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CQCC Connect Halifax
February 23 @ 9:30 am – 3:00 pm
Join us in Halifax for CQCC Connect, a unique event that brings together LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and allies in a vibrant, inclusive environment. This is your chance to discover new business opportunities, establish valuable connections, and participate in thought-provoking discussions that pave the way for long-term success.
What to Expect
This event combines insightful breakout, impactful networking, and personalized opportunities designed to support the growth of LGBTQ+ businesses and promote supplier diversity.
- Breakout Sessions – Dive into engaging and thought-provoking breakout sessions tailored to your interests, where you’ll explore key topics, exchange ideas, and connect with like-minded professionals.
- Matchmaking Sessions – A tailored opportunity for CQCC-certified suppliers and corporate partners ONLY to engage in focused, strategic meetings that can unlock new collaborations and business ventures.
Why Attend?
Whether you’re an established business owner, a corporate leader seeking to diversify your supplier base, or an ally eager to support the LGBTQ+ community, CQCC Connect in Halifax offers a platform to connect, collaborate, and grow.
Be part of an event that will inspire, empower, and strengthen the LGBTQ+ business community in Nova Scotia and beyond.
Register below and secure your spot for this transformative experience!
Program
Registration & Morning Coffee
9:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Welcome & Opening Remarks
10:00 AM – 10:15 AM
Beyond the RFP: Where Procurement Opportunities Begin
10:15 AM – 10:35 AM
This 20-minute interactive spotlight session introduces suppliers and prospects to how procurement engagement in Nova Scotia often begins before an RFP is issued. The session focuses on visibility, readiness, and early engagement, helping suppliers understand how businesses are identified, remembered, and considered within the procurement ecosystem, without positioning the session as business development or matchmaking.
Designed for both certified and prospective suppliers, the session highlights common but often overlooked access points that support inclusive procurement, such as early market awareness, buyer visibility tools, smaller-scope opportunities, and capability-building pathways, with a highlight on our SD benefits and alternative programs. The fast-paced format keeps experienced suppliers engaged while providing practical insight that prepares all participants for more meaningful participation throughout the event.
Our Team
Fireside Chat: Igniting the Queer Atlantic Business Hub
10:35 AM – 11:20 AM
Join Roseline Olesambu and Corrie Melanson from Sea Change CoLab Inc. for a fireside chat on the creation of the Queer Atlantic Business Hub. They’ll share key insights from the Atlantic-wide survey and interviews with 2SLGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs, give a first look at what’s ahead for the Hub’s first year, and invite participants to get involved as founding members.
Come learn how this new initiative will connect, support, and amplify queer businesses across Atlantic Canada — and find out what’s coming next at the Hub’s official launch event in Moncton.
Our Team
Coffee and Health Break
11:20 AM – 11:40 PM
Panel Session: Building Queer Business in Halifax — Community, Growth, and Opportunity
11:40 AM – 12:25 PM
Join us for an engaging and candid panel discussion featuring local Queer entrepreneurs who are shaping the region’s business landscape. This 45-minute, informal conversation will spotlight the real experiences, challenges, and successes of building and growing a Queer-owned business in Atlantic Canada.
Through personal stories and practical insights, panelists will explore what it means to grow a business in a city outside Canada’s major commercial hubs—and how Halifax’s strong sense of community, collaboration, and creativity can become a powerful advantage.
Panelists will also reflect on the role of the CQCC in their journeys, sharing how networking, visibility, mentorship, and community support have contributed to their professional development and business growth.
This session is designed to foster connection, learning, and inspiration for attendees at all stages of their entrepreneurial journey. Whether you are an established business owner, a growing entrepreneur, or just beginning to explore your path, this panel offers valuable perspectives on building sustainable, community-rooted businesses in Halifax and beyond.
Our Team
Myriane Ouellette is an award-winning speaker, strategist, and facilitator who helps leaders and teams navigate change with confidence, build resilience, and align around a shared vision. As the founder and CEO of O Strategies, she has worked with organizations across Canada to turn uncertainty into opportunity, whether in immigration, health, education, or community development.
