ANNUAL REPORT 2020-2021

In our first year offering our program nationally, we saw participation and certification across six new provinces and territories. These include schools like Churchill High School in Winnipeg, Manitoba, who demonstrated an impressive program depth that earned them Gold certification in their first year participating in the program; École Les Éclaireurs in Fredericton, New Brunswick, who established a community food garden with peas, cucumbers, and tomatoes in their courtyard; and Mulgrave School in West Vancouver, British Columbia, whose students championed the creation of an ocean plastics lesson plan that was delivered to the broader school community. We also continue to be inspired by our Youth Advisory Committee, a dedicated group of students who are showing impressive leadership in climate action. You can read more about this remarkable group in the “A catalyst for change” section of this report.

These numbers and accomplishments tell a very clear story: our school communities, our youth, and our educators are motivated to address climate change and EcoSchools is providing a forum to strengthen this community, along with our dedicated partner organizations who amplify the amazing environmental work taking place in schools. This is the antidote to apathy, a means of coming together as a passionate community to combat climate change. Through EcoSchools, we can feel connected, resilient, and full of optimism.

As a new member of the EcoSchools team, I am incredibly excited about the future of environmental learning in Canada. Whether you’ve been certifying for years, or are just getting to know us, we look forward to working with you and building a sustainable future.

The Impact section

“Prior to our partnership with EcoSchools Canada, [many] teachers in Alberta struggled to engage their students in environmental stewardship and climate action,” explains Marie Tremblay, Senior Education Advisor at ACEE. “Teachers would often share [that] they felt isolated and lacked the expertise to initiate environmental projects with their students. EcoSchools Canada’s powerful online platform provides all the guidance and resources necessary for EcoTeams to get started, track their progress, and measure the collective impact of their actions. Thanks to our partnership with EcoSchools Canada, schools and EcoTeams now have an easy and fun way of joining the growing sustainability movement in Alberta and contributing to climate solutions.”

It’s clear that Alberta school communities have been eager to engage; notes Marie, “[In the first year of the new partnership,] 64 teachers representing 40 schools had registered with the program, far exceeding our initial target of 10 schools.” The success of this partnership also drew the attention of Calgary’s previous mayor, Naheed Nenshi, who invited newly-certified Alberta schools to present their environmental initiatives at the Calgary Mayor’s Environmental Expo in June 2021. As Marie recounts, there was an “overwhelming sense of pride shared amongst the students who presented their projects, the teachers who supported their efforts, and the mayor himself who announced school certifications and listened with great interest to the students’ presentations.”

The momentum of this partnership has carried over into the 2021-22 school year, where more than 90 schools from 22 districts in Alberta are joining over 1,200 schools in seven other provinces in pursuit of EcoSchools certification. With the tremendous continued support of ACEE, all signs point to another year of environmental excellence in Alberta schools.