Category: Advancing Sustainable Development Goals

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April 11, 2023

Applied research allows more Canadian businesses to innovate in a global world

Budget 2023 is here, and our sector’s innovation story was a key investment. The budget recognizes the critical role colleges and institutes play in helping small and medium-sized businesses innovate. It’s a big win for Canadian businesses in challenging times.

Specifically, Budget 2023 invests $108.6 million over three years in college and institute applied research through the existing College and Community Innovation Program. Administered by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), The College and Community Innovation program is tri-agency funding that provides innovative solutions for local and regional challenges faced by businesses, government, and communities, through the expertise of Canadian colleges, institutes, CEGEPs, and polytechnics.

How it works? In the college and institute context, applied research is the development of innovative solutions to real-world challenges. Businesses and community organizations – especially SMEs and entrepreneurs that often do not have large budgets for research and development – come to their local institution with a problem to solve. There, they get access to state-of-the-art facilities, specialized equipment, and technical experts to help them advance their business.

  • In real numbers, that expertise led to over 6,400 applied research projects amounting to 5,500 new processes, products, prototypes, and services in only one year (2019-2020). In Budget terms, that means more than $108 million over three years is reinvested in the long-term sustainability of Canadian industry.

Applied research is at the intersection of SDG 4 Quality Education, SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, and SDG 9 Innovation, Industry, and Infrastructure. Canadian businesses and community organizations of all sizes (in all areas of the country) benefit from real solutions to real problems. Students gain valuable work experience and skills to join the job market by participating in cutting-edge, industry-relevant research projects. And we all benefit from innovations that help futureproof the Canadian economy.

Facing inflation, labour shortages, large-scale economic transformations, and a climate crisis, there’s still more to do to rebuild Canada’s workforce, address inequality, and transition to a net-zero economy. Other Budget 2023 measures we’re keeping an eye on:

  • Skills and Training: Budget 2023 provides $197.7 million in 2024-25 to the Student Work Placement Program to continue creating quality work-integrated learning opportunities for students through partnerships between employers and post-secondary education institutions. It also introduces cross-government reviews to examine if improvements can be made to skills training and youth programming.
  • Infrastructure: Budget 2023 announces that the Canada Infrastructure Bank will invest at least $20 billion in existing priority areas to support clean electricity and clean growth infrastructure projects. It also provides $500 million over ten years to the Strategic Innovation Fund to support the development and application of clean technologies in Canada.
  • Indigenous Supports: Budget 2023 provides $5 million in 2023-24 to Indigenous Services Canada to support the co-development of an Economic Reconciliation Framework with Indigenous partners that will increase economic opportunities for Indigenous Peoples, communities, and businesses.

What now? We’re keen to get back to our regular advocacy and engage actively with key federal departments and stakeholders in the coming weeks as the announced programs are designed and implemented!

Be active in your communities and on social media to promote colleges and institutes as key players and be sure to let us know of visits and meetings that take place.

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March 10, 2023

For students in the Supportive Care Assistant Program, SDGs 3 and 8 go hand-in-hand

The Supportive Care Assistant (SCA) program gives students the opportunity to contribute to the health and well-being of loved ones and others, while setting them on a path to find decent work and contribute to economic growth. Students in the program learn in-demand skills, get hands-on work experience, and launch careers in long-term care. Across Canada, SCA students are providing much-needed support to their communities. This is Sayo’s story.

Sayo Yazumi arrived in Canada from Japan ten years ago. With a background in accounting and finance, she found it difficult to find work in her field due to Canadian certification requirements. Eventually, Sayo found work as a cashier and enjoyed interacting with customers; however, in 2020 – due to COVID – Sayo was laid off from her job as a cashier. That led her on a new career path, one that introduced her to SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 actionable items that call on countries to work together to solve issues that affect us all – like poverty, hunger, inequality, and climate change – while planning for a long-term equitable, peaceful and prosperous future.

SDG 3 challenges us to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all people at all ages.

When one of her family members became gravely ill, Sayo devoted time to caring for them but found it challenging as she did not have any practical healthcare training. This experience motivated her consider the Supportive Care Assistant (SCA) program.

The SCA program is a national microcredential designed to attract and rapidly train new workers for the personal care sector. Students take six weeks of flexible online training, followed by a 2 to 4 month paid work placement. Students can then access a $5,000 stipend to pursue further studies.

Sayo heard about the SCA program at Vancouver Community College (VCC), decided it seemed like a good fit, and enrolled. “I didn’t have experience in healthcare,” she said, “so the SCA program seemed like a nice way to explore the field, especially because the work experience was paid. I liked that the SCA program had the $5,000 stipend to get into the Health Care Assistant* program, too.”

