Women's Healthy Environments Network

Women's Healthy Environments Network (WHEN) is a Canadian non-profit charitable organization founded in 1994. It educates the public and policy makers about environmental health as a key determinant of public health and advocates for the prevention of environmental health harms. WHEN has been a trusted source of credible tools and information on emerging environmental health topics since 1994. It teaches individuals and communities how to reduce their risk of illness and injury that can occur from the products we use, the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe. The organization engages in law reform to better protect vulnerable populations from environmental health harms and to relieve the burden of precautionary consumption from individuals. It leverages women and gender diverse people as catalysts for environmental and social change. WHEN advocates for all women, including cis and trans women, as well as intersex and non-binary individuals, recognizing that environmental health harms affect the body differently depending on sex, gender, race, and other identity factors. The organization is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and operates primarily in Canada. Its work includes law and policy reform, arts and community education, and educational services such as workshops, film screenings, and the Wannabe Toxic Free campaign. In June 2024, WHEN celebrated its 30th anniversary with a gala at the World Urban Pavilion in Regent Park, Toronto, featuring a keynote on environmental racism by Dr. Ingrid Waldron.

Women's Healthy Environments Network (WHEN) was founded in 1994 by Liz Armstrong and Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg. From its early days, WHEN engaged in community-led, multidisciplinary and arts-driven knowledge sharing, including documentary projects in the early 1990s. Over three decades, the organization has been a trusted source of credible tools and information on emerging environmental health topics. It has engaged in evidence-based law and policy reform for 30 years, collaborating with value-aligned organizations to advocate for stronger laws and policies addressing health inequities faced by women, BIPOC communities and other marginalized populations due to toxic substance exposures. WHEN conducts this work through an intersectional feminist lens, informed by the gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) methodology. Key areas of advocacy include intersectional approaches to toxics regulation, the right to a healthy environment, environmental racism, and plastics and public health. The organization has also developed educational programs such as the Wannabe Toxic Free (WTF) campaign, the Cancer Prevention Challenge, and film screenings of its documentaries Exposure: Environmental Links to Breast Cancer and Toxic Trespass. In June 2024, WHEN celebrated its 30th anniversary with a gala at the World Urban Pavilion in Regent Park, Toronto, featuring a keynote on environmental racism by Dr. Ingrid Waldron and honouring founders Liz Armstrong and Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg alongside women's health leader Ann Rochon Ford and current member Honour Stahl.

• 2024

  30th anniversary gala held at the World Urban Pavilion in Regent Park, Toronto.

• 1994

  WHEN founded by Liz Armstrong and Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg.

A trusted source of credible tools and information on emerging environmental health topics since 1994, advocating for environmental justice through an intersectional feminist lens.

1. 1WHEN Women's Healthy Environments Networkwomenshealthyenvironments.ca
2. 2What We Do — WHEN Women's Healthy Environments Networkwomenshealthyenvironments.ca
3. 3Services — WHEN Women's Healthy Environments Networkwomenshealthyenvironments.ca
4. 4Women's Healthy Environments Networkwikidata.org