presents
presents
Rural & Northern Healthcare Leadership Conference
Rural & Northern
Healthcare Leadership Conference
The essential Canadian forum for leaders delivering rural and remote care.
7th Annual | April 08–09, 2027 | Toronto + Virtual
About the conference
The Canadian Rural & Northern Healthcare Leadership Conference provides a platform to share innovative solutions and address the unique challenges of delivering care in rural and northern communities.
Each year, the program features sessions on Indigenous health and culturally safe care, digital and virtual innovations, and workforce recruitment and retention. Additional recurring themes include mental health, emergency preparedness, community partnerships, health equity, emerging technology, and leadership practices that build resilient teams and workplaces. Participants leave with practical strategies and inspiration to strengthen care delivery in their communities.
Who is this conference for?
This event is tailored to professionals working in all aspects of the rural healthcare industry in Canada, including:
Clinical Leaders
- Chiefs of Staff
- Chiefs of Nursing
- Chiefs of Medicine
- Rural Physicians (leaders)
- Nurse Practitioners (leaders)
- Allied Health Directors
Health System Leaders
- Hospital CEOs
- Senior Executives
- Health Authority Leaders
- Rural Hospital Boards
Policy, Community & Advocacy
- Government Health Officials
- Indigenous Health Directors
- Community Health Advocates
- Academic Leaders (rural health)
- Public Health Faculty
- Rural Health Researchers
- Health Network Leaders
- Patient Advocacy Leaders
What to expect?
A wealth of peer-led information sharing with discussions and case studies on current rural healthcare topics and many opportunities to connect. In person attendees can join our “Networking Cocktail Reception” along with dedicated networking activities planned throughout the day. Virtual participants are invited to chat with the virtual audience and interact with speakers during live Q&A.
ABOUT THE ORGANIZER
Spark Conferences is Canada’s leading healthcare event producer. We provide healthcare professionals with informational conferences, in a peer-to-peer format. We produce our own independent and apolitical events.
MAINTENANCE OF CERTIFICATION
Certified CCHL members can log 4.25 MOC II Credits in their MOC portal. 2 hours of learning = 1 MOC II Credit (please note, this does not include breaks, networking breaks, or receptions)
CPD & CPE CREDITS
Participants attending the Conference may be eligible to earn hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) or Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits. Credit hours are based on the total time of qualifying educational content, excluding breaks, meals, and networking sessions. Letters of attendance will be provided upon request.
Previously Featured Speakers
Lynn Mikula
President & CEO, Peterborough Regional Health Centre
Nathan Banda
Director, Surgical Services, Grande Prairie Regional Hospital
Janet Gordon
Vice President, Community Health, Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority (SLFNHA)
Stay tuned for updates on upcoming speakers. Follow us on social media for for all the latest announcements on this conference.
Ongoing Call For Speakers
This is your opportunity to share your knowledge and experience with other health care professionals. Please email us at info@sparkconferences.com to receive more information.
We look forward to receiving your submissions!
Pricing & Registration
Teams save big: 3–5 save 10%, 6–10 save 15%, and 11+ save 20%.
Super Early Bird prices end October 2nd! Act now to secure our best rates. Discounts automatically applied in checkout.
Non-Profit | Public Sector
Virtual Registration
Click to see registration inclusions
- Dedicated networking: connect with others on our platform and in a moderated virtual networking session
- Access to livestream: Watch the sessions and participate in Q&A
- 3 months of on-demand access (post-event) to our library, featuring:
- PDF files of speaker presentations
- Session recordings on-demand
- All recordings and content from previous years
$883.00 +hst
In Person Registration
Click to see registration inclusions
- Complete two-day access: live conference sessions, case studies, and panel discussions, including Q&A
- Face-to-face networking: connect and build relationships with attendees & speakers
- Networking cocktail event: complimentary drinks included with your conference registration
- Breakfast, Lunch, & Breaks
- 3 months of on-demand access (post-event) to our library, featuring:
- PDF files of speaker presentations
- Session recordings on-demand
- All recordings and content from previous years
$1,359.00 +hst
Vendors | Private Sector
Vendors | Private Sector
Learn about our pricing model
Commercial Registration
Click to see registration inclusions
- Complete two-day access: live conference sessions, case studies, and panel discussions, including Q&A
- Face-to-face networking: connect and build relationships with attendees & speakers
- Networking cocktail event: complimentary drinks included with your conference registration
- Breakfast, Lunch, & Breaks
- 3 months of on-demand access (post-event) to our on-demand library
A commercial registration is for individual attendance only. For booth inquiries and sponsor partnerships, email our team at info@sparkconferences.com.
Interested in exhibiting or sponsoring? Request a call.
$2,091.00 +hst
About our Public/Private Sector pricing model
Are you a healthcare student looking to attend?
