Awards – Canada - IR Impact

About the event

The IR Impact Awards – Canada by IR Impact will take place on Thursday, April 3, 2025 in Toronto. This very special event honors excellence in the investor relations profession across Canada.

WHEN

Thursday, April 03, 2025

WHERE

Fairmont Royal York, Toronto

About the awards

Since the annual event first launched in 1996, tens of thousands of analysts and investors have voted in the surveys that fuels the awards. The result: vital benchmarking information on which companies do the best IR. In recent years, the awards program has expanded to recognize more aspects of an IRO’s role as we add new categories to the list and give IR teams the opportunity to nominate themselves.

By popular demand, we present two types of award categories – researched and nominated – both celebrating the success of those individuals and companies that are leading the way in IR across Canada.

For our researched categories, companies do not submit nominations. Instead, hundreds of analysts and investors cast their votes and give their opinions on which companies provide the best IR service. In our nominated categories, companies submit written entries to articulate their success and achievements from the past year, giving any publicly listed company the opportunity to be considered for an award.

Awards by nomination

For our awards-by-nomination categories, individuals and companies are given the opportunity to submit written entries, free of charge, to be put forward to a panel of expert judges made up of investment professionals and IR Impact editorial team members.

NOMINEES ANNOUNCED!

We are delighted to reveal the nominees for the 2025 Awards! View the full list by clicking here. To view the awards-by-research nominees, either click on the link to view the full list or scroll down to view the research section.

If you have any questions, please contact priscilla.lim@ir-impact.com or call +44 20 8004 4989.

Categories

Best buy-side management *NEW FOR 2025*

Finding new ways to collaborate with investors and other buy-side participants is a core part of every IR program. In this category, we’re looking for examples of how teams have found new routes to reach and work alongside the buy side, whether that’s through providing an innovative corporate access opportunity, creating new communications materials or introducing a new event format.

Nominees

Alimentation Couche-Tard

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

Canadian Tire Corporation

Celestica

CN

Loblaw Companies

Best crisis management

Have you recently dealt with an unexpected event threatening your company’s business or reputation? Tell us about your ‘crisis ready’ plan, the strategy you implemented when the storm hit, and how the IR team’s actions successfully protected or restored shareholder value.

Nominees

Aecon Group

Innergex Renewable Energy

Loblaw Companies

NFI Group

Best ESG reporting (large cap)

Companies face growing demands to inform investors about the risk and opportunities – they face from a range of ESG issues. Describe how your company was able to meet the demands of shareholders looking for substance in ESG reporting? Market cap breakdown: Micro-cap = below C$300 mn / Small cap = between C$300 mn – C$2 bn / Mid-cap = between C$2 bn – C$10 bn / Large cap = C$10 bn and over

Nominees

Agnico Eagle Mines

CN

Franco-Nevada Corporation

Loblaw Companies

TD Bank Group

WSP Global

Best ESG reporting (mid-cap)

Companies face growing demands to inform investors about the risk and opportunities – they face from a range of ESG issues. Describe how your company was able to meet the demands of shareholders looking for substance in ESG reporting? Market cap breakdown: Micro-cap = below C$300 mn / Small cap = between C$300 mn – C$2 bn / Mid-cap = between C$2 bn – C$10 bn / Large cap = C$10 bn and over

Nominees

Canadian Tire Corporation

Definity Financial Corporation

Gibson Energy

Methanex Corporation

RioCan REIT

Torex Gold Resources

Best ESG reporting (small cap)

Companies face growing demands to inform investors about the risk and opportunities – they face from a range of ESG issues. Describe how your company was able to meet the demands of shareholders looking for substance in ESG reporting? Market cap breakdown: Micro-cap = below C$300 mn / Small cap = between C$300 mn – C$2 bn / Mid-cap = between C$2 bn – C$10 bn / Large cap = C$10 bn and over

Nominees

Aecon Group

Calian Group

DIRTT Environmental Solutions

NFI Group

NOVAGOLD RESOURCES

Best innovation in shareholder communications

Judges are looking for IR teams who have had to think out of the box in the past 12-18 months to update their shareholder communications campaign and keep up with the evolving needs and wants of the investor community. We’re looking for that tiny little spark of innovation that sets your company apart!

