During her recent visit to Canada, Mrs Graça Machel continued to use her global voice to call for more humane, just and inclusive societies. In Québec, she joined business and philanthropic leaders at the Réseau QG100 Network's 15th-anniversary "Ubuntu" dinner, where she reflected on her lifelong advocacy for women, children and social justice. Drawing on the philosophy of Ubuntu, "I am because we are", she invited Canadian sector leaders to see their success as inseparable from the well-being of the most vulnerable, especially women and children.

Her message resonated deeply with the QG100 community. Paul Lamontagne, Chief Executive at QG100 and UN SDGs Champion, described the evening as "magical", noting that the network had the privilege of welcoming Mrs Machel. He added that her reflections on Ubuntu were a powerful reminder that "we are only fully ourselves through others, with humanity, compassion and interconnectedness."

Through engagements like these, Mrs Machel is helping build a global circle of leaders committed to advancing the rights and dignity of women and children everywhere. Her presence in Canada strengthened bridges between African and Canadian partners and reinforced the Graça Machel Trust's call for values-driven leadership that centres care, responsibility and shared prosperity.

Reframing Africa-Canada solidarity as shared responsibility

During the Canada visist, Mrs Graça Machel also joined Afropolitan co-founders Chika Uwazie and Eche Emole, alongside Dr Dorothy Nyambi, President and CEO of Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), and The Asili Initiative Africa for a fireside chat on the future of Africa-Canada relations and the kind of leadership this moment calls for.

Speaking to the heart of these relations, Mrs Machel described solidarity as something deeper than aid or symbolic gestures. "Solidarity does not mean giving a little bit of what I have," she said. "Solidarity is to say: you are, because I am, and I am, because you are. I will not be whole if you are not whole."

Her message invited leaders, investors and institutions to understand solidarity not as charity, but as shared responsibility and mutual transformation.