Victoria Day @CollisionConf 2019 — Toronto

It was a sunny Monday in May in downtown Toronto, a warm and welcome reminder that I was not back home in hail-ridden Silicon Valley. After walking through Coronation Park, I was soon inside the Enercare Centre, where Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kicked off the Collision Conf 2019.

The conference gathered over 29,000 people and coincided with Victoria Day, a public holiday commemorating Queen Victoria’s birthday. Something about sunshine and “girl power” –something new was in the air.

Speaking to an audience of startups, entrepreneurs, media, and investors, Trudeau noted that in a knowledge economy, access to talent is key. While the U.S. laws are making it more difficult to bring in global talent, Canada is adding 350,000 immigrants per year and at the same time, looking after Canadians, making sure their citizens remain positive about this influx of newcomers. Trudeau’s message was clear:

“There is room for everyone to succeed.”

Acknowledging the trouble that can result from a society with a digital divide, Canada heavily invests in education, infrastructure, affordable housing and so much more. Trudeau noted:

“We cannot just race forward into the future for a few with the tech brilliance and shrug at everyone that is left behind and still be a solid, stable society.”

Trudeau also recognized the strength of diversity, commenting that:

“When you have different perspectives, different backgrounds, different stories coming together to work on the same problem, you get much better, more robust solutions…diversity is a source of strength, not weakness.”

Asked about women in technology, Trudeau noted that reducing the gender pay gap is not just the right thing to do from a morality standpoint; it’s the smart thing to do.

“We know that diversity and resilience go together; we know that having 40, 50, 60% women on your board in your organization leads to better outcomes,”
- said Trudeau.

I have attended many tech conferences in my career, but it was refreshing to see that nearly half (45.7%) of attendees at Collision Toronto were women–it just felt different.

During a Women in Tech mentoring session, I met with a first-generation immigrant from eastern Europe who has built a platform that connects foreign students to Canadian universities and supports them from filling out college applications and getting visas to internships and employment. A woman from Nigeria had completed her degree in economics and was exploring opportunities in big data. Another woman from Colombia came for advice on a platform she had built so that small businesses could connect to business transformation experts just like large companies who tap into global consulting companies.

The inclusive and empowering theme of Collision gives me hope for the future. Sunshine and girl power… kudos to Collision and Canada!