Nominees

Canadian Tire Corporation

Filo Corp

Hut 8 Corp

NEXE Innovations

Best investor event (large cap)

Did you hold a capital markets day, site visit or other investor event that made your company stand out from the crowd? Tell us how you came up with an original initiative, the way you managed its organization, and how your audience’s expectations were met; audience feedback is also welcome. Both virtual and in-person events can be considered for this award. Market cap breakdown: Micro-cap = below C$300 mn / Small cap = between C$300 mn – C$2 bn / Mid-cap = between C$2 bn – C$10 bn / Large cap = C$10 bn and over

Nominees

ARC Resources

Celestica

Cenovus Energy

Scotiabank

Shopify

TMX Group

Best investor event (small to mid-cap)

Did you hold a capital markets day, site visit or other investor event that made your company stand out from the crowd? Tell us how you came up with an original initiative, the way you managed its organization, and how your audience’s expectations were met; audience feedback is also welcome. Both virtual and in-person events can be considered for this award. Market cap breakdown: Micro-cap = below C$300 mn / Small cap = between C$300 mn – C$2 bn / Mid-cap = between C$2 bn – C$10 bn / Large cap = C$10 bn and over

Nominees

Air Canada

Bird Construction

BlackBerry

Bombardier

Calian Group

Definity Financial Corporation

Best investor targeting strategy

Have you gone above and beyond to reach new investors and tell your company story? Have you recently changed your targeting strategy to reach new prospects, adapt to adversarial circumstances, or get a better return from your investor engagements? We want to hear from you.

Our judges will look for innovative use of data and analysis to optimize your marketing schedule and provide better returns on your IR department and management’s time on the road and at conferences.

Nominees

Alamos Gold

Altus Group

NOVAGOLD RESOURCES

South Bow Corporation

Torex Gold Resources

Best IR during a corporate transaction

How did your IR team go above and beyond to support a recent corporate transaction? Let us know the details. We’ll be looking at the IR team’s involvement in crafting/releasing the messaging for the financial markets and how it organized outreach and dialogue to gain approval from key shareholders.

Nominees

Alamos Gold

Bird Construction

Element Fleet Management

G Mining Ventures Corp

Manulife Financial Corporation

TMX Group

Best IR website

The IR website is the first point of contact for an IRO’s audience. We want to hear from companies that have developed a best-in-class website displaying top-notch customer experience, engaging content that meets analysts’ and investors’ needs, and multiplatform access.

Nominees

AtkinsRéalis

Calian Group

Cenovus Energy

D2L

Fortuna Mining Corp

Roots Corporation

Best sell-side management *NEW FOR 2025*

Working closely with analysts is a core part of many IR programs, but it can pose a challenge when thinking about how to prioritize your time and focus on your company’s sell-side followers. In this category we are looking for teams that have implemented new strategies for keeping up with the sell side, working with analysts and deriving the most from their relationships to best serve their corporate strategies.

Nominees

ATCO

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

Canadian Tire Corporation

Celestica

Loblaw Companies

Torex Gold Resources

Best use of social media and video

Have your IR teams increased visibility and engagement digitally through the use of different communication channels?

Describe the innovative ways you have incorporated video, audio, infographics or webcasts into your IR program. Judges will be looking for evidence of the quality of output, use of creativity and heightened investor and analyst engagement via these channels.

Nominees

Aecon Group

Alamos Gold

ARC Resources

Calian Group

Rising star

This award seeks to honor individuals who bring fresh thinking and a unique approach to the profession. This category is open to anyone who has been working in IR for less than 10 years and has less than 15 years of professional experience.

Nominees

Martin Miasko

Altus Group

Ana Raman

Canada Goose

Matthew Pallotta

Celestica

Nick Xiang

dentalcorp Holdings

Trevor D’Sa

Filo Corp

Naji Baydoun

Innergex Renewable Energy

How the winners are chosen +

The awards-by-nomination categories differ from our traditional researched awards, as individuals and companies are given the opportunity to submit written entries, free of charge, to be put forward to a panel of expert judges made up of investment professionals and IR Impact editorial team members.

