culture, freedom and self-esteem experienced by Indigenous children forced into residential schools and carries the message that Every Child Matters.
Truth and reconciliation cannot be limited to one day.
It requires listening to First Nations, Inuit and Métis voices, learning about the histories and ongoing impacts of colonialism, challenging discrimination and supporting Indigenous-led efforts toward healing, justice and self-determination.
Learn and reflect
The Government of Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation resources include information about residential schools, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, Indigenous histories and cultures, reconciliation, and ways to participate on September 30.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation resources
The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation also preserves the records and truths of residential school Survivors and supports continued education and research.
Visit the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
Support is available
Content about residential schools can be distressing for Survivors, families and communities.
The National Residential School Crisis Line provides 24-hour crisis referral services for Survivors and their families at 1-866-925-4419.
The Hope for Wellness Help Line provides immediate, culturally safe crisis intervention and support for First Nations, Inuit and Métis people 24/7 at 1-855-242-3310, with online chat also available.
Stay Connected
Throughout September, we encourage you to learn, reflect, share resources and continue conversations about the issues affecting women, girls and gender-diverse people in our communities.
Follow Connect Women’s Centre for news, resources, opportunities and updates from Women’s Centres across Nova Scotia.
Together, we can continue building communities rooted in equity, connection and support.