Attending the 20th Anniversary of the Banff Forum
Reflections from Last Year, Enthusiasm for This Year
I’ve participated in the Banff Forum over the past three days, with an incredible gathering of policy wonks and nerds (using this term in the most respectful and endearing way imaginable) as we try to understand and shape Canada’s future by discussing the dominant public policy issues of our time.
This is my second year participating in the forum and mingling with the community — my first foray into the community happened last year in March, right smack in the middle of Covid-19. The entire forum transitioned from an in-person to an online event. What an engaging experience that was. More on that below.
The Banff Forum is one of Canada’s preeminent public policy forums. As a non-partisan and non-ideological gathering, it brings together Canadian leaders and leading thinkers from all parts of the political and ideological spectrum who are interested learning about and debating a range of current and critical themes.
As a problem-solver attracted to social justice issues and complex social and environmental problems, this is a community I’ve leaned very much into and a place I feel extremely at home.
When I received the schedule in my first year, the dense and time consuming itinerary was concerning. Imagine a 2 day normal conference agenda sprinkled across 3 weeks — every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, we had our “Banff Sessions”.
Given my zoom-fatigue and sheer amount of screen time, I didn’t think I would attend much and thought, “how can I really build relationships and be open with folks I’ve never met like this online?”
Each week focused on different topics, and the official sessions or presentations were followed up with debriefing Fireside chats with other attendees and the speakers. This is where you could really have unsanitized and unpolished exchanges with the speakers about the assumptions in their viewpoints. And this is exactly where most of the magic happened for me.
I admit, I signed up with reluctance, but after attending a couple of these, my attitude towards my potential involvement changed significantly.
One of the highlights from last year for me was a session keynoted by Former Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi. He was covering the topic of police reform in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing global outcry against systemic racism in police forces. A deeply complicated discussion about the pragmatics of these demands.
Following the talk, we went into a breakout room and I got to follow up on my questions in a very intimate and casual setting with the Former Mayor, and Banff Forum Executive director Roxanne Duncan about the practicalities of Police reform and Defunding the Police. Initially it was just the 3 of us.
We discussed the “Overton Window” (for those interested, some great follow up readings about it here and here ) — also known as the window of discourse, which basically gives you a visual framework of understanding of how politically acceptable a new policy idea could be to the mainstream population at a given time. Many felt that the issue of police reform and in particlar defunding the police was an idea that had fallen within the politically acceptable discourse of the Overton Window during this time.
Soon after the discussion kicked off, we were joined by another long-time “Banffer” Mr. Jesse Helmer, current councillor and the former Mayor of the City of London in Ontario, who had direct experience actually trying to “defund the police” through the legal mechanisms of city council and the budget review process. I learned in that session that in a normal sized city, the police force usually usurps the majority of a city’s operating budget (don’t quote me, but I vaguely recall them mentioning a number greater than 75%!)
Anyways, we got into what it actually takes to go beyond the slogans, and I learned about the challenges of clawing back funding and the intricacies and complexities of that task.
There are some screenshots below about that exchange.
Outcomes
The sessions and conversations reignited my passion for issues at the intersection of society, technology, and business. The topics of discussion — being at the nexus of public policy, business, and the future of Canada / our Society — really drew on my expertise and career progression to date.
The content was so aligned with where my head is usually at, and the chance to exchange viewpoints with a community who had equally strong passion and deeper expertise than I about these topics, made me feel like I had found “my people”.
The new friends I have made through this intimate and high trust environment curated by the Forum, is so rewarding, and one of these new connections has joined my start-up’s (Swae.io) corporate counsel (shout out to the incredible Ravi Bains at McMillan LLP).
Leading a young startup — however glamorous and cool it can appear on the outside — one can really develop tunnel vision for the immediate tasks ahead and easily neglect more difficult and long term issues. You have little time to imagine the big picture, to mobilize yourself and your energy around it, and little time to write — to articulate and defend your version of how things should go or how things might unfold. Attending the Banff Forum re-ignited my passion and commitment to re-engage in issues that greatly surpass the mandate of my startup, and are very much about the future of Canada.
Overall, it was a very very enriching experience. I am very grateful for the experience last year and really look forward to being back at the Forum this year, and in person!
Closing & Invitation
I’m deeply grateful to a couple of former Banffers who referred me in (Leah Bae — a former consultant to Swae on a public consultations, and Vinod Rajasekaran — whom I worked with on a project in 2014 to try to bring the Impact Hub brand to Vancouver).
If anyone reading this post is intersted in the Banff Forum or in attending, I would be happy to tell you more and if appropriate help you plan your application.