The judges’ votes are not made public, but their comments may be published in articles or reports after the event. Judges are not required to make comments against every submission.

The judging process consists of three simple phases:

Phase one

Once the entry deadline has passed, the IR Impact editorial team reviews all submissions and produces the shortlist

Phase two

The shortlisted entries are shared with an independent judging panel made up of industry experts. The judges review each shortlisted entry and select their top two picks per category

The IR Impact awards team receives the results and contacts all shortlisted companies to give them the good news. The shortlists are then published to the entire IR community a month before the event.

Phase three

The judges come together to discuss, debate and select the final list of winners who will go on to win an award

Meet the judges

We are delighted to announce our judging panel for the 2025 awards! Click on each photo below to find out more.

Hall of Fame

Past winners of our coveted IR Impact Awards are invited to be inducted into the IR Impact Hall of Fame. This is an exclusive alum organization reserved only for individual winners of our awards including the categories – Best IR Professional across all cap sizes.

We wanted to provide a platform that offers ongoing recognition for this monumental achievement and an opportunity for our award winners to help shape the future of excellence in the IR community.

View the honorees

Awards by research

Our awards-by-research nominees are determined by the input of hundreds of analysts and portfolio managers, who give their opinions on which companies provide them with the best IR service in Canada. Every year we invite any publicly listed company to submit their list of buy and sell-side analysts and portfolio managers, so that they have the opportunity to vote via our survey.

NOMINEES ANNOUNCED!

We are delighted to reveal the nominees for the 2025 Awards! View the full list by clicking here.

For any further queries about the research process, please contact research@ir-impact.com.

How the winners are chosen +

The first thing to explain is that our awards are different from most others: for our awards by research, companies do not submit nominations. The winners are identified by in-depth research and any publicly traded company is eligible to be considered. This survey is the only one of its kind to go directly to the investment community, via a combination of an electronic survey and one-to-one telephone interviews, canvassing the opinions of the people who matter to you most.

July 2024: Sample selection

IR Impact has been building investment community databases for more than 35 years. As part of the updating process, listed companies are contacted every year for details of the professionals who currently cover their stock. These details are combined with IHS Markit’s list of US investment community contacts to produce a total of around 50,000 investors and analysts.

October – November 2024: Telephone survey

The telephone survey then gets under way. The researchers conduct in-depth interviews with an additional 250 portfolio managers and analysts across the US and Canada. Many of them participate in the study year after year, but there is always a healthy proportion of new respondents each year as well. As the research progresses, the sample is adjusted to ensure appropriate weightings are maintained.

October 2024: Electronic survey

IR Impact then conducts an electronic survey of buy-side and sell-side analysts and portfolio managers. The electronic survey typically receives 200 individual responses from the investment community. These responses are then initially analyzed by our in-house research team. Our research team determines what will constitute a representative sample, weighted for industry sector.

Results analysis

Once the survey stage of the research is completed, the final analysis is undertaken. The companies with the highest scores make the shortlists for the awards categories, and the points are further analyzed to identify the best exponents of IR by sector.

January 2025: Shortlist compiled

The events team receives the results in January and contacts the shortlisted companies to give them the good news. The shortlist is then published to the entire IR community the month before the event.

April 3, 2025: Winners announced

And finally… the winners are announced live at the black tie awards gala on Thursday, April 3, 2025!

FAQs +

Why are you asking me to supply IR Impact with my buy and sell-side analysts and portfolio managers?
IR Impact conducts research directed at analysts and portfolio managers to vote for companies, IROs and senior management who they consider have provided them with the best IR service.

What is this data used for?
The data will be used to survey the analysts and portfolio managers, and the results will then be collated to create a shortlist for each category for IR Impact’s regional awards.

Is there a data template I can use?
Yes, click here for the data template. You DO NOT have to use this template if you already have the data in another format.

Can I sign a data-sharing agreement?
Yes, you can. IR Impact has a data-sharing agreement that clearly shows how we will process and use the data. This complies with GDPR.

