Waterloo woman who 'transformed countless lives' wins Windmill Empowerment Award

A Waterloo woman known for her work championing marginalized groupsis the 2024 winner of the Windmill Microlending Empowerment Award.

Uzma Bhutto has been the go-to person for guidance, validation and community support for new immigrants making a fresh start in Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo.

Bhutto says she began volunteering as soon as she arrived in Canada 20 years ago.

"I was pregnant when I came. The moment I landed, the next day I tried calling to different organizations [to ask if there's] a way I can volunteer," Bhutto said on CBC K-W's The Morning Edition, adding that she went on to volunteer at a range of different organizations, including the Kitchener Downtown Community Health Centre, the Canadian Diabetes Association and the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Bhutto, who worked as a doctor inPakistan before coming to Canada, said she continued volunteering while preparing for her qualifying exam,and also pursuing a master's of public health degree at University of Waterloo.

The Windmill Microlending Empowerment Award recognizes individuals who are going above and beyond to empower and support the successful journeys of immigrants and refugees to Canada. The awards ceremony will be heldon Aug.14 at the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto.

Claudia Hepburn, CEO of Windmill Microlending, said her organization is proud to sponsor the Windmill Empowerment Award, which celebrates people's remarkable dedication to fostering the success of newcomers to Canada.

"We applaud the finalists and celebrate our winner, Uzma Bhutto, who has transformed countless lives and strengthened the community through her tireless work as an advocate for racialized women and immigrants," Hepburn wrote in an email to CBC News.

'Well deserving'

Sanjay Agnihotri, publisher of Canadian Immigrant, a multi-media platform helpingimmigrantssucceed inCanada, says Bhutto is "someone who is extremely helpful, someone who looks out for others sometimes putting others above herself" with all the tremendous work that she's done in the past two decades.

She absolutely has risen to the top to show why she's so well deserving of this award.- Sanjay Agnihotri, publisher Canadian Immigrant

Agnihotri said Bhutto deserves the Windmill Microlending Empowerment Award, adding that it highlights and recognizes her efforts in "helping this very, very important cohort of newcomers and immigrants that absolutely need our assistance in so many different ways."

While Bhutto is one of many people who do this kind of work, Agnihotri said "she absolutely has risen to the top to show why she's so well deserving of this award."

Agnihotri says he hopes Bhutto continues her important work and that others will be inspired to follow in her footsteps.

Supporting victims of gender based violence

Meanwhile, Bhutto said the issue of gender based violence is very close to her heart and she's hoping to launch a project focused on helping victims.

"The reason is I have seen that violence back home in my country and I haven't seen much help and I see the same in this country," she said.

"Deep down in the community, whether it's Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo, women often call me and I really want to start ... something on my own where I can connect these women to the same language speaking counsellors, provide a community centre where they canfeel safe."

Last September,Region of Waterloo councillors passed a motion to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic.