Growing up in India as a young girl, Liveleen (Lynn) Singh learned about the effects of a patriarchal society from a very young age. Her parents had two daughters, during a time when having a male child was seen as very important — and although her parents raised both of their daughters equally and with great care, she understood that her experience was not typical. “At a time when most women didn’t work in India, my mother had her Master’s degree and worked. She retired as a secondary school principal,” Lynn explains. “She taught us that whether we married into a rich family or not, we still needed to have a professional career so that we weren’t financially dependent on a man.”
After moving to Canada as a young woman 45 years ago, Lynn set about fulfilling her mother’s wish. With over 30 years of experience in Ontario’s healthcare system, Lynn is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Lumacare, a community support services organization dedicated to empowering and supporting older adults in North York. Throughout her years working as a registered nurse and in senior leadership roles in hospitals across the Greater Toronto Area, Lynn helped countless patients who were victims of gender-based violence. Inspired by her childhood experiences living in a patriarchal society and her professional experiences with survivors of gender-based violence, Lynn joined the board at Nellie’s in September 2025.
Although Lynn’s work in the healthcare sector could have led her to working with many types of non-profit organizations, it was our focus on empowerment that truly spoke to her. “In society at large, and especially in my cultural community, I see so much work that’s just focusing on the symptoms,” says Lynn. “We’re supporting people who are already victims. But we’re not focusing enough on societal change. It excites me to work with an organization that is actually working on empowering these women.”
Lynn stresses that to truly work towards societal change, we need to show our communities how the work Nellie’s is doing isn’t just for survivors of gender-based violence — this affects everyone, whether they think it’s relevant to them or not. “This isn’t just benefitting a certain group of women who are experiencing violence — your donation isn’t just for them,” Lynn explains. “This is about building a better society for us. This is about empowering people. This is about protecting those vulnerable people for now, but then creating a better future for everyone from there onwards”
Thank you, Lynn, for sharing your story and for your time and service to Nellie’s.