Koerner Hall is best known as the home of the Royal Conservatory of Music, but last week it was the home of ideacity – the speaker series which is the brainchild of Moses Znaimer, now in its 20th year.
At Business of Cannabis, we hear a lot from cannabis CEOs. In fact, ideacity happened just a few days after the World Cannabis Congress, where cannabis CEOs were in abundance. But ideacity allowed the Business of Cannabis team to hear leaders address a ‘non-cannabis’ audience; an audience decidedly more skeptical than industry insiders.
The cannabis leaders who spoke – Bruce Linton, Cam Battley, Dr. Christelle Gedeon and especially John Fowler – inspired. As an industry we should rest assured that cannabis leaders are representing the industry in the best, most responsible and most impactful light.
Hearing these four describe themselves, their companies, their missions and the future for the sector – and Canada’s leadership – was an inspiration. From Bruce Linton describing how the industry developed in Canada to Battley’s passion for expungement to Gedeon’s focus on professional journey to Fowler’s talk about social change through cannabis – each represented unique aspects of the industry.
Each speaker spoke from the heart – but also touched on the economic and social benefit of cannabis, the industry and Canada’s role in one of the world’s fastest-growing industries. Skeptical audience members could not have remained so for long. From medical promise to economic development to social justice – cannabis has any number of mind-changing, stigma-smashing access points…even for the harshest of skeptics.
Events like ideacity go a long way at changing minds and breaking down stigma. It is these types of conversations that sparked the launch of Business of Cannabis in 2017 and ones we hope we will continue to host moving forward. Stay tuned for an enhanced line up of content and events from Business of Cannabis in the coming weeks.
Written by Jay Rosenthal, Co-Founder + President, Business of Cannabis
