The Province of Ontario, Canada, is home to a thriving innovation ecosystem where we pride ourselves in the belief that we, as a province, become stronger and more dynamic when we incorporate diversity into our way of life.
Ethnicity, language, and gender combine to paint a vibrant picture of Ontario’s values – a place where everyone is welcome. In Ontario, more than 200 languages are spoken on a daily basis, and people from over 150 countries have been welcomed to and now call the province home. In our provincial capital city of Toronto, more than 50 per cent of residents are foreign-born.
The events of the past year, from the marches for racial equality to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to remote work, have underscored the importance of coming together to work on our collective challenges and opportunities. The journey is long, and never finished, but we will only reach our full potential when we become a truly diverse, accessible, and inclusive society.
We are proud to share how Ontarians – government, businesses, and ecosystem partners – back home and abroad are contributing to this important work. While not exhaustive, and always ongoing, here are just a few of the ways Ontario is taking steps towards promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), thereby creating a positive environment in which everyone can thrive.
Government
Ontario is a trade and investment dependent economy whose economic growth has been grounded in an open, pluralist, and welcoming society. The province benefits from personal, institutional, and business relationships that connect us to communities and economies around the world. What happens internationally affects Ontario, and as a result, inclusive economic empowerment has long been a priority.
This engagement includes the promotion of commercial linkages with our longstanding trade partners, like the United States. It’s one of the reasons Ontario has five offices across the U.S., in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, and Washington, D.C. – free and confidential, Ontario’s offices in-market are here to promote the benefits of doing business with the province, encourage new investments and job creation, and connect companies to support business expansion deals.
In addition to its international footprint however, Ontario is also focused on working towards a more inclusive environment domestically that presents new and greater opportunities for collaboration and innovation.
For example, in fall 2020, Ontario launched the Small Business Strategy, a long-term framework that helps small businesses and entrepreneurs to rebuild, reinvest, and grow. The strategy will support the next generation of entrepreneurs and diverse business leaders to build a stronger, more inclusive economy with greater representation from women, Indigenous peoples, people from racialized communities, and people with disabilities.
Ontario also appointed the province’s first Advocate for Community Opportunities in 2019, and introduced the Premier’s Council on Equality of Opportunity (PCEO). The PCEO champions community voices; provides advice to government on how to help young people succeed in a changing economy; and proposes actions to build a diverse, skilled, and future-oriented workforce.
These newer initiatives amplify longstanding programs and policies that can support DEI goals. The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP), for example, is the province's economic immigration program which supports employers who want to bring highly skilled immigrants to the province quickly and easily, and thereby grow an even more diverse workforce.
Business Community
True progress requires the whole community coming together to find solutions. That’s always been the Ontario way. Members of the business community continue to create, advance, and improve on a business culture that promotes DEI.
Ontario is home to the second largest tech cluster in North America, after California, and homegrown Shopify is an example of the innovation and success found in the province. Headquartered in Ottawa, Shopify is a leading e-commerce platform designed for businesses of all sizes. Shopify’s platform is used in 175 countries around the world, and the company is committed to DEI. In a CNBC Mad Money interview last summer, Shopify COO Harley Finkelstein noted that “the future of commerce needs to have diverse voices, more voices not fewer.” In fact, Shopify has been focused on DEI since the beginning, according to the COO. “Our mission from day one has been to level that playing field, and it feels more important now than ever before to do that,” said Finkelstein.
Global companies choose Ontario for their Canadian headquarters, and many of these companies are working on their own inclusive initiatives.
· Nokia Canada, also headquartered in Ottawa, supports activities focused on getting girls interested in STEM – including Girls in ICT Day, an annual event in which the company prepares hands-on activities and demos for girls of grade 4 and older. Nokia Canada created the Diversity Lab, a new space in their Kanata building to support diversity programs and demo technology created in the building in 2020.
· IBM Canada, headquartered in Markham, has been recognized for its work to empower gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people in the workplace around the world.
Across industries, Ontario companies are committed to promoting greater DEI. In the life sciences sector for example, Toronto-based BlueDot is an AI-driven infectious disease surveillance solution. The company was among the first to warn the world of COVID-19 is now helping to guide the Canadian government's COVID-19 response as well as working with the State of California. BlueDot was named to the 2020 list of Best Places to Work in Ontario. BlueDot used the recognition to reaffirm its commitment to DEI, saying, “Building strength through diversity, equity, and inclusion takes work, and it’s work we’re more committed to doing now more than ever.”
Innovation Ecosystem
Ontario’s innovation ecosystem highlights initiatives from various organizations that are geared towards women-led/diverse businesses to help them succeed. From incubators to academia, the wide and collaborative ecosystem can support positive impacts.
For example:
· VentureLab, based in Markham, is a leading technology hub that supports tech entrepreneurs and small businesses. Its new initiative, Tech Undivided, is aimed at supporting women and underrepresented persons in the tech industry. Tech Undivided bridges inclusivity gaps by creating gender-balanced networks with diverse representation and works with founders, investors, and companies to prepare them for business and investment success by reducing unconscious bias.
· The Information and Communications Technology Council, headquartered in Ottawa, has programs to help employers recruit, retain, and integrate women, Indigenous persons, youth, and internationally educated professions into the ICT workforce.
· Ryerson University’s DMZ (Digital Media Zone) in Toronto is one of the world’s top university-based business incubators. Its Women Founders Fast Track program, designed to support women-identified founders, gives founders the resources they need to lead an early-stage start-up and facilitate its growth.
And speaking of universities, in 2019, Ontario welcomed 170,000 international students to its 44 post-secondary institutions. Five of the top 10 universities in Canada are located in Ontario, and Ontario universities produce nearly 50,000 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) graduates each year. In Ontario, top talent, academia, research institutes, and accelerators come together to create an ecosystem that supports the development of new technologies to solve real world problems and steer toward a path to a brighter future.
Ontario Together
While these actions are only part of our collective steps in a longer journey towards greater diversity, equity, and inclusion, Ontario is proud to be working towards a more welcoming and inclusive place to live and do business. We welcome further opportunities to engage with U.S. and Ontario based companies and organizations that want to learn more about doing business in the province, and Ontario’s efforts to foster an ecosystem that allows businesses and people to thrive.
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This article was written by the Ontario Trade & Investment Offices located in San Francisco and New York City.The Ontario Trade & Investment Officesare a free and confidential one-stop-shop that works with U.S. based businesses to expand, and open new offices in Ontario, and also supports Ontario-based companies seeking new business opportunities in the U.S. For more information and/or to discuss your expansion plans to Ontario, please contact Chelsea Peet, atChelsea.peet@international.gc.caand/or Michelle Cheng, atMichelle.Cheng@international.gc.ca