Can I see your privacy policy?
Please see our privacy policy here.

How do I send you my data?
Either via your company’s FTP secure data transfer site or similar. Send us the FTP site link and password separately, so we can download and save the information securely.
Or
Send the data in an Excel file with their names, firm, job title, direct telephone number and their email address to research@ir-impact.com. Please ensure the file is password protected and that the password is sent to us in a separate email.

Will my buy and sell-side analysts and portfolio manager’s data be used for any other purpose?
No. Any data you send to us will only be used for the purpose of identifying the best current exponents of IR and surveying investment community views on IR topics. It will not be used for any other purpose or promotion.

How long will you keep my data for?
IR Impact will only keep your data for the purpose of the surveys, and will not keep it any longer than three years. You can also ask us to delete your data at any time by sending an email to research@ir-impact.com

Will my company data be passed on to any third parties?
No, it will not be passed on to any third parties.

Will you let me know when you are conducting the survey?
We will inform you as soon as the survey is underway and give you the opportunity to encourage the investors and analysts who cover your stock to take part.

When will the winning companies and individuals be announced?
The winning companies and individuals will be announced at the IR Impact Awards in the respective region.

If you have any further questions, please contact our research team.

What our attendees say

The location, the drinks, service at the bar, and the pre/post-dinner food were incredible. The atmosphere was awesome and I think the length of the event was perfect
Sun Life Financial

What’s not to like about the IR Magazine Awards! Amazing venue, food and entertainment
Broadridge

Very well organized. Great location and venue. Meal and bar were very good. Kept the evening moving during the awards phase. Really appreciated the band and the whole feel around the ceremony
Cenovus Energy

The chance to get to see the IR World in a different light, hear about the success stories and cheer on the nominees and winners
Stantec

It was a very impressive evening in every way – the location was great, the ballroom was beautiful, open bar, 360 camera, red carpet, dinner, audio/video set up for awards presentation, live singer/band as winners
Medak

The 2023 IR Magazine Awards – Canada was a slick, professional and fun event to celebrate IR excellence across industries
BMO Financial Group

A great opportunity to celebrate IR and catch up with old friends
Loblaw

The location, the drinks, service at the bar, and the pre/post-dinner food were incredible. The atmosphere was awesome and I think the length of the event was perfect
Sun Life Financial

What’s not to like about the IR Magazine Awards! Amazing venue, food and entertainment
Broadridge

Very well organized. Great location and venue. Meal and bar were very good. Kept the evening moving during the awards phase. Really appreciated the band and the whole feel around the ceremony
Cenovus Energy

The chance to get to see the IR World in a different light, hear about the success stories and cheer on the nominees and winners
Stantec

Who attends our events

Attendees at this event are leading IR practitioners from across Canada. Each participant is someone with an established track record and a strategic IR role within his or her company.

Below is a sample of some of our past attendees:

JOB TITLE	COMPANY
AVP, IR	Canadian Tire
CEO	Northland Power
CFO	Black Diamond Group
Chief executive officer	Element Fleet Management
Director	Loblaw
Director, IR	Aecon
Director, IR	CGI
Director, IR	Shopify
Director, IR	E3 Lithium
Head, IR	Cronos Group
Head of IR	Canadian Tire
IR	Shopify
IR specialist	Cenovus Energy
Manager, IR	Telus

JOB TITLE	COMPANY
Senior advisor, IR	TransAlta Corporation
Senior director	Loblaw
Senior VP, IR	Cenovus Energy
Senior VP, IR	CGI
SVP	Loblaw
VP, capital markets	Black Diamond Group
VP, capital markets & risk	Gibson Energy
VP, ESG	Element Fleet Management
VP, financial planning and analysis	Northland Power
VP, FP&A	Cronos Group
VP, IR	Element Fleet Management
VP, IR & ESG strategy	EQB
VP, strategic finance & IR	TransAlta Corporation
VP, strategy	Gibson Energy

Request full attendee list

Thinking of becoming an event partner?

