35 Years Of ETFs: The Evolution Of A Canadian Innovation

In 2021, we published an article to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the launch of the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Canada. At that time, the global economy was at a vulnerable point, navigating the uncertainty which came with the COVID-19 pandemic. ETFs played an important role in the overall stability and resilience of the Canadian markets, providing transparency, price discovery and liquidity to investors seeking some certainty.

Fast-forward to 2025, now 35 years have gone by since the listing of TIPS, the Toronto 35 Index Participation Units, on the Toronto Stock Exchange. We are again at a critical juncture, with geopolitical events triggering uncertainty and increasingly volatile financial markets, which provides us with an opportunity to look back at some key trends in the Canadian ETF market over the last 5 years that may also shape future developments.