Canada’s long-running Elevate Festival unveiled a new identity this week, relaunching as the Nrth Festival at an opening-night event inside Toronto’s Meridian Hall. The rebrand, announced at what had been billed as the ninth annual Elevate gathering, coincided with a series of on-stage conversations in which technology executives grappled with how much control people still have over the AI systems increasingly embedded in daily life and business operations.
Elevate board member Arlene Dickinson told attendees that the renamed festival should serve as a marker for Canadian innovation, describing it as an opportunity to build something rooted in national identity that can hold up amid global disruption. Event host Amber Mac noted that this year’s programming leaned heavily on artificial intelligence themes before closing with a conversation featuring former Toronto Raptors player Kyle Lowry.
Cohere and TD Discuss Enterprise AI Partnership
A central conversation of the evening featured François Chadwick, chief financial officer of Canadian AI developer Cohere, and Rizwan Khalfan, an executive vice-president at TD. The pair discussed responsible enterprise adoption of AI as well as a new partnership between the two companies. Chadwick said the pace of AI adoption requires ongoing training and critical thinking to ensure workers and the public are not left behind as the technology evolves. Khalfan said the guiding principle for the companies’ AI approach should be described as “AI first, human always.”
Privacy, Youth Safety and Policy Concerns
Other speakers focused on how technology companies are handling data collection and user trust. DuckDuckGo chief product officer Beah Burger-Lenehan discussed the search engine’s approach of avoiding user data collection altogether, positioning it as a point of differentiation for the privacy-focused platform. She also raised concerns about Canada’s proposed Lawful Access Act, which would expand law enforcement’s ability to monitor and collect personal communications and data. Burger-Lenehan said that if the legislation passed in its current form, DuckDuckGo might have to withdraw its VPN service from Canada rather than compromise its privacy commitments to users.
Kids Help Phone executives Justin Scaini and Tamar Brannigan spoke about the organization’s work supporting young people navigating technology-driven mental health challenges. They said many of the organization’s text-based interactions with youth now open with questions about whether they are communicating with a real human. Brannigan outlined a framework the organization is developing with youth input to evaluate whether digital platforms are safe, based on transparent data practices, genuine consideration of user well-being, and organizational follow-through on stated commitments.
Closing on a Note of Encouragement
The evening concluded with remarks from Lowry, a six-time NBA All-Star, who spoke about perseverance to the entrepreneurs in attendance, referencing his experience with the Raptors’ 2019 championship run. He encouraged attendees not to be discouraged by repeated rejection when pursuing new ventures.
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