Our events provide a unique opportunity to get in front of some of the most influential people in the IR community. As a partner, you will gain an extensive amount of exposure through a wide range of print and digital marketing materials, both pre and post event, as well as on the day itself. Additionally, you can use the event to align yourself with IR excellence and network with key decision makers from across the region – the ones pushing the profession forward through innovation.

Get in touch to find out more

Partners

Awards Partners

Corporate Partners

SUPPORTING PARTNER

Timings

All times displayed are in ET ( Eastern Time)
Please note: timings are subject to change

6.00 pm

Opening cocktail reception

7.00 pm

Dinner and awards ceremony

10.10 pm

After-party and desserts!

Midnight

Event concludes

Key Insights

Best Practices

Cenovus Energy’s double victory at the IR Magazine Awards – Canada 2024

Cenovus Energy received six nominations at this year’s IR Magazine Awards – Canada. The Calgary-based oil and natural gas company earned nominations across multiple categories, including best overall investor relations, best IR by a senior management team and best ESG reporting within its market cap segment. Additionally, it was nominated for best IR website and […]

April 29, 2024

Seen

Best Practices

Dennis Westfall of Definity on celebrating success amid industry challenges

At the IR Magazine Awards – Canada 2024, we spoke with Dennis Westfall, head of IR at Ontario-headquartered insurer Definity Financial Corporation. Westfall was nominated at this year’s awards for best IR officer in his market cap. The company also received a nomination for best in sector (financials). Reflecting on the past 12 months, Westfall […]

May 7, 2024

Seen

Best Practices

‘IR thrives on shared knowledge’: quick-fire Q&A with the editorial board’s Adam Borgatti

IR Magazine is proud to introduce its new editorial board. It is made up of 12 seasoned investor relations professionals from across the world, each working at companies in different sectors and of varying cap sizes, but with one thing in common: a passion for pursuing excellence in the profession. Over the coming weeks, we will […]

July 12, 2024

Seen

Venue information

Accommodation: We have arranged preferential rates for attendees at nearby hotels. View the hotels and rates by clicking here.

We have a limited number of hotel rooms available at the Fairmont Royal York from C$455+HST. Please email priscilla.lim@ir-impact.com for more information.

Dress code
Black tie – Breakfast at Tiffany’s themed!

Warning: Please note the event may contain flashing lights or sudden loud sound effects.

Copied!

Fairmont Royal York, Front Street West, Toronto, ON, Canada

Get directions

Make a day of it: Join our forum

Taking place on the day of the awards ceremony, the IR Forum – Canada is the must-attend event for Canadian IR professionals looking for practical, take away ideas to implement into their IR programs.

IR professionals from across the region will be in Toronto to share their experiences, perspectives and teachings about the latest issues impacting Canadian public companies and their investors.

Visit our forum website to view details around what we will discuss and to book your seat.

VISIt our forum website

Book your place

Click below to book your tickets.
We have now sold out of all first and second release rate tickets and have moved on to the standard rate.

Please note all prices are subject to 13% HST. Prices shown are exclusive of HST.

If you have any questions, please contact Thomas Williams on thomas.williams@ir-impact.com or +44 208 090 2156.

INDIVIDUAL SEAT

C$895

STANDARD rate

Individual seat
Opening cocktail reception
2 course sit-down dinner
Entertainment
After-party
Dessert station
Networking opportunities

STANDARD TABLE OF 10

C$8,055

STANDARD rate

Table of 10
Opening cocktail reception
2 course sit-down dinner
Entertainment
After-party
Dessert station
Networking opportunities

CORPORATE VIP TABLE OF 10

C$8,955

STANDARD rate

All standard table of 10 benefits plus:

A bottle of champagne
Themed cocktail on arrival for your whole table
Company branding on the table
A larger table-top for the comfort of your guests
Mention in the opening remarks by the MC
A member of the organization interviewed at the event

If you are a non-corporate looking to book a VIP table, don’t hesitate to contact ian.richman@ir-impact.com

Gallery

Highlights

View the highlights from the 2024 awards ceremony

Contact us

For partnership inquiries

Ian Richman

+1 212 430 6865

For Awards inquiries

Priscilla Lim

+44 20 8004 4989

For all other inquiries

Thomas Williams

+44 20 8090 2156

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