Science Rendezvous is the largest science festival in Canada; its inaugural event happened across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) on Saturday, May 10, 2008 with the support from the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, York University and the Ontario Tech U (previously University of Ontario Institute of Technology). By 2011 the event had gone national, with participation from most major research institutes, universities, science promotion groups and the public from all across Canada - from Vancouver to St. John's to Inuvik. Science Rendezvous is a registered not-for-profit organization dedicated to making great science accessible to the public. In 2019, there were more than 300 festival events in 30 cities across Canada.