July 3, 2023

Wilfrid Laurier University was honoured for its sustainability and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) efforts at the 2023 Global Entrepreneurship and Engagement Excellence Awards in Higher Education, held in Barcelona, Spain in June. The Triple E Awards acknowledge the contributions of universities in their communities and are open to institutions around the world.

Laurier was a top-five finalist in two categories, including the EDI Community Engagement Initiative of the Year, for which it also won the People’s Choice Award. The award recognized the university’s community-based research partnership with the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT). In response to urgent, complex challenges facing the NWT due to rapid climate change, Laurier has been working with northern partners to address priority needs.

A critical tenet of the Laurier-GNWT partnership is the integration of Indigenous traditional knowledge with western academic science to develop solutions that are culturally situated and informed by local knowledge holders. The partnership has grown to include more than 50 academic and government researchers, dozens of traditional knowledge holders, hundreds of Laurier students, not-for-profit organizations and more than 50 community-engaged research sites across the territory. 

Laurier also placed third in the Green University of the Year category, recognizing the university’s efforts to embed sustainable practices in its campus communities and beyond. Its recent sustainability successes include the installation of 11 electric vehicle charging stations; a $48-million capital retrofit project which will include solar thermal walls, 15,000 LED light replacements and a microgrid system; and a plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.