BHER Executive Summit

A special session with PCL Construction and the Toronto Blue Jays about the Rogers Centre Renovation. Rogers Centre – the home of the Toronto Blue Jays – underwent a multi-year, nearly $400 million CAD, privately funded renovation. Work was completed on a fast-tracked timeline in two distinct phases. The second phase required 18 months of work completed in just 5 months, opening on-time for the club’s Home Opener. Members of both teams will talk about how they pulled it off.

With recent changes to Canada’s international student program, we’re definitely in the messy middle when it comes to understanding the impact on international talent recruitment, the financial sustainability of post-secondary institutions, and regional labour markets. BHER member Martin Basiri, Founder and CEO of Passage, will offer his diagnosis and a provocation about how to fix Canada’s immigration and refugee systems. Martin will be joined by a special guest. 

In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Economic Prosperity #79, more than 20 Indigenous organizations developed the National Indigenous Economic Strategy (NIES), a groundbreaking Indigenous-led initiative dedicated to achieving socio-economic parity for Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Strengthening Indigenous economies means strengthening Canada’s economy. In conversation with Val Walker, Jacqueline Ottmann, President of First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv) will talk about the National Indigenous Economic Prosperity Institute (NIEPI) at FNUniv and its role in ensuring not only that progress is made but that economic growth and reconciliation for Indigenous people, businesses, lands, and resources are sustained.
 

We need highly trained people to respond to our most complex challenges. To succeed, they need to engage and connect with businesses and community members outside institutional labs and libraries. BHER member Université Laval is leading the charge with its Chantiers d’avenir program. In a conversation moderated by Stephen Lucas, CEO, Mitacs, Sophie D’Amours, Rectrice, Université Laval, Geneviève Fortier, CEO, Promutuel Assurance, Luc Sirois, Quebec’s Chief Innovation Officer, Conseil de l’innovation du Québec, and a graduate of the program will talk about transforming graduate training.

Employers need talent with human skills, but they’re the hardest thing to assess, especially during the hiring process. Knockri is solving for that through its science-based, industry-validated machine learning platform that provides skills and behavioural assessment that de-biases hiring and improves recruitment and retention. They’re improving equity and efficiency along the way. Hear from leaders at Hydro One, IBM, and Deloitte.

SkillsWave, founded by John Baker, CEO of D2L (a BHER member), is cracking the code on what skills employers need and how to connect them to post-secondary programming. The SkillsWave team, with some of their employer partners, will talk about how they’re changing the upskilling game in Canada and abroad, including how AI can be used to scale skills mapping and learning pathways within organizations. 

Canada needs a workforce that’s diverse, adaptable, and ready to overcome our productivity challenges. But we’re underusing a major tool for creating that workforce. Fully online learning can reach untapped student demographics who bring different experiences and perspectives at a financially accessible cost for both learners and post-secondary institutions. In this session supported by Risepoint, Nicole Johnson, a leading expert on digital learning trends, will talk about what’s working, what’s not, and how we can harness fully online learning programs to drive real change for Canada’s economy. Robert Luke from eCampusOntario will moderate. 

BHER is bringing together no less than 10 of its industry and post-secondary members to talk about the evolving role of post-secondary education in Canada and the sector's role in making Canada more productive. Val Walker, BHER’s CEO, in conversation with John Stackhouse, Senior Vice-President, Office of the CEO, RBC, will seed the conversation by talking about a forthcoming BHER-RBC Thought Leadership Report, part of the Growth Project, and challenge BHER's member CEOs and Presidents to identify what's working, what's not, and what needs to change.