Myriane specializes in supporting leadership teams to get clear on their vision, align their people, and create workplaces where change feels possible, not paralyzing. She helps organizations move beyond resistance, break down silos, and foster collaboration so that teams can adapt, grow, and thrive, no matter what challenges come their way.
Known for her dynamic and engaging approach, Myriane brings real-world strategies and practical tools to her work, making complex change feel manageable. She believes that resilience isn’t about simply enduring change, it’s about learning from it, leading through it, and creating cultures where people feel safe, valued, and ready to contribute.
As a sought-after speaker and thought leader, Myriane delivers insightful, high-energy talks that empower audiences to take action. Whether working with corporate teams, nonprofits, or community leaders, she equips people with the mindset and strategies to build strong, adaptive, and future-ready teams.
Mom of two awesome girls, wife to her amazing husband Dan, and a proudly women-owned and 2SLGBTQIA+ business leader, Myriane is deeply committed to helping organizations create inclusive, forward-thinking workplaces that don’t just survive change, but thrive in it.
Pascale Joëlle Fortin-Daigle (they / all) is a consultant, facilitator, and strategist focused on belonging, and the person behind Hello Gender. Their work lives at the intersection of meaning, care, and grounded action. Pascale doesn’t help organizations “do better,” but rather do differently, with courage, nuance, and humanity.
Rooted in listening and pedagogy, they create spaces where complex questions become accessible, where mistakes are allowed, and where learning happens together. Their approach is both structured and deeply embodied: clear frameworks without rigidity, and constant care for the people walking the circle, whether they are on a personal journey or showing up as allies.
Through workshops, consultations, and transformation projects, Pascale supports individuals and organizations in moving from inclusive gestures to real, lasting practices of belonging. Their work invites slowing down, naming what truly matters, and building environments where people can recognize themselves, contribute, and stay. A vision of change that respects the living world, honors individual and collective stories, and reminds us that belonging cannot be declared. It is cultivated, through relationship.
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Pascale Joëlle Fortin-Daigle (iel / tous) est consultant·e, formateurice et stratège en sentiment d’appartenance, et la personne derrière Hello Gender. Son travail se situe à la rencontre du sens, du soin et de l’action concrète. Pascale n’aide pas les organisations à “faire mieux”, mais à faire autrement, avec courage, nuance et humanité.
Ancré·e dans l’écoute et la pédagogie, iel crée des espaces où les questions complexes deviennent accessibles, où l’erreur est permise, et où l’apprentissage se fait ensemble. Son approche est à la fois structurée et profondément incarnée: des cadres clairs sans rigidité, une attention constante aux personnes qui marchent dans le cercle, qu’elles soient en cheminement personnel ou en posture d’allié·e.
À travers ateliers, consultations et projets de transformation, Pascale accompagne individus et organisations à passer de gestes inclusifs à des pratiques d’appartenance réelles et durables. Son travail invite à ralentir, à nommer ce qui compte vraiment et à bâtir des environnements où chacun·e peut se reconnaître, contribuer et rester. Une vision du changement qui respecte le vivant, honore les histoires individuelles et collectives, et rappelle que l’appartenance ne se décrète pas: elle se cultive, dans la relation.
Based in Nova Scotia, Wren Bruce is the founder of Bruce GEOinsights [pronounced GEE-OH insights], a consultancy that adds business value to organizations either through geoscience consulting for the minerals industry or science communications for corporate buyers requiring advisory on climate, energy, and sustainability messaging. When she’s not bushwhacking in the field or making geology relevant to modern society, Wren is mentoring the next generation of scientists and advocating for inclusion in her industry.
Through earth science, Wren connects underground insights to aboveground impacts.
Lunch
12:25 PM – 1:25 PM
Buyer and Supplier Matchmaking Session
1:25 PM – 2:30 PM
Reception and Closing Remarks
2:30 PM to 3:20 PM
Location: Glitter Bean Cafe Co-op, 5896 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax, NS B3H 0A6.