Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 45.28
Liaison Cynthia Philippe
Submission Date May 12, 2021

STARS v2.2

Université du Québec à Montréal
EN-3: Student Life

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.75 / 2.00 Cynthia Philippe
Sustainability advisor
Service du développement organisationnel
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Student groups 

Does the institution have an active student group focused on sustainability?:
Yes

Name and a brief description of the active student groups focused on sustainability:
The public interest research group "Groupe de recherche en Intérêt Public (GRIP-UQAM)"

The GRIP-UQAM brings together people from the UQAM student community wishing to act in a fair way by aiming for the very long term for the social and ecological well-being of present and future communities from an anti-colonial perspective.

In order to achieve its mission, GRIP-UQAM brings together a convergence of local, collective and environmental initiatives focused on direct democracy, cooperation and the liberation from various forms of oppression.

GRIP-UQAM actively supports the various ecological and decolonization struggles of indigenous peoples to put an end to the genocidal and ecocidal colonial enterprise on illegally and illegitimately occupied indigenous lands.

https://gripuqam.org/apropos/


The veggie association of UQAM (AVUQAM) is a group of students who are interested (or convinced) by the vegetarian, vegan and / or vegan lifestyle.

https://www.facebook.com/avuqam/

BQAM-E is a popular bicycle mechanics education workshop (2000 repairs per year). Volunteers mechanics are on site to assist participants with various repairs and offer used or new parts. The community workshop wishes through its actions to enable its participants to acquire new knowledge and skills.

http://bqam.org/

Gardens and farms 

Does the institution have a garden, farm, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery program, or an urban agriculture project where students are able to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems?:
Yes

A brief description of the gardens, farms, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery programs, and/or urban agriculture projects:
The CRAPAUD (Le Collectif de Recherche en Aménagement Paysager et Agriculture Urbaine Durable) has the mission of developing and promoting plural, accessible, creative and viable urban agriculture through experimentation, practice, self-management, research, broadcast and political action. The collective has three urban gardens, four collective apiaries, composters and a summer school on urban agriculture. https://www.lecrapaud.org/

Le CRAPAUD (Le Collectif de Recherche en Aménagement Paysager et Agriculture Urbaine Durable) a comme mission de développer et promouvoir une agriculture urbaine plurielle, accessible, créative et viable par l’expérimentation, la pratique, l’autogestion, la recherche, la diffusion et l’action politique. Le collectif dispose de trois jardins urbains, quatre ruchers collectifs, de composteurs ainsi qu’une école d’été sur l’agriculture urbaine.

https://www.lecrapaud.org/

Student-run enterprises 

Does the institution have a student-run enterprise that includes sustainability as part of its mission statement or stated purpose?:
Yes

A brief description of the student-run enterprises:
COOP UQAM : Located in the heart of UQAM COOP UQAM is one of the largest school cooperatives in Quebec (310 0000 members, 31 permanent student employees and 55 student employees for the beggining of university terms). It is socially and economically involved in its community and promotes cooperative philosophy and values. Among others, the cooperative offers a bulk grocery section, having food products without packaging. Delivery can be made by electrics bikes in a radius of approximately 6 km and electrics cars for the rest (https://www.coopuqam.com/11-Vrac-secteur.html).

They are authorized drop-off points by EPRA (https://www.recyclermeselectroniques.ca/qc/ou-recycler/)for the recuperation of electronic waste. According to the kind of electronics, they treat the e-waste at Insertech (https://www.insertech.ca/) to be reconditioned or at Agave to be recycled in raw material. They recover the ink cartridges of printers. They also recover the batteries with the Call2Recycle services (https://www.call2recycle.ca/).

Internally, they practice double-sided printing, limit the excessive consumption of paper, even if the paper they use and sell is now exclusively 100% recycled. They recycle all the supplier delivery boxes for they web deliveries. a

Since August 2019, they have an internal sustainable development committee, lead by the general director, this committee meet once a month (www.coopuqam.com).

Sustainable investment and finance 

Does the institution have a sustainable investment fund, green revolving fund, or sustainable microfinance initiative through which students can develop socially, environmentally and fiscally responsible investment and financial skills?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives:
Since 2008, the University's Green Fund has aimed to financially support the initiatives of members of the university community in the area of eco-responsibility. The projects carried out have a beneficial impact on the environment and eco-responsibility at UQAM.

http://ecoresponsable.uqam.ca/proposer-une-initiative-fonds-vert.html


The student project grant program provides financial resources for student programming associations, groups applying for recognition and student groups recognized in the fulfillment of their corporate mandate and in their project activities.

https://vie-etudiante.uqam.ca/activites-etudiantes/soutien-activites/subventions.html.


The university with the help of its foundation created a crowdfunding platform and produced a getting started guide and tips for campaign success.

https://100millions.uqam.ca/uqam/data/files/autres_documents_pdf/guide_sociofinancement_vosideespourluqam.pdf

Events 

Has the institution hosted a conference, speaker series, symposium, or similar event focused on sustainability during the previous three years that had students as the intended audience?:
Yes

A brief description of the conferences, speaker series, symposia, or similar events focused on sustainability:
La transition, c’est maintenant/Transition is now - 13 février 2020 by Laure Waridel
Where to start to transform a system that is leading to an unprecedented degradation of the basis of life on Earth? What solutions are within our reach right now? Eat, consume, move and inhabit the territory differently? Put the economy at the service of the common good and promote eco-responsible investments? A call for general mobilization to achieve an essential, even vital, transition towards an ecological and social economy.

