The Collision Conference, one of North America\u2019s most influential technology gatherings, tweeted on Tuesday: \u201cWe\u2019ve got some news. It\u2019s about Toronto. But we\u2019ll let Justin Trudeau tell you about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
What followed was a video in which the prime minister announced that Collision, which typically boasts 25,000 attendees, will be coming to Canada in 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy you chose Toronto to host North America\u2019s fastest growing tech conference for the next three years, but I have to say, I\u2019m not completely surprised,\u201d Trudeau said. \u201cToronto is a key global tech hub and an example of the diversity that is our strength.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Collision is not alone in coming north. At least two other major technology conferences have recently made the decision to relocate to Canada, lured in part by Toronto’s burgeoning tech sector, but also driven by travel restrictions imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, policies that have left organizers scrambling to accommodate those who can\u2019t visit the United States.<\/p>\n
In mid-April, Creative Commons, an international non-profit dedicated to the legal sharing of digital content, held their global summit in Toronto for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe political climate in the U.S., specifically the open hostility from the current administration towards many international communities, and the anxiety from those we work with about how they might be treated was definitely a deciding factor,\u201d said Ryan Merkley, CEO of Creative Commons. \u201cWhat\u2019s most unfortunate is that this approach is so inconsistent with the views of the many collaborative communities we work with every day in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Access Now, a non-profit that organizes the RightsCon digital rights conference, Trump\u2019s travel ban on seven predominantly Muslim countries hit close to home.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of our interns at the time was an Iranian citizen with a U.S. green card, and she wasn\u2019t able to leave the country to go to Brussels to help us organize the (2017) event,\u201d RightsCon director Nick Dagostino said.<\/p>\n
For years, RightsCon has alternated between San Francisco and a series of global venues, and after last year\u2019s event in Brussels, heading back to California would have been the natural choice. <\/p>\n
But then, people started telling Access Now that if the event happened in the U.S., they wouldn\u2019t show up.<\/p>\n
Green Card holders are no longer covered by Trump\u2019s travel ban, but Dagostino said that Access Now is actively working with Syrian, Egyptian and Iranian rights activists and that those people would still be barred entry to the U.S. because of the policy.<\/p>\n
Dagostino said Access Now tries to hold RightsCon in cities with a strong tech hub, which is why relocating to Toronto made sense. Thousands of digital rights activists will converge on TO in mid-May.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s Collision.<\/p>\n
In April, Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave published an article on LinkedIn about the company\u2019s Collision Conference, headlined \u201cJustin Trudeau wants us to move Collision to Canada. Should we?\u201d<\/p>\n
The conference has been held in New Orleans for the past several years, but Cosgrave said that Trump\u2019s travel ban is one of the factors causing them to relocate.<\/p>\n
The event is expected to draw 25,000 people to the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the statistics are to be believed, Toronto is of the most multicultural and diverse city on the planet. That matters a lot in today\u2019s world,\u201d Cosgrave wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an example of the challenging times we live in, we know that quite a number of tech entrepreneurs from around the world were denied entry into the United States to attend Collision 2017. That pattern, despite our best efforts, has continued in 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abdullah Snobar, executive director of Ryerson\u2019s Digital Media Zone incubator and a vocal champion for the Toronto tech sector, said the conferences represent an opportunity for local start-ups, and a chance to showcase the city as a destination for tech talent.<\/p>\n
But at the same time, Snobar said Canada should sell itself on its own merits, instead of relying on people fleeing the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, at the end of the day, the Trump administration has made it very clear that people who want to do business in America are going to be more than welcome to do business in America,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople aren\u2019t going to come to Toronto because they want to remove themselves away from Trump. They\u2019re coming here because they\u2019re seeing an opportunity with Toronto.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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