Press Release

Lavaltrie, Quebec, November 1, 2021

Excellence Canada announces the 2021 Canada Awards for Excellence Recipients

TORONTO, ON - Excellence Canada is pleased to announce it will be celebrating the 37th anniversary of the Canada Awards for Excellence on November 4th. This year, 19 awards will be presented to outstanding Canadian organizations in recognition of their commitment to continual improvement and pursuit of excellence. Award categories include: Excellence, Innovation & Wellness®; Healthy Workplace®; and Mental Health at Work®.

Excellence Canada's mission is to help organizations in all sectors become the best-in-class by implementing standards of excellence. Excellence Canada is a not-for-profit organization that certifies and recognizes organizations that embody these attributes: they are customer focused, competitive, financially and environmentally sustainable, are good corporate citizens, actively pursue strategies to improve the mental and physical health and wellbeing of their employees and they create a healthy workplace culture that attracts and retains the best people.

The Canada Awards for Excellence is an annual awards program that recognizes outstanding achievements by organizations in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors coast-to-coast across Canada. Shirlee Sharkey, Chair of Excellence Canada, stated: ""On behalf of the Board of Directors of Excellence Canada, I am very pleased to present the Canada Awards for Excellence to this year’s award recipients. I would like to extend congratulations to all of the leading private, public and not-for-profit organizations that have met the rigorous standards and requirements through the Canada Awards for Excellence program. You are all truly role models of excellence.""

Allan Ebedes, President and CEO of Excellence Canada, remarked: ""Over the past 37 years we have recognized more than 675 outstanding organizations in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors that have met the highest standards for quality, excellence, innovation, and healthy workplaces. This year we are delighted to be presenting another 19 Canada Awards for Excellence to excellent organizations. We are also honoured to be presenting the Board of Governors’ Special Recognition of Achievement Awards to three distinguished Canadians: André Picard, Journalist, Globe and Mail; Ian MacLachlan, Ph.D., Independent Biotechnology Consultant, MacLachlan Consulting Inc; and Dr. Theresa Tam, BMBS (UK), FRCPC, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada.”

The awards will be presented at the 2021 Performance Excellence Summit and Canada Awards for Excellence Virtual event on Thursday, November 4th. For complete event details and registration, please visit www.excellencesummit.ca.

A FULL LIST OF THE AWARD RECIPIENTS FOLLOWS

For further information, contact:
Allan Ebedes, President and CEO, Excellence Canada, Tel: 416-251-7600, ext. 230

Recipients of the 37th Canada Awards for Excellence, 2021

EXCELLENCE, INNOVATION AND WELLNESS® AWARD

This award is based on Excellence Canada's Excellence, Innovation and Wellness® Standard which was developed by Excellence Canada in association with its partners and professionals from across Canada.

Order of Excellence Recipient

  • Architecture, Information Management & Project Management Office, Central Agencies I&IT Cluster, Treasury Board Secretariat – Province of Ontario

Platinum Award Recipients

  • British Columbia Pension Corporation – Victoria, British Columbia
  • Hydro-Québec – Distribution, Procurement and Shared Services – Montréal, Québec
  • Société de transport de Laval – Laval, Québec

Gold Award Recipients

  • College of Pharmacists of British Columbia – Vancouver, British Columbia
  • Devolutions inc – Lavaltrie, Québec
  • Domtar – Windsor Mill – Windsor, Québec
  • Engineers Canada – Ottawa, Ontario

HEALTHY WORKPLACE® AWARD

The Excellence Canada Healthy Workplace® Standard was developed in partnership with Health Canada and in association with professionals from the health and wellness sectors.

Order of Excellence Recipient

  • Carleton University – Ottawa, Ontario

Gold Award Recipient

  • Central Agencies I&IT Cluster, Treasury Board Secretariat – Province of Ontario

Silver Award Recipients

  • McGill University, Administrative and Support Staff – Montréal, Québec
  • Ricoh Canada Inc – Mississauga, Ontario

Bronze Award Recipient

  • Circle of Care – Toronto, Ontario

MENTAL HEALTH AT WORK® AWARD

This award is based on Excellence Canada's - Mental Health at Work® framework. The Mental Health at Work® framework was developed by Excellence Canada in association with mental health and work safety professionals from across Canada, and the requirements incorporate principles and practices as outlined in the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. Order of

Excellence Award Recipients

  • Mental Health Commission of Canada – Ottawa, Ontario
  • Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences – Whitby, Ontario

Platinum Award Recipient

  • Carleton University – Ottawa, Ontario
  • Sun Life – Toronto, Ontario

Gold Award Recipient

  • University of Calgary – Calgary, Alberta

Silver Award Recipient

  • VIA Rail Canada – Montréal, Québec

REDI Readiness Award

This award is a recognition of the current and ongoing commitment to the transformative journey of Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (REDI) within organizations. The REDI Readiness Award is presented by The Inclusion Project, in collaboration with Excellence Canada, in recognition of an organization’s dedication to creating lasting change through a holistic REDI+ lens. REDI Readiness Award Recipient

  • M.O.S.A.I.C. – Vancouver, British Columbia

RECOGNITION OF ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

From time-to-time, the Excellence Canada Board of Governors recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to Canadian society and/or the global human condition. Past Award recipients have included Dr. David Suzuki, former Prime Minister The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, Lt.-General The Honourable Roméo A. Dallaire, The Honourable Flora MacDonald, Sir Richard Branson, Mr. Rick Hansen, Ms. Margaret Trudeau, Rick Mercer, Bianca Andreescu and Mr. Chris Hadfield.

This year, in keeping with the Summit theme “Building Back Better: Reimagine – Restructure - Recover”, the Board of Governors is presenting the Special Recognition of Achievement Award to:

  • André Picard, Journalist, Globe and Mail, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to public health and medicine reporting in Canadian journalism, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Ian MacLachlan, Ph.D, Independent Biotechnology Consultant, MacLachlan Consulting Inc, in recognition of his leadership and significant contributions to the development of the Lipid Nanoparticle technology behind the mRNA vaccines for COVID-19.
  • Dr Theresa Tam, BMBS (UK), FRCPC, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, in recognition of her lifetime contributions to promote and protect the health of all Canadians and for providing national leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic.

PROUD SPONSORS OF CANADIAN EXCELLENCE

Excellence Canada gratefully acknowledges the support of the following organizations that have helped make this year’s events possible.

Alectra Inc.
Carleton University
CBC
CEO Global Network
Howatt Strategic HR Consulting Inc.
Optimity Health & Rewards
SE Health
The Corporation of the City of Markham
The Globe and Mail
The Inclusion Project
The Regional Municipality of Durham
The Regional Municipality of York