After completing six weeks of online training, Sayo found a work placement with a local home healthcare provider, Proof of Care, in North Vancouver. She enjoyed the experience in a healthcare setting, particularly interacting with clients in her community. “I hadn’t worked with seniors before, but the clients were all very nice. I found the work rewarding and learned a lot about how to care for seniors. My employer, Proof of Care, was supportive of my learning.”

SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth challenges us to act in a way that promotes inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all. Learning experiences like the SCA program prepare people to find fulfilling careers.

The experience helped Sayo confirm that she wanted to pursue a career in healthcare, and she was accepted into VCC’s Health Care Assistant program, the next step in her career. Immediately, she applied for the $5,000 stipend from Colleges and Institutes Canada. She says, “I’m looking forward to building a career as a health care assistant. After graduation, I am open to jobs in long-term care, group homes, or home care.”

Looking back on her experience in the Supportive Care Assistant program, Sayo says, the SCA program is “a low-risk way to get into healthcare. You don’t know if you would like to work in healthcare until you try. The SCA program prepares your mind for what it will be like.”

She adds, “If anyone is considering taking the SCA program, my advice is to just go for it!”

*In British Columbia, when students complete the Supportive Care Assistant program, they can move to become a Health Care Assistant. Other provinces use different terms, including Personal Support Worker in Ontario and Health Care Aide in Alberta.

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February 27, 2023

Innovation starts with a challenge (SDG 9)

What do you get when you combine a college or institute, a small business, and a challenge? We’ll give you a hint – it’s one of Canada’s strongest motors for innovation and a fundamental part of Canada’s largest postsecondary network. The answer is applied research.

It’s more important than ever that we think creatively about economic, social, and environmental challenges and applied research is key to this. Unfortunately, innovation is often underfunded. In fact, while (in 2020) OECD countries invested an average of 2.67% of GDP on research, Canada spent just 1.84%. Imagine what we could achieve if we invested more strategically.

In communities all across the country, businesses (especially SMEs and entrepreneurs) and community organizations come to their local college or institute with a problem. Think: how can I make my product more efficient, with less waste? Or: how can I make the services my organization provides more inclusive?

Across nearly 700 campuses, colleges and institutes provide would-be innovators with access to state-of-the-art facilities, specialized equipment, and technical experts to help them advance their businesses. In real numbers, that expertise led to 8,000 total research partnerships, over 6,400 applied research projects, 5,500 new processes, products, prototypes, and services in every year (based on most recent data, 2019-2020).

Here are just a few of the many examples of applied research boosting innovation in our communities:

  • At the Engineered Technology Applied Research Lab (Nova Scotia Community College), applied research has led to the development of a cost-effective water-filtration solution for the predominantly black community in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. The student project focused on creating a versatile remote sensor system (VRSS) used to collect data in wells or on land to better understand environmental conditions.
  • At Lion Electric (working with the Innovative Vehicle Institute at Cégep de Saint-Jérôme) applied research means the developing of a new school bus with electric motorization. Once complete, this project became a turning point for Lion Electric as they converted their offerings to 100% electric buses and trucks.
  • At Contextere (working with Algonquin College), applied research means the developing of the Advanced Virtual Assistant (AVA) application, now named Madison. This Microsoft Teams-integrated application makes it faster to retrieve information about machinery operation and technical issues encountered by workers in the field. The platform facilitates a 50% reduction in non-productive time and a 40% reduction in safety incidents for companies who use it.

Each year, more and more Canadian businesses and community organizations of all sizes benefit from real solutions to business challenges led by colleges and institutes. Each year, more students gain valuable work experience and skills by participating in cutting-edge research projects. Forty-two thousand students to be exact, in just one year (2019-2020). And each year, more Canadians benefit from innovation that contributes to the long-term sustainability of Canadian industry.

The college and institute innovation landscape across Canada is a best kept secret, but we need the proper resources to get the word out, and help it grow. To build stronger, more resilient communities, it is essential that we give college and institute leaders the resources they need to maximize the impact of Canada’s largest network of innovators.

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February 14, 2023

SDG Week Canada is coming to a campus near you!

Brought to you by CICan, SDSN Canada, and the Sustainability Hub at UBC, SDG Week Canada is a chance to showcase and accelerate the SDGs on college, institute, and university campuses in a coordinated, collaborative way. Join over 25 CICan members in offering your own workshops, panels, and other interactive programming to increase awareness of and engagement with the 17 SDGs on campuses. March 6-10.  

The Sustainable Development Goals give us a model for collaboration to create positive change. They are a global call to action for countries, communities and campuses to work together to solve issues that affect us all – like poverty, hunger, inequality, and climate change – while planning for a long-term equitable, peaceful, and prosperous future. Everyone has a role to play in making progress towards the goals.  