About Our Pricing Model
Why commercial rates are higher
Healthcare providers, government organizations, and non-profits are the core audience for our conferences. Keeping their registration rates lower helps make it easier for more decision-makers and end users to attend.
What this means for vendors
Commercial attendees are participating in a business development context. Our pricing helps support a healthier delegate-to-vendor ratio and reduces the risk of the event becoming overcrowded with suppliers.
Why that matters
A more balanced room creates better access to healthcare leaders, more meaningful conversations, and a stronger overall return on your time onsite. It also helps ensure the event stays focused on education, peer exchange, and relationship-building — the setting in which the best commercial conversations tend to happen.
Location
Toronto + Virtual
The Rural & Northern Healthcare Leadership Conference will be a hybrid event, held both in-person and virtually.
Virtual Attendees: An email reminder with login information will be sent a week prior to the conference. If you haven’t received it, please email us at info@sparkconferences.com.
In-Person Attendees: Venue details to be announced.
Win a Free Ticket
Enter for a chance to win free entry to the conference. Winners will be drawn at random and notified via email up to a week before the conference. See our full terms and conditions for more details.
In Partnership With
Media Partners
Secure your spot today
The best ideas start with showing up. Network with industry leaders and gain insights that drive change. Take advantage of early registration discounts while they last.
What Do Our Attendees
Think?
See what past attendees have said about their experiences at this event.
Professionally, this stands out as one of the best conferences I've attended.
Thank you Spark Conferences, for an outstanding event-from organization to execution. The carefully curated topics, insightful speakers, and engaging discussions made it an eye-opening and thought-provoking experience. It highlighted urgent challenges in rural and northern healthcare while inspiring actionable solutions. Every detail, from the venue to the hospitality, was exceptional. Professionally, this stands out as one of the best conferences I’ve attended this year. Looking forward to more innovations and opportunities to contribute!
Abby Adeyemi
Manager, SE Health
2025 Attendee
Very condusive for learning
Very informative. Relaxed setting and very condusive for learning.
Jesse Albancz, CEO, All Ways of Caring Home Care Services
2026 Attendee
A valuable opportunity to meet and learn from professionals
The conference provided a valuable opportunity to meet and learn from professionals who are actively tackling rural healthcare challenges,. Learning about innovative solutions like telemedicine, community led initiatives and new healthcare apps informing access in remote areas.
Bhavna Sharma
Category Specialist, Healthcare Serivces, WSIB
2025 Attendee
Excellent job of translating broad and high-level system issues
The conference did an excellent job of translating broad and high-level system issues and breaking them down into tangible, on the ground strategies for improvement.
Rhiannon Berke, Integrated Home Care Manager
2026 Attendee
So rejuvenating and invigorating
As a first time attendee to the conference, I was drawn in by the list of speakers and their topics that would be presented. They all seemed very relevant to the needs of health care leadership across the country. The conference delivered on not only the topics but the understanding that we are all facing the same challenges and while there are very distinct difference between the provinces and territories, we are all facing the same challenges and struggles. So rejuvenating and invigorating.
Carol Gower
Director LTC, Prairie Mountain Health, Manitoba
2024 Attendee
Informative and timely
The conference was informative and timely. All the topics were important. The main host was very engaging. Gitchi Meegwetch!
Yolaine Kirlew
Director of Corporate Communications and Strategic Partnerships
2021 Attendee
Inspirational leadership for health system transformation
Excellent conference providing a wide variety of research, implementation ideas, and inspirational leadership for health system transformation!
Shannon Duke
2024 Attendee
Many take aways for all of us in attendance
An exceptional conference that facilitates the sharing of innovation, opportunities, learnings and challenges that exist in rural and northern healthcare across the country. Many take aways for all of us in attendance!
Debbie Walsh
2024 Attendee
Very diverse and informative conference
This was a very diverse and informative conference. The speakers were fantastic and joining in virtually was seamless. I am looking forward to participating again in the future.
Shallyn Kocis
PHN, Northwestern Health Unit (Kenora, ON)
2024 Attendee
Amazing work on programs and services
Conference was great! Amazing work on programs and services implemented in rural areas. Access to health care to those areas that would otherwise struggle to receive health care. This conference is an effective venue to share all the great programs and services.
2022 Attendee
I look forward to the next one!
What a superbly-facilitated, relevant, thought-provoking conference for those of us living and practicing in Rural and Northern areas. I look forward to the next one!
Sue LeBeau
CEO, Red Lake Hospital (Ontario), 2021 Attendee
A great variety in topics
Very well planned and organized. The right number and topics of sessions were chosen, a great variety in topics, well built in breaks to allow us to reflect and refresh our minds after such mind opening sessions. The hosts were also excellent and seamlessly brought in the online voice, great hybrid approach.
2023 Attendee
Helped me to understand more about challenges in health care
The conference helped me to understand more about challenges in health care for people living in rural and remote area.
Andrey Kildyushov
2022 Attendee