In May 2019, more than 325 researchers from UQAM shared the results of their work at the 87th Congress of the Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas). A wide variety of themes on sustainable development were discussed such as natural risks or even oil pipelines. L'UQAM à l'Acfas | L'UQAM au Congrès de l'Acfas | UQAM

Inventing Tomorrow - 12 mars 2019 -
A documentary by Laura Nix : They are young, bright, engaging and all concerned about the environmental issues affecting their community. Come and share the adventure of six teenagers from Indonesia, Hawaii, India and Mexico whose scientific work, to solve these problems, has earned them to be selected for the great international competition of Expo-Sciences in Los Angeles. Six inspiring young people who, each in their own way, have sought to invent tomorrow.

Espoirs sur fond de désespoir climatique/Hopes against a backdrop of climate despair - 31 janvier 2018 -
Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising faster and faster, temperatures are breaking record after record, the rains are intensifying. Will our planet end up becoming habitable Will we succeed in reducing greenhouse gas emissions enough to counter climate change and limit the rise in temperatures to 2oC? An overview of the concerns of IPCC scientists, but also of their reasons for hope. By Jean-Pascal van Ypersele (https://ise.uqam.ca/pierre-dansereau-pionnier-sciences-de-lenvironnement/conference-annuelle-pierre-dansereau/)

The annual Pierre-Dansereau conference has been held since 2012 by UQAM Institute of Environmental Sciences (ISE). The public lecture is given by a prestigious speaker in the environmental field. The 2018 conference given by Jacques Blondel, considered one of the pioneers of evolutionary ecology in biogeography, focused on the reflection of the place occupied by birds for us, but also for all living species that have co-evolved with them Conférence annuelle Pierre-Dansereau | Institut des sciences de l'environnement (ISE) | UQAM

Cultural arts 

Has the institution hosted a cultural arts event, installation, or performance focused on sustainability with the previous three years that had students as the intended audience?:
Yes

A brief description of the cultural arts events, installations, or performances focused on sustainability:
Nuit blanche is an annual event featuring activities from dusk till dawn. In 2020, These rooms of earth and stones exhibition focused on the observation of the impact of human activity on the environment. As for The Noticia Project, it offered fun and interactive activities to raise awareness about environmental disinformation, through Noticia artificial intelligence. In 2019 the work Précision du vague aimed to change the perspective of urban wasteland through photographs, collages, videos, drawings and herbarium among others. In 2018, the interactive playful installation Propolis was inspired by the collective functioning of bees in order to raise awareness about the issue of environmental pollution and its impact on bees. https://www.actualites.uqam.ca/2020/nuit-blanche-uqam https://www.actualites.uqam.ca/2019/nuit-blanche-uqam https://www.actualites.uqam.ca/2018/douce-nuit-blanche

Wilderness and outdoors programs 

Does the institution have a wilderness or outdoors program that follow Leave No Trace principles?:
No

A brief description of the wilderness or outdoors programs that follow Leave No Trace principles:
Not applicable

Sustainability-focused themes 

Has the institution had a sustainability-focused theme chosen for a themed semester, year, or first-year experience during the previous three years?:
No

A brief description of the sustainability-focused themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences:
Not applicable

Sustainable life skills 

Does the institution have a program through which students can learn sustainable life skills?:
No

A brief description of the programs through which students can learn sustainable life skills:
Not applicable

Student employment opportunities 

Does the institution offer sustainability-focused student employment opportunities?:
Yes

A brief description of the sustainability-focused student employment opportunities offered by the institution:
The university hired 4 student-employees (including an intern) between 2018 and 2020 for a total of 2,408.10 in 2019$ and 12,566.65$ ein 2020.

Students have access to a website where the different units of the institution and companies post their job offers. They can search through the job offers using fields of study (such as "Environment and Prevention") which include jobs related to the environment and sustainable development. Students can also create an alert related to this sector of activity. The Sustainability Office uses this service for its own job offers.
https://vie-etudiante.uqam.ca/emploi-orientation/recherche-emploi/emplois.html

Graduation pledge

Does the institution have a graduation pledge through which students pledge to consider social and environmental responsibility in future job and other decisions?:
No

A brief description of the graduation pledge(s):
Not applicable

Optional Fields

A brief description of other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives that do not fall into one of the above categories:
Student groups bring students together around collective and community goals that are intellectually, socially and culturally enriching.

Student Life Services (SLS) recognizes the contribution of groups to the development of relevant experiences for students (Under Policy no 51).

SLS supports the initiatives of recognized student associations and groups by offering services to facilitate the initiatives carried out by them. The SLS are not the carriers of these initiatives, nor of a co-curricular program. Since its creation, UQAM has taken into account the needs of students and their own leadership.

Frontier College
https://vie-etudiante.uqam.ca/activites-etudiantes/bottin/groupes/28-activites-etudiantes/bottin/869-communautaires.html#college-frontiere-uqam

Women in business https://vie-etudiante.uqam.ca/activites-etudiantes/bottin/groupes/etudiantes/bottin/groupes/834-entrepreneuriat.html#femmes-en-affaires

AIESEC Canada UQAM (https://www.aiesec.ca/fr/about/
Promotes leadership, integraty, diversity in students by devopping their skills here and else where in the world.

Amnesty internationale https://vie-etudiante.uqam.ca/activites-etudiantes/bottin/groupes/28-activites-etudiantes/bottin/869-communautaires.html#amnistie-internationale-uqam

World University Service of Canada WUSC UQAM https://www.facebook.com/EUMCUQAM/ https://wusc.ca/
A non-profit organization working to create a better world for all young people.

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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