Bourstad and FinÉcoLab: CIRANO equips young people to understand, decide, and act in economics and finance

MONTREAL, Sept. 16, 2025 /CNW/ - How can we prepare the next generation to navigate a world where financial and economic decisions are omnipresent? To answer this question, CIRANO is launching the 2025-2026 edition of its two flagship initiatives, accessible to thousands of young people across Canada: Bourstad, a set of educational stock market simulations, and FinÉcoLab, a game kit for learning economics in a different way.

FinÉcoLab: learning through play

Designed as a fun laboratory, FinÉcoLab offers teachers interactive educational games that immerse their students in real-life situations: managing a budget, making consumer choices, understanding market mechanisms. FinÉcoLab transforms the classroom into an experimental space where economics becomes alive and tangible.

Completely free and accessible online at finecolab.com, these tools are supported by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), CIRANO's main partner for this project.

Bourstad Program: Immerse yourself in the world of stock market investing starting in high school!

With the Bourstad Program, students experience portfolio management and responsible investing by reacting to changes in real financial markets. More than just a competition, Bourstad is an educational experience that develops decision-making, economic analysis, and social responsibility skills. Schools can integrate these educational activities throughout the year and/or register their students for the 39^th edition of the Bourstad Challenge, scheduled for February 9 to April 10, 2026. This state-of-the-art online platform allows students to step into the shoes of an investment advisor for a fictional investor, while reacting to changes in real markets. The application also offers coaching features for teachers and supervisors of private simulations and the Bourstad Challenge in schools. Teachers and students participating in the simulations therefore benefit from rich, comprehensive, and varied support. The registration procedures for schools participating in the 2025-2026 Bourstad program can be found at www.bourstad.ca.

Educating informed citizens
"The results of the CIRANO 2025 Barometer show that understanding economic and financial issues remains a challenge in Quebec and Canada. With FinÉcoLab and Bourstad, we want to offer young people concrete and accessible tools to develop their skills, reflect on their choices, and better prepare for the future," emphasizes Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin, CEO of CIRANO.

Exceptional mobilization during the 2025 Bourstad Challenge

The 2025 Bourstad Challenge came to a successful close with a ceremony at CIRANO on June 2, under the honorary chairmanship of Julie Paquin, Director of Financial Education at the Autorité des marchés financiers. The jury, chaired by Julie Ducharme, CFA, Vice President and Portfolio Manager at PH&N Institutional, selected 123 winners who shared $41,500 in prize money. Here are the Grand Prize winners of the 2025 Bourstad Challenge in various categories, as well as the winners of the Autorité des marchés financiers' Special Financial Education Awards.

Portfolio Management
Rayan CHEHADE (Collège Bois-de-Boulogne)
Jia Xin CHEN* (Montreal, QC)
Luc DUVAL* (Bromont, QC)
Ze Yue LI (École secondaire internationale de Montréal)
Alexa PHILIPPE (Collège de L'Assomption)
Rebekah Victoria SAINT-AMOUR (Collège de L'Assomption)
Emilie SALLAUD (Collège Bois-de-Boulogne)
Samantha YU (École secondaire internationale de Montréal)

Responsible Investment
Amira BOUHENCHIR (Collège Bois-de-Boulogne)
Leonardo ONTIVEROS (École secondaire internationale de Montréal)
Théo PARENT (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi)

Financial Performance
Fabiana Cecilia ABREU SALAZAR (Champlain College Saint-Lambert)
Louis DURAND (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi)
Éli LANGEVIN (Cégep régional de Lanaudière à Joliette)
Alexis LANGLOIS (Université de Montréal)
Pol MONNIER (HEC Montréal)
Samy MOUMNI (Collège Laval)
Dominic TREMBLAY* (Saint-Hubert QC)

Overall performance
Rayan CHEHADE (Collège Bois-de-Boulogne)
Lucas DONICI (Collège de L'Assomption)
Théo PARENT (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi)
Catalin PETCU* (Repentigny QC)
Emilie SALLAUD (Collège Bois-de-Boulogne)
Samantha YU (École secondaire internationale de Montréal)

Special Financial Education Awards from the Autorité des marchés financiers
Vincent BOILY (Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, secteur secondaire)
Olivier GRAVEL (École secondaire Saint-Jean-Eudes)
Daoyuan HUANG (Vanier College)
Chris Merten JULOT (Collège de L'Assomption)
Maksym KUZMENKO (École secondaire Monseigneur-Richard)
Jeremy SIMARD (Cégep de Trois-Rivières)

* Participants from the general public who are not university students.

In addition, six students distinguished themselves by receiving the Autorité des marchés financiers' Special Financial Education Awards, each with $500 as prize money. Candidates competing for these special awards were invited to share their experiences and discuss the good and bad decisions they made throughout the simulation, highlighting the lasting lessons they learned.

Congratulations to all the winners and to the 3,100 participants in this 38^th edition of the Bourstad Challenge!

For more information on CIRANO's financial education activities, you can watch this short video produced for CIRANO's 30^th anniversary.

For more information
Visit the Bourstad website

About CIRANO

CIRANO is a multidisciplinary research, liaison, and transfer center whose mission is to accelerate the transfer of knowledge between the research community and the practice community (CIRANO website). The Bourstad program is a CIRANO initiative that receives support from numerous partners for this financial education project: the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), its main partner, TD Bank Group, CFA Montréal, the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), Finance Montréal, TMX Group, Hyprasoft, Groupe Investissement responsable, and QuoteMedia. The FinÉcoLab games were developed with the support of the Autorité des marchés financiers, the main partner, and 14 other partners brought together by Finance Montréal.

SOURCE Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organizations (CIRANO)

Information: Paul Bourget, Director of Financial Education Projects, CIRANO, [email protected] or 514-985-4000, ext. 3006