HRFest Canada and HR Leaders bring together 750+ HR leaders in Toronto this November. For one week, every pass comes with a second one, free
HRFest Canada and HR Leaders are shaping up to be the most substantial HR gathering Canada has seen in years. Over two days in Toronto, the two events bring together 750+ attendees, 120+ speakers and 60+ sessions, with a lineup that reads less like a typical conference agenda and more like a who's who of Canadian HR leadership.
HRFest Canada runs across four stages, The Hangar, The Vault, The Lab and The Loft, each built around a different kind of experience. The opening CHRO panel tackles Canada's HR reset with Casey Woods (Head of HR Toronto, Lyft), Anjana Moitra-Ohri (VP HR, Roots) and Kayla Campbell (VP of HR, Sephora Toronto), while Shawn Gibson (CHRO, Info-Tech) and Loren Blandon (Culture & People Lead, Google DeepMind) take on one of the year's most pressing questions in a fireside on the AI trust gap. For those who want to leave with something they can use immediately, The Lab offers hands-on sessions including a pay-structure diagnostic with Kim Oliver and Glenda Oldenburg (both WTW) and a people-analytics storytelling session with Dr Kalifa Oliver (Lowe's), and The Loft is dedicated entirely to HR professionals stepping into their next role.
HR Leaders runs alongside it, built for those already in the CHRO or CPO seat and those working their way toward it. A boardroom-style panel with Lawrence Hughes (CPO, Porter), Marco Dube (EVP People & Culture, Hydro Ottawa) and Tanja Fratangeli (CPO, IKEA) digs into what the C-suite really wants from HR now. Sudha Dwivedi (Chief People and Culture Officer, Interac Corp), Christian Kengne (Board Director, Fiera Capital) and Amir Belkhelladi (Partner, Deloitte Canada) take a candid look at cyber as an HR problem, and Carina Vassilieva (Chief HR Officer, Apotex) joins Jennifer Bouyoukos (Chief People Officer, PureFacts Financial Solutions) for a frank conversation on HR's role in M&A value. Dr Kalifa Oliver returns alongside Michelle Loo (Chief DEI Officer, Linde) and Diana Valler (CHRO, TravelBrands) for real AI implementation case studies, and the event closes with a fireside on what Canada gets right, featuring Krista Skalde (Operating Partner & Chief Talent Officer, Inovia Capital) and Katya Laviolette (Chief People Officer & Board Director, 1Password).
The sponsor and speaker roster joining across both events, including Airbnb, Zurich, McCarthy Tetrault, Mejuri, Crown Property Management, Sagen, Nokia, TTC, Lindt & Sprüngli, BDO Canada, Miller Thomson, WSIB Ontario, Interac and Paladin Security, only adds to the sense that this is where Canadian HR will be looking to make sense of the year ahead.
The Offer: Two Registrations, One Price
This week's registration offer is worth knowing about. Every individual HRFest Canada or HR Leaders pass now comes with a second one of the same ticket type, free. HRFest Canada tickets save up to $556 per pass purchased, and HR Leaders tickets save up to $945. It's a natural way to bring a colleague along, split the cost with a peer, or get two people from your team into the conversations for the price of one.
To claim it, add two tickets to your order and enter code 2FOR1 at checkout. The offer closes September 20.
Why It's Worth Moving Fast
With CHROs, CPOs and rising HR leaders from Porter, IKEA, Interac, Apotex, TravelBrands, Lyft, Sephora and Google DeepMind already confirmed across the two events, HRFest Canada and HR Leaders are on track to be the biggest concentration of senior HR talent in the country this year. The 2-for-1 offer is a good reason to move now, but the caliber of the conversations was always the real draw.