At ImpAct-Climate, we have the privilege of working closely with colleges and institutes across the country that are committed to the SDGs. Most recently, we’ve been working with 10 colleges and institutes to turn their campuses into living labs that demonstrate how we can maximize the impact of Canada’s largest postsecondary network. Keep scrolling for a funding opportunity!  

  1. At Norquest College, the Green Café team uses rescued or left over food ingredients to deliver delicious, chef-prepared meals to students free-of-charge while raising awareness about sustainable consumption and production patterns. (SDGs 2, 3 & 12) 
  2. At Canadore College, the team is using climate resistant sustainable technologies (solar power) to displace the use of fossil fuels to help create food sovereignty for rural and Indigenous communities. (SDGs 2, 3, 7, 9, 11, 12 & 13) 
  3. At Conestoga College, the Bloom Café demonstrates ways to lower our impact on the environment by eliminating single use packaging for take-away items, reducing food and solid waste from restaurant operations, and understanding the GHG impact of the ingredients used in each dish. (SDGs 9, 12 & 13) 
  4. At Georgian College, the Climate Action Lab and the departments of Hospitality, Tourism and Recreation are reducing food-related emissions through sustainable practices such as localizing ingredients, reducing food waste, composting, urban farming, reducing, and recycling plastics. They are also working with students and community members to create an emissions dashboard and carbon counter to track, expand, and scale climate action initiatives in the region. (SDGs 2, 3, 4, 11, 12 & 13) 
  5. At Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne, the climate action laboratory organizes GHG emissions reduction activities for students and community members. The team is also actively engaging the community in co-designing an aquaponic infrastructure that could be installed on their campus to provide fresh, healthy, and readily available food all year. (SDGs 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 13 & 17) 
  6. At Cambrian College, the Climate Action Lab team uses their year-round, four-season Indigenous learning space to teach individuals about sustainability, as well as many other topics, through an Indigenous lens of ways of knowing, being, and doing. (SDGs 4, 10, 11 & 16) 
  7. At Dawson College, the climate action team is working to offset transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions from physical education courses by planting a living carbon offset in the form of a raised wetland, thanks to the efforts of 25 students who built the project by hand. (SDGs 6, 9, 11, 13 & 15)  
  8. At College of the Rockies, the team is reducing greenhouse gas emissions on campus by diverting organics from the landfill to their campus composter and by growing leafy greens on campus to replace those that travel thousands of kilometres from farm to their campus culinary program. (SDGs 2, 3, 9, 11, 12 & 13) 
  9. At Vanier College, the Climate Action Laboratory raises awareness about the benefits of replacing traditional campus lawn care with sustainable low-carbon maintenance approaches. The Lab is working with local elementary schools to implement strategies to promote successional growth and to convert lawns to food gardens for local consumption. (SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 12 & 13) 
  10. At Mohawk College, the team is raising awareness about greenhouse gases and energy with print and digital signage in high traffic areas on campus to help people understand their contributions to climate change and to support campus-wide decision making by analyzing detailed energy data. (SDGs 9, 11, 12 & 13) 

Now it’s your turn! Transform your campus into a living lab (Round II). 

We’ve already funded 10 successful projects and are looking for 10 more! Join a network that demonstrates ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 5 areas: Indigenous approaches to sustainability, waste, transportation, buildings and land management, and food. Deadline: March 3.  

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February 13, 2023

Safe spaces are essential spaces for learning (SDG 16)

Colleges and institutes are often the primary access points to post-secondary education for vulnerable groups like women; Indigenous and racialized people; LGBTQ2+ and non-binary individuals; and newcomers. Statistically, these are also the same groups that are more likely to experience violence.

SDG 16 challenges us to promote peaceful and inclusive societies that ensure people all over the world can go about their lives free of fear from all forms of violence, no matter their gender, race, or sexual orientation. For colleges and institutes, that begins on campus. And it includes providing safe and inclusive spaces, resources to those in need, and equipping learners with the skills to help prevent future violence in their communities.

Read also: As educators, colleges and institutes play a vital role in combatting systemic racism and discrimination. In areas like healthcare and public safety, they ensure that workers are given tools to protect public spaces against injustice, now and in the future. (SDG 10)

  • That includes having policies in place that recognize systemic racism and discrimination and aim to address the challenges to success that BIPOC often face.

Safe spaces are essential spaces for learning. Our nearly 700 college and institute campuses across the country, aim to be those spaces at the heart of their communities.

Continue the conversation this week on Perspectives LIVE! The 2020’s have brought new meaning to the term ‘health and safety’. From mental health, the pandemic, and the alarming increase of violence, attending to health and safety on college and institute campuses has never been more important.

