The FWIO was incorporated under The Agricultural Associations Act by an order-in-Council of the Government of Ontario, dated May 11, 1921.
[2] In 1897, Adelaide Hoodless was invited by Erland Lee to speak at a Farmers' Institute Ladies Night in Stoney Creek, Ontario where she suggested the formation of an organization for rural women.
The next week, on February 19, 1897, the first formal organization of a Women's Institute took place in Saltfleet Township.
[3] The original Branch is now known as the Stoney Creek Charter Women's Institute, by Ontario Regulation 352/78.
In Ontario, Members belong to a network that connects Branches to Districts and Areas, as well as to the provincial (FWIO), national (Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada) and international (Associated Country Women of the World) levels of the organization.