Our History
The Canada-Belgium Committee was created in August 1984 at the initiative of Bombardier and the Desmarais and Frère families, the highly respected entrepreneurs who developed winning companies in their respective countries, Canada and Belgium. The Committee was supported by both the Belgian and Canadian governments and was announced by the Canadian Minister of International Trade, Francis Fox.
Having been highly successful in developing their businesses (Groupe Frère-Bourgeois and Power Corp. of Canada, respectively), Albert Frère and Paul Desmarais Sr. decided to jointly invest in new opportunities through a new company, Pargesa, which they shared the control of. They and their families have gone from strength to strength ever since.
It seemed a logical thing for them to introduce their trusted relations and business friends to each other. Their perspective was not a purely social one, nor an exclusive business one. Rather, their intention was to bring together people whom they trusted and who would provide them with a forum for exchange of ideas and viewpoints, ultimately serving the members and their two countries.
Thus was borne the Canada-Belgium Committee.
What We Stand For
The Committee’s original mandate was to strengthen relations between people from Canada and Belgium and to possibly encourage the creation of common initiatives in other markets. This continues to be our mission and to drive the Committee’s actions.
The Committee’s main aim remains to foster deep and long-lasting trusted ties between Canadians and Belgians.
Motivated by these two founders, the Committee continues this mission by generating exchanges and debate on themes of common interest amongst individuals representing companies and organizations, with an interest in maintaining and developing links amongst both Belgium and Canada to the benefit of their respective citizens and societies.
Ours is a long-term perspective where diversity of backgrounds and perspectives matter to chart the way forward. In line with this goal, we seek to actively engage younger leaders representing the next generation (“NextGens”) in our debates.
Our Focus
The Committee seeks to keep the membership at a level that fosters the development of personal relationships between high quality people sharing a joint interest in Canada and Belgium (and through Belgium with the broader European Union).
The Committee carries out its mission through networking initiatives and events proposed to and by its members, covering a range of topics of interest to Canada and Belgium.
The themes that have retained the interest of the current Committee are:
Science, technology & research with a focus on innovative technologies, artificial intelligence and healthcare;
Evolution of civil society, focusing on environmental and social evolutions, and Corporate Social Responsibility;
New business models, with a particular interest on family business and climate change impacts;
Young leaders (“NextGens”) approaches and responses to the challenges of our times.
Our Organisation
Our members are gathered on an invitation-only basis and come from all walks of life. They represent academia, business, financial services, research and not-for-profit leaders who share a common interest in exchanging ideas, competences and skills.
The Committee operates from Montréal and Brussels.
It is led by Co-Chairs Gauthier de Biolley and Craig Thorburn, with Baron Herman Daems and Christophe Sepulchre serving as Honorary Chairs.