Canada is navigating a period of profound geopolitical change. In such moments, resilience, diversification, and sustained global engagement are not abstract aspirations – they are practical necessities. One of Canada’s most under-leveraged assets in meeting this moment is its global diaspora.

I recently had the privilege of testifying before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade on how Canada can strengthen its future in a changing global landscape. My central argument was that Canada’s global citizens – proportionally among the largest diasporas in the developed world  – should be understood not as a loss of talent, but as a form of civic and economic infrastructure capable of strengthening national competitiveness and resilience. The response from Senators, and from Canadians around the world who reached out afterward, reinforced a striking reality: the willingness to contribute exists, but the pathways to do so do not.

Canada is navigating a period of profound geopolitical change. In such moments, resilience, diversification, and sustained global engagement are not abstract aspirations –  they are practical necessities. One of Canada’s most under-leveraged assets in meeting this moment is its global diaspora.

More than four million Canadians live and work abroad. Proportionally, that is more than five times the United States and roughly double Australia – placing Canada among the countries with the largest overseas populations in the developed world. Canada is already a global nation. The question is whether our policies and institutions have caught up to that reality.

In a global economy, mobility is inevitable. The real choice facing Canada is whether international experience is treated as loss, or as a strategic asset. Leveraging that asset requires a coordinated national strategy and a coherent narrative, with government acting not as the sole driver but as a catalyst, enabling engagement alongside business, civil society, and academic institutions.

In an era defined by “building Canada,” our diaspora should be understood as a form of economic and civic infrastructure.

For many Canadians abroad, the issue is not a lack of goodwill or desire to contribute. It is the absence of structured pathways to do so. Engagement exists – but it remains informal and ad hoc.

Entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises across the country do not fail to globalize because they lack ambition. They struggle because barriers are high: limited local context, insufficient cultural fluency, and constrained access to networks and capital in unfamiliar markets.

Diaspora networks reduce uncertainty at precisely that moment. They are embedded in foreign markets and hold the relationships, expertise, and credibility that Canadian firms need to scale.

At the same time, many Canadians with significant global experience are seeking credible routes to return or to apply what they have learned abroad. Programs that connect internationally trained professionals with domestic opportunities  –  including through business acquisition and modernization –  demonstrate how global experience can be reinvested in Canada’s economy. In sectors facing succession challenges, such models can preserve family-owned firms, support responsible intergenerational ownership, and inject new expertise and capital into local communities. These connective tissues already exist in fragments. What is missing is a framework that treats them as national infrastructure.

Three Priorities for a Diaspora Strategy

If Canada is serious about mobilizing its global citizens as a strategic asset, three shifts are necessary.

First: prioritize coordination over new programming.The core obstacle to diaspora engagement is fragmentation. Numerous departments, embassies, business associations, alumni networks, and civil society groups operate in parallel. The federal government’s highest-value role is not to create yet another standalone initiative, but to serve as a central convenor – aligning efforts across government and society. In a period of fiscal constraint, this catalytic function is both cost-effective and scalable.

Second: replace the “brain drain” mindset with talent circulation.The departure of talent is too often framed as permanent loss. A more accurate framing is dynamic circulation. Insight loops – such as short-term secondments, sectoral advisory roles, cross-border research partnerships, and structured return pathways – can channel global expertise back into Canadian institutions. The objective is not to eliminate mobility, but to harness it.

Third: anchor diaspora engagement to concrete national missions.Diaspora strategy is most effective when tied to specific challenges: productivity growth, small business succession, AI commercialization and regulation, or trade diversification. Mission-driven engagement avoids symbolic gestures and focuses on measurable outcomes.

To do this well, Canada requires better data on its citizens abroad, systematic learning from peer countries, and structured civic forums in global hubs where Canadians can engage meaningfully with national priorities.

Infrastructure for a Global Nation

Canada’s competitive advantage has rarely been scale alone. It has been the ability to connect — across markets, cultures, and ideas. We do not lack global talent or goodwill. What we lack is the institutional infrastructure to connect that talent to national renewal. If Canada is serious about resilience and diversification in a fractured world, then building sustained pathways for its global citizens is not optional, it is strategic. The country is already global. It is time for policy to reflect that fact – and to enable Canadians abroad to contribute not episodically, but structurally, to Canada’s future.

This article is adapted from opening remarks delivered before a Senate committee on February 4, 2026.

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