Rabiah Dhaliwal

Rabiah Dhaliwal is an award-winning youth mental health activist, humanitarian, and community leader. Having overcome personal challenges with mental health, Rabiah transformed obstacles into a platform for advocacy and community service. She is dedicated to using her voice to champion awareness and education on mental health inequities, suicide prevention, and disability justice.

She is the Founder and Director of the Voices For Hope Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to improve the perception of mental health through an intersectional approach and amplify the voices of historically marginalized communities to foster hope and mental well-being. During the pandemic, Rabiah created a healing grant program to make therapy more financially accessible for Indigenous people and led a COVID-19 relief initiative in partnership with the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, after receiving a prestigious grant from His Royal Highness. In 2024, with support from Canada’s Walk of Fame, Rabiah curated ‘TouchScapes,’ the first 3D-printed art exhibition in Western Canada designed for individuals with visual impairments and other sensory needs, promoting inclusivity in the arts. To honor the exhibit’s historic impact, the Mayor of Vancouver declared May 2024 as ‘TouchScapes Month.’

Rabiah’s advocacy has led her to Ottawa, where at just 19, she testified before the House of Commons on Canada’s growing mental health epidemic and proposed a Mental Health Parity Act to close the disparity between mental and physical health and increase mental health funding. Internationally, Rabiah represented Canada when she was selected as the face of World Cup winner and professional soccer player Mesut Ozil’s #YourStoryOurVoice mental health campaign, which raised awareness about combating mental health stigma and was received globally by 80 million viewers. Recently, Rabiah starred in a holiday campaign by Purdys Chocolatier, featuring heartfelt stories of Canadians reflecting on meaningful connections in their lives. The campaign reached 2.6 million people and was shown across theaters and television in Canada.

Rabiah recently graduated with distinction from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, earning recognition as a Science Scholar and a place on the Dean’s Honour List. At UBC, Rabiah co-led the Disabilities United Collective, championing inclusivity for disabled students by establishing weekly support group sessions for neurodivergent and physically disabled peers. She also helped launch the university’s first-ever ‘sensory rooms,’ providing safe spaces for students experiencing sensory overload. Alongside other student activists, she successfully advocated for the implementation of the Accessible British Columbia Act at UBC, leading to the creation of the university’s first accessibility committee.

Rabiah is also passionate about competing in pageants, using these opportunities to advocate for mental health reform. She was named Miss Canada 2021 First Runner-Up and previously served as National Canadian Miss British Columbia 2018-19. Her humanitarian work has earned her both national and international recognition, and she has been featured in numerous articles and one of Canada’s largest fashion magazines, FASHION Canada.

Rabiah has received numerous awards, including the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award, the L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth Award, and the Diana Award, which honors social action in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales. She was also named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by RBC Future Launch Future Leaders. In 2023, she received the B.C. Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Inclusion, Democracy, and Reconciliation from UBC, awarded to the most academically outstanding graduating student who contributes to their community. Most recently, she was honored by the Government of British Columbia with the B.C. Medal of Good Citizenship for her extraordinary service to the province.

In 2021, Rabiah Dhaliwal received the Community Hero Grand Prize from Canada’s Walk of Fame.