We are proud to share that Will Tao (Wei William Tao), Principal Lawyer and Founder of Heron Law Offices, has been selected as one of 250 participants in the 2026 Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference (GGCLC), one of Canada’s most prestigious and longstanding leadership development programs.
Running from May 22 to June 5, 2026, this year’s theme is Leading Canada’s Sustainable Prosperity, a call to leaders who are ready to think big about economic growth, social inclusion, and Canada’s role in an uncertain world.
What Is the GGCLC?
The Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference has been bringing together Canada’s emerging leaders since 1983. Now hosted under the Rideau Hall Foundation, the GGCLC is a two-week immersive experience that gathers leaders from across business, labour, government, non-profit, education, and the cultural sector.
This is not a conference in the traditional sense. It is a transformational leadership experience, one that has shaped the thinking of more than 2,400 Canadians over four decades by drawing them out of their day-to-day environments and into cross-sector, cross-regional dialogue about the challenges and opportunities facing Canada.
Participants are divided into 16 regional study tour groups, each travelling to a different part of the country to meet directly with communities, local leaders, and organizations doing work on the ground. Groups then reconvene for a Closing Plenary, where they present their findings to the Governor General of Canada.
Being selected for the GGCLC is a recognition of leadership potential and community impact. Participants are professionals identified as emerging leaders whose work is already making a difference and whose perspectives will benefit from the broader national lens the conference provides.
Here is how Will is introduced in the official 2026 GGCLC participant directory:
Will has spent over a decade appearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada and the Federal Court, working on complex litigation involving refusals, inadmissibility, and systemic administrative law issues, including direct challenges to the government’s use of automated decision-making in immigration cases. Beyond client work, he has served as a founding member of the Canadian Bar Association’s National Immigration Section Anti-Racism Committee, and has been recognized as a Lexpert-ranked lawyer and recipient of the CBA’s 2020 Founder’s Award.
Why This Conference Matters for Immigration Law
The GGCLC is non-partisan and deliberately builds connections amongst emerging leaders from different sectors. It is designed to break down silos; giving a labour leader an understanding of what a business executive faces, an urban professional direct exposure to the realities of rural communities, or a legal advocate the chance to learn alongside government officials shaping policy. The conference sees the goal of leadership as “collaborative rather than isolated, and rooted in the belief that progress depends on people working across boundaries and perspectives.”
At Heron Law Offices, we believe Canada’s prosperity is inseparable from its immigration system. The decisions made by leaders in business, government, and civil society directly shape the conditions in which newcomers build their lives and those decisions are better when they are informed by people who work with migrant communities every day. We believe Will’s presence in that room matters, and we are glad the GGCLC brings together exactly this kind of cross-sector dialogue.
The 2026 theme of sustainable prosperity resonates with us because, in our view, sustainable prosperity means creating conditions for all people to thrive, including the immigrants, refugees, and newcomers who are so central to Canada’s workforce, communities, and future.