About IWSO

History of IWSO

Our Beginning

IWSO was founded in 1988 to meet the needs of immigrant and visible minority women victims of domestic abuse. It was originally named Immigrant and Visible Minority Women Against Abuse (IVMWAA). In 1989 we provided an integrated crisis support and language interpretation services in 3 languages.

IWSO continued to grow and added other services and programs e.g. Employment Services - Job Search Workshops and a service for Children Who Witness Violence.

Immigrant Women Services Ottawa

At the 2002 Annual General Meeting, the name Immigrant and Visible Minority Women Against Abuse was changed to Immigrant Women Services Ottawa. The new name reflected IWSO’s expanding representation in the community and range of services provided to newcomers to Ottawa.

Today the agency provides counselling and support services to women and their families in over 60 languages and dialects.

IWSO is also an important resource for other service agencies. They value our cultural training for community workers and pool of trained interpreters who are available to assist their work with newcomers to Ottawa.