More Sustainable

Whether we limit our definition of sustainability to the environmental realm, or expand it to include sustained financial viability in an era of uncertain public funding, or the sustainability of our buildings, or personal and community well-being as we grapple with the stresses of university life, our conclusion must always be the same: sustainability is non-negotiable.

Our future literally depends on our ability to design, implement and promote sustainable practices for our planet, for ourselves and for our bottom line. We will rise to meet that challenge in every domain of our activity and will spur ourselves to ensure that we work to bring change, not only on our campus, but also beyond it.

“Sustainability is respecting and living in connection to the natural environment. It also means nurturing our relationship with community to enable us to thrive and learn together.”

Tareyn Johnson, Director of Indigenous Affairs

Objectives

Objective 1

Nurture a sustainable campus culture that promotes overall well-being, embraces diversity, and fuels employee engagement.

Strategy

Promote recreation and wellness throughout the campus, including a comprehensive ethos of self-care and caring

Actions

Create a comprehensive campus mental health plan to build on work already done in this area
Promote and enable physical and psychological health and wellness for faculty and staff
Mobilize external stakeholders to implement a wellness, recreation and sport project

Objective 2

Develop a long-term financial sustainability framework

Strategy

Work in a transparent, deliberate, and collaborative manner to incorporate recruitment, capital, maintenance, and human resource requirements, as well as increased revenue generation in a long-term financial sustainability framework

Actions

Identify the widest possible range of new revenue sources with a corresponding feasibility assessment and implementation plan
Develop financing methods for longterm capital needs in order to ensure sustainable and viable growth, development, and maintenance of campus infrastructure
Provide faculties and services with unit-level financial viability analysis on an annual basis

Strategy

Embrace innovation and change to reduce cost growth while maintaining quality

Actions

Implement recommendations of the Ad hoc Committee on Sustainable Library Collections to control costs while ensuring that access to quality information resources are in place to support the University’s aspirations for transformative teaching and high-impact research
Humanize, modernize, and streamline our administrative systems and processes (Administrative Services Modernization Program — People. Organization. Processes.)

Objective 3

Ensure responsible and sustainable growth of our infrastructure

Strategy

Ensure the safety, sustainability, and growth of campus physical infrastructure with a comprehensive medium- to long-term campus infrastructure renewal plan

Actions

Implement an effective deferred maintenance plan
Renew the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Health Sciences facilities at Roger Guindon Hall
Consolidate the Faculty of Health Sciences
Implement a multi-year research infrastructure plan for state-of-the-art research facilities and services to support internationally competitive research
Implement a long-term student residence and housing redevelopment plan to increase residence capacity, including year-round accommodations

Strategy

Ensure the security, sustainability, and growth of campus IT infrastructure with a comprehensive medium- to long-term IT infrastructure renewal plan

Actions

Implement an effective IT evergreening plan
Continue to bolster our cybersecurity posture, including private and public partnerships
Standardize and integrate physical and application infrastructure across faculties and services
Leverage cloud-based services to reduce energy consumption during non-peak periods (Green IT)
Implement a long-term application sustainment plan

Objective 4

Ensure responsible and sustainable security and safety planning

Strategy

Enable optimal responses to, and recovery from, adverse situations

Actions

Continue the review and implementation of emergency management and business continuity best practices
Develop increased capacity to assess and manage risks