  • Episode 3 of season 3 airs Wednesday. We’re asking experts: How can colleges and institutes better prepare and protect themselves while also providing safe spaces for their students, faculty, staff, and the communities they serve?
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January 31, 2023

The Sustainable Development Goals give us a framework to create positive change together

(originally published on CareerWise by CERIC in January 2023)

When Zain Zaidi did an internship in the Fraser Valley in British Columbia, he got the chance to see firsthand what Sustainable Development Goal 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth – means for newcomers to Canada.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 actionable items that make up the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda. They are a global call to action for countries to work together to solve issues that affect us all – like poverty, hunger, inequality and climate change – while planning for a long-term equitable, peaceful and prosperous future.

SDG 8 challenges us to act in a way that promotes inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all. Zain’s internship through the Career Launcher program gave him an opportunity to contribute to this goal.

Empowering students and recent graduates to act on pressing social issues

Zain first heard of Career Launcher through a professor. Funded by the Government of Canada, Career Launcher gives jobseekers access to training and meaningful employment, and employers access to subsidies for training and salary costs. Interns get paid while making a meaningful impact in their communities.

For Zain, the opportunity came through Career Launcher’s ImpAct Internships stream, which focuses on work opportunities that contribute to Canada’s 2030 SDG Agenda. As a Refugee and Immigrant Research and Community Engagement Specialist at University of the Fraser Valley, he took part in a research project interviewing nearly 40 refugees and newcomers to the Fraser Valley. He was also pleased to note most of his team consisted of persons of colour as well as women. This demonstrated to Zain that diversity, equality and inclusion was a priority for the team.

This research will enable residents of the Valley to learn more about the newcomers’ experiences. The research will also help identify the types of services that could better support newcomers to the area, which differ from larger urban areas like Vancouver. Zain said the research he conducted with colleagues was showcased at an event last fall where community members were able to attend and learn about the project. He notes the importance of research given that little work is done in small communities regarding newcomers.

He mentions, “People tend to forget that many newcomers settle in small towns like the Fraser Valley. As a result, this research has enabled city residents to learn more about the newcomers, their stories, how they are settling and their situation.”

Gaining new skills in the workplace 

Zain’s experience is a success story. Just a week after completing his internship, Zain secured a job with one of Canada’s largest non-profit settlement organizations, where he can serve immigrants, refugees, migrants and communities in Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

He says, “Throughout my internship, I was able to make the jump from academics to a professional career.”

Networking, consideration, empathy and working collaboratively are just a few of the many skills Zain learned throughout this internship. While aware of his position, Zain was able to channel these new skills and connect with newcomers. Responding to newcomers with compassion created an atmosphere conducive to learning, collaboration and innovation. People connect better with others when they take care of themselves. Safe work environments are enhanced by showing compassion for one another. Zain notes how important it is to have these skills when interviewing newcomers, as he made sure to be sensitive when approaching newcomers with topics that could be traumatic and or triggering.

This experience allowed him to come out of his shell and connect with refugees and newcomers to his community.

A sustainable future is one where no one is left behind

By using the Sustainable Development Goals as a framework, we have the opportunity to work together toward a common goal, to learn from each other and maximize our contributions to positive change. The beauty of the SDGs is that everyone can contribute, and every contribution, big or small, will have an impact on our world. The SDGs represent a major opportunity for companies to shape, drive, communicate and report on their strategies, objectives and activities, enabling them to capitalize on a range of benefits. Just like with Zain, not only was he able to impact his daily life, but also the community as a whole.

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January 16, 2023

Change starts with education (SDG 4)

Say hello to the new you! At the beginning of a new year many of us resolve to make positive changes in our lives, relationships, and communities. We’re aiming a bit bigger. For us, 2023 is about building a country that is more sustainable and more equitable. To do that, we have to reimagine how we think about education.

SDG 4 challenges us to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Colleges and institutes take this to heart.

  • Offering more than 10,000 programs, diplomas, and certificates of different lengths and with varying delivery-methods, colleges and institutes are the most accessible post-secondary institutions in the country.
  • With nearly 700 campuses, our members make learning and skills upgrading available and accessible (within 50 km) to more than 95% of Canadians and 86% of Indigenous peoples. And that doesn’t include asynchronous and online learning options!
  • With state-of-the-art facilities, hands-on learning experiences and forward focused training, they prepare students for the current labour market and futureproof them for the jobs of tomorrow.

Through education, we contribute to positive change.

January 24 is the International Day of Education, celebrating of the role of education for peace and development. This year (2023) also means we have officially passed the half-way point of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Let’s use both milestones as reminders of the importance of accessible education and how we need to collectively build a more sustainable, inclusive and peaceful future for all.

Let’s work together to have a national and global impact.

Don’t forget! We have recommendations to transform our global future together. With more support for innovation, skills-based training, equity and accessibility, reconciliation, and less carbon, we can see a better future for people and our communities.

Change starts with education. This, year, we want to bring more leaders together, share more knowledge, create more positive change, and equip more Canadians with the skills to become futureproof. What is your wish for PSE in 2023?