A note from Pari: First, it has been an honour to step into leadership of this important national organization. I am grateful to our dedicated Board, members, staff and partners for the warm welcome. As a new President and CEO, change can be intimidating, but I’m hopeful and optimistic. I’m proud to have landed at CICan, working now with Canada’s largest postsecondary network. I have greatly valued my opportunity to listen and learn about members’ aspirations, needs and challenges at our Calgary conference, provincial college association meetings and through my cross-Canada outreach to 27 institutions in 7 provinces since my arrival in December.
We are delighted to present CICan’s Impact Report for 2023-24. In a year marked by change, the report reflects on our achievements, our challenges, and our lasting impact as a sector, both despite and because of the remarkable change we have been navigating.
For our sector, the past year has been marked by major pressures, with declining provincial funding and increasing labour market demands, all in the context of a very public national conversation on sustainable growth in international student numbers and global competition for talent and skills. Yet, there is an imperative for colleges to scale and connect institutional efforts to deliver on urgent national challenges.
We’ve made tremendous gains as an organization – which this past year, was named one of the National Capital Region’s Top Employers for the second year in a row – to position our work in a way that better serves our 138 members and ensures that our members are well positioned to support Canadians.
CICan’s vision is one where Canada’s publicly funded colleges and institutes are recognized as key partners in meeting our country’s biggest public policy challenges – like providing sustainable and affordable housing, ensuring food security, transitioning to clean energies, driving productivity and industrial transformation, and responding to the growing needs of the care economy.
Our network prepares nearly 800,000 learners in urban, rural, remote, and northern communities with more than 10,000 programs across all sectors, conducts more than 8,000 applied research projects annually, and adds over $190B to Canada’s economy each year.
As we celebrate the achievements of the past year, and with an eye to the changes coming ahead and the development of new strategic directions for CICan, let us think about the new ways we can collaborate that turn challenges into strengths and make our work as a sector more intentional, integrated, and impactful.
Pari Johnston
President & CEO
Peter Devlin
Board Chair