The Future of Canada Project at McMaster University, initiated in 2020 as a three-year pilot project, is designed to foster meaningful conversations and support academic research on where Canada is going within five broad themes: pandemic, climate change, rapid technological advancement, reconciliation, and the erosion of truth and trust. Creative Futures was designed to design and host a pan-Canadian “conference”, to be held at the end of the three years. The conference was meant to bring multi-sectoral stakeholders from across Canada together to share research and other work that is exploring the future of Canada.

Most publications and conversations about Canada’s futures are focused on challenges in the near-term and tend to be dystopian. But without hope, there is not action, and we as a country, need narratives and visions that will pull us towards the futures we want. Imagining 2080: A Forum on Canada’s Futures (Nov 1 - 3, 2023) brought together 150 possibility-minded academics, policymakers, community leaders, private sector leaders, students and futurists to explore, discuss and imagine possibilities and hopeful futures on a much longer time horizon.

The meticulously designed three-day program, grounded in Sharpe’s Three Horizons, featured elements ranging from hopeful vision for 2080, field trips to the future, academic presentations, part “like it’s 2089, hands-on workshops - from backcasting to experiential futures, and open space to host self-facilitated discussions on emerging topics.

Our Approach:

• Starting with a design sprint approach, Creative Futures collaborated with the Future of Canada project team to explore a variety of possible design options for the Future of Canada Project culminating “conference”;

• Consulted with over 50 stakeholders from academia, private sector, not-for-profit community organizations, governments, foundations and futurists to ensure the final design would be a unique, future-based experience for all attendees;

• Curated the opening and closing keynote speakers as well as a speaker series designed to explore a variety of different visions of Canada’s futures in 2080;

• Curated five field trips from the future - a trip to the McMaster forest reserve and McMaster carbon sink forest where delegates had an opportunity to plant trees, a trip to Hamilton’s waterfront, a trip to the VibraFusion lab to learn about how technology is being used in new artistic practices and experiences, a tirp to McMaster’s nuclear reactor to learn about next generation technologies in energy, materials and medicine, and a trip to the McMaster Innovation Park that included experiencing the new VR room;

• Developed speculative party menus for 2079 for the conference reception at the end of Day 2;

• Designed and facilitated a scenario development workshop on Day 3 to support storytelling about 2080;

• Designed an Ideas Forum on Day 3 that enables delegates to self-organize sessions around emerging topics; and,

• Contributed in many different small and big ways to ensure that Imagining 2080 was an incredible experience for all 150 delegates who attended the three day event.

Results:

83% of participants enjoyed their experience, 90% encountered new ideas, and 96% made new connections at Imagining 2080. The Future of Canada Project is in the process of synthesizing the insights gathered through the three day event and will be releasing a mini podcast series, in collaboration with The Walrus, in 2024.