Certainly, the trade commissioner service is very focused on.... The vast majority of our clients are small and medium-sized enterprises, and we put a particular emphasis on what we would call “under-represented” exporters traditionally: women, indigenous people, members of the LGBTQ2+ community, Black-owned businesses, youth-owned businesses and others.
For more than 20 years, we have had businesswomen in the international trade program, focused on women exporters. We run trade missions that are specifically focused on women exporters and on creating more opportunities for them. We also have the Canadian technology accelerator program, and several of those cohorts have been for women only. Really, it is an effort to encourage and enhance opportunities for women exporters. We also offer what we would call a “concierge service”, to give them greater access to the CanExport program, which is a co-funding program for their promotional activities abroad. There are a number of different pathways to doing more for women exporters and other under-represented groups.
