A Month of Gratitude

What We Owe the Country That Gave Us Everything

Dear Friends,

Before I turn to this month’s theme, a short note of continuity. In June, I wrote about the ninety-day window ahead of September’s Canada Investment Summit. We are still watching that window closely, out of gratitude for our country and a genuine wish to see it succeed, and will share a fuller update in the coming weeks. For now, I want to turn to something closer to home – and to some good news.

Most mornings this month, I have walked by the lake before the city wakes up. The water is still, the air is cool, and for a few minutes there is nothing to do but notice how fortunate we are. July is Canada Day month, and I have come to think of it, in my own mind, as a month of gratitude. When so much of the world feels as though it is coming apart at the seams, we are able to walk freely by a lake, raise our families in peace, build businesses without fear, and disagree with our governments without consequence. That is not ordinary. That is not something every generation, or every country, gets to take for granted.

I am grateful for it every single day. But gratitude that stops at feeling grateful is not really gratitude at all – it is nostalgia. Real gratitude asks something of us. It asks – what do we do with what we were given?

The Question Behind the Gratitude

Many of us who lead and support this Foundation came to Canada decades ago with very little beyond ambition and a willingness to work. This country gave us room to build – an education system that took our children seriously, a labour market that eventually recognised what we could do, a path to ownership and belonging that did not depend on who our parents were. That is the debt every one of us carries, whether we came in the 1970s or last year.

So, the honest question is not only “how grateful are we,” but “are we making sure that the newcomer arriving today has the same shot we had?” That is a harder question, and I do not think the answer is a simple yes.

A newcomer today faces a housing market that has priced out an entire generation, and a credential recognition system that too often treats a foreign degree as a formality rather than an achievement. If we are serious about gratitude, we cannot only look backward at what Canada gave us. We have to look forward at what we are willing to build for the person walking through the door today.

A Collective Responsibility, not a Community One

This is not a diaspora issue, and CIF has never framed it that way. It is a Canadian issue. Every generation of newcomers – Indo-Canadian, Filipino, Ukrainian, Nigerian, Italian – has strengthened this country’s economy, its universities, its culture, and its standing in the world. Ensuring the next generation gets a fair shot is not charity toward outsiders; it is an investment in the Canada we all still get to inherit. This responsibility rests with elected representatives, employers, institutions, and long settled Canadians alike and it is one that CIF is committed to raising clearly and in a non-partisan manner across every forum available to us.

From Gratitude to Action – Launching GIPF

This is also why, on July 15, CIF held a press conference at our office in Toronto to announce our most ambitious initiative to date: the Global Inclusive Prosperity Forum (GIPF), which will convene in Toronto on September 11, 2026.

GIPF is a landmark international thought leadership summit; the first of its kind in Toronto – bringing together leaders from government, business, academia, civil society, and the innovation ecosystem for a day of keynotes and panels on the most pressing question of inclusive growth: how do we build prosperity that actually reaches everyone? The Forum will explore six themes over the course of the day:

1. Enablers of Inclusive Prosperity-healthcare, food security, and skill development
2. Philanthropy and Compassionate Entrepreneurship
3. Technology Leadership and Artificial Intelligence
4. Social Persuasion and Community Engagement
5. Policy Leadership
6. Learning as an Engine of Change

GIPF will be chaired by Dr. V.I. Lakshmanan, O.C., who put it best at our launch: he envisions this becoming an annual gathering that complements platforms like the World Economic Forum, while staying grounded in a very simple mission – shaping a more equitable and sustainable future. Our National Convener, Pankaj Dave, made the point that matters most to me personally: addressing rising economic disparity takes structural reform, not applause for growth statistics alone. That is precisely the spirit in which this forum was built.

GIPF sits alongside the work CIF already does quietly, year-round – our Golf Tournament in support of Fallen Soldiers, our response during COVID-19, and the community programs closer to home – all of it proof that gratitude, for us, has always been meant to turn into action, not just words on a page.

Gratitude, Close to Home

In that same spirit, CIF Charity is recommitting itself this month to restarting our Thank You Meals program – good meals, delivered with dignity, to those who need them most. If you would like to support the restart, through volunteering, sponsorship, or simply spreading the word, please reach out to our office.

Our Annual Golf Tournament returns in August, raising funds for the families of fallen soldiers – a cause very close to CIF’s heart, and its own quiet form of gratitude. It is already a sold-out event: 288 golfers, all showing up with a common resolve. We could not be more grateful for that tremendous response.

One brief trade note before I close: Minister of International Trade Hon. Maninder Sidhu has announced a Team Canada Trade Mission to India for October 12-17, 2026. CIF is in touch with the Minister’s office to ensure Canadians actively trading on this corridor are represented – if that is you, we would welcome hearing from you.

What This Canada Day Asks of Us

This July, as you take your own walk by a lake, a river, or simply around your block I hope you feel the same gratitude I do. And I hope you carry it one step further. Ask what you, in your own sphere of influence, can do to make sure the next newcomer’s experience of Canada is as wonderful as ours was. Mentor someone. Recognise a credential you might otherwise dismiss. Support a policy that widens the door rather than narrowing it. Join us at GIPF in September and be part of that conversation directly.

Canada gave those of us who came before something extraordinary. The least we owe it in return is to keep the door as open as we found it.

Wish you a Happy belated Canada Day, and thank you – for everything.

Thank You!