Skip to main content
Silla band are singing on TED stage

TED@Destination Canada

TED@DestinationCanada

Destination Canada and TEDExternal Link Title collaborated to create TED@DestinationCanada, producing 14 TED Talks from the brightest speakers and biggest changemakers connected to Canada. The theme of the event was O P E N.

O P E N

When we come together with open hearts and open minds, anything is possible. We see connections everywhere. We welcome all ideas, experiences and ways of life—because this is how we learn, grow and change.

Photo credit: Gilberto Tadday / TED

On Thursday, February 23, 14 speakers took the stage at the TED Theater in New York City to record their talks so they can be shared globally.

These speakers and their innovative ideas represent all regions of our country, a span of generations, a wealth of backgrounds and a diversity of perspectives. We know their ideas will spark conversations that will help drive our country and our global community forward.

Learn more about the speakers below.

View all the talks on the TED websiteExternal Link Title.

If you have any questions, please contact: TED@DestinationCanada.com

#TEDatDestinationCanada

 

Updated July 4, 2023

TED Talks

Performers

Two indigenous women stand facing each other on a TED talk stage with microphones.

Silla, Urgent voices
The ancient art form of Inuit throat singing

In this powerful performance, the Inuit duo Silla performs the ancient art form of katajjaq, a type of throat singing found only in the Canadian Arctic.

Watch Silla's PerformanceExternal Link Title

Silla is an Inuit duo blending divergent styles of traditional and contemporary katajjaq (throat singing) across a wide range of genres. Performing together since 2005, Silla members Charlotte Qamaniq and Cynthia Pitsiulak hail from Iglulik and Kimmirut Nunavut, respectively.

Their moniker comes from the Inuktitut word Sila, which encompasses concepts of weather, land, spirit of the atmosphere, cunning and intelligence. The name evokes the rich musical texture and nuance throat singing creates, and acknowledges the powerful spirituality and traditions that have kept it alive through the historical and modern threats posed by colonialism.

Silla has been twice nominated at the Juno Awards and has won two Summer Solstice Indigenous Music Awards.

A singer and guitar player performing on the TED stage.

Mélissa Laveaux, Musical alchemist
“La Baleine” / “Nan Fon Bwa”

Singer-songwriter Mélissa Laveaux performs two mesmerizing songs, "La Baleine" and "Nan Fon Bwa," alongside bassist Sébastien Richelieu.

Watch Mélissa's PerformanceExternal Link Title

Mélissa Laveaux is a Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist who sings in both English and Haitian Creole, the language of her parents. She began her career in Ottawa's feminist riot grrrl punk community, releasing her first album, Camphor & Copper, in 2008. She now lives in Paris—which inspired her second album, Dying is a Wild Night.

Laveaux’s work often explores the ethnomusicology of Haiti, including songs of rebellion she heard as a child (Radyo Siwèl, 2018). On her fourth studio album, Mama Forgot Her Name was Miracle (2022), Laveaux dives into the poetic, therapeutic and spiritual aspects of music, conjuring grown-up lullabies and nursery rhymes while invoking influential voices from the past. For her, music is a tool of political resistance.