The relationship between Canada and the Caribbean has always been there. What has been missing is a place to take it further.
Canada has poured CAD $384 billion in direct investment into the Caribbean. Bilateral trade between Canada and CARICOM sits at CAD $5.7 billion annually. Three million Canadian tourists visit the region every year. Diaspora remittances crossed US $165 billion in 2024. The numbers have been building for decades. The infrastructure to turn them into something more deliberate has not existed — until now.
The Caribbean Canadian Investment Summit launches in Toronto
The Caribbean Canadian Investment Summit and Trade Forum launched last week at XinFlix Studios in Markham, Ontario, with a full summit scheduled for September. Donna Fanfair, the summit’s president, was direct about what she was building and what she was not.
“The Summit is designed as a working forum rather than a traditional conference,” she told Caribbean National Weekly. “We want people to leave with more than a business card. We want them to leave with relationships, opportunities, and a clear pathway to action.”
A summit with accountability built in
Fanfair’s team will track every agreement and every partnership that comes out of the September gathering, following up with a simple set of questions: were jobs created, were investments advanced, did anything actually change. That accountability architecture is the thing that separates a summit from an event. Caribbean business has had plenty of events.
Sandy Daley, broadcaster, author, and the summit’s Head of Media and Strategic Communications, framed the stakes plainly. “Too often, the opportunities and partnerships needed to accelerate Caribbean success remain disconnected,” she said. “I saw this as an opportunity to contribute my voice and my platform to a movement that has the potential to create lasting impact.”
The Caribbean Canadian Investment Summit in September is the one that matters. The launch was the signal. The follow-through is the story.
Stephen Stanberry
