Stories that Inspire
Inspirational Changemakers
At Lakehead's 2022 convocation ceremonies, Chief Perry Bellegarde, Lyn McLeod, and Karl Subban received honorary degrees for their outstanding contributions to society.
Chief Bellegarde was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws for his work championing the rights and well-being of First Nations. As National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, he campaigned tirelessly to close the gap in the quality of life between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Other critical accomplishments include the passage of Canada's first national legislation recognizing and protecting Indigenous languages and securing a legislative commitment to the national implementation of the United Nations' Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Lyn McLeod was granted an honorary Doctor of Laws for her work in education and health, and for 33 years of political service. She served Ontarians as the Minister of Colleges and Universities, Minister of Energy, and Minister of Natural Resources. In 1992, Lyn broke historic barriers by becoming the first woman to be elected the leader of an Ontario political party. She is also a former chancellor of Lakehead University, a Lakehead alum, a former chair of the Ontario Health Quality Council, and a former member of the Health Council of Canada.
Karl Subban is a life-long educator, author, inspirational speaker, and Lakehead alum. He was given an honorary Doctor of Education for his 30-plus years in education and for his role as a difference-maker in the lives of young people. His book How We Did It, written with Toronto Star journalist Scott Colby, about encouraging children to develop their potential became a bestseller. His proudest accomplishment, however, is being a dad to NHL players P.K., Jordan, and Malcolm Subban, and to educators Nastassia and Natasha.
Getting Simcoe County Grads Job Ready
The Ontario government is generously providing $2.56 million to support Lakehead University and Georgian College's educational partnership, which gives Simcoe County residents greater postsecondary options. Nearly 3,000 postsecondary students currently benefit from this program that allows them to earn both a university degree and a college diploma in four years. Programming is focused on meeting the changing needs of the local economy to prepare graduates with a mix of degree-level education and technical skills. Lakehead and Georgian will each receive $1.28 million in funding in 2022-23 to help students get good jobs.
Partnering with the Trinity School of Medicine
A new partnership with the Trinity School of Medicine (TSOM)—a highly accredited medical school in the Caribbean—will offer Lakehead students a unique opportunity for an international education and a clear, defined path to becoming a practicing MD. Students applying to TSOM will gain a competitive advantage that includes a waived application fee, scholarships exclusively available to Lakehead students, and a streamlined admissions process that will grant conditional acceptance to applicants meeting TSOM's academic acceptance requirements. This will drastically decrease the time and effort of a medical school application.
Increasing Indigenous language fluency
Lakehead University is embarking upon a 10-year initiative to revitalize Indigenous languages and foster linguistic and cultural justice for Indigenous Peoples. In collaboration with Indigenous communities, Lakehead will provide interactive and immersive experiences to develop fully fluent Indigenous speakers. Learners will have the option of studying any of the three Indigenous languages taught at Lakehead: Oji-cree, Cree, and Ojibwe along with four Ojibwe dialects: Eastern, Northern, Southwestern and Western. This initiative will support language revitalization for students, faculty, staff, and Indigenous partner communities.
Empowering Youth in Foster Care
Lakehead is making it easier for vulnerable young people to attain a university education. In collaboration with the Child Welfare Political Action Committee, Lakehead's new Youth in Care Tuition Waiver will cover the full cost of tuition and fees for an undergraduate degree. This life-changing bursary is open to high school graduates and mature students who are currently or were formerly in Simcoe County or Northwestern Ontario's foster care system for at least one year. The bursary is renewable for up to four years and will nurture the upward social and economic mobility of individuals who have already endured undue hardship.
Preventing Workplace Injuries and Protecting Mental Health
The Enhancing Prevention of Injury and Disability @ Work (EPID@Work) Research Institute at Lakehead University has received $5.5 million from the Ontario government to conduct innovative workplace health and safety research. In particular, the funding will advance the Institute's research in areas including designing injury prevention programs for vulnerable workers in Northwestern Ontario and reducing mental health stigma in the workplace. This five-year project will also ensure that managers have the tools for the early identification of mental health symptoms and will create lasting improvements to worker safety.
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Declaring a Year of Climate Action
Lakehead declared 2021/2022 a Year of Climate Action (YOCA) to build on its leadership in becoming the sixth Canadian university to divest its endowment of fossil fuel stocks and to recognize the need for bold steps to fight climate change. As part of YOCA, Lakehead called on students, faculty, staff, and friends to generate solutions to climate change including embedding climate learning outcomes into teaching and taking concrete climate actions. In addition, Lakehead gave seven research teams awards worth $5,000 each to explore climate change topics and highlighted the need to advance social, environmental, and climate justice.
Implementing 5G and 6G Internet in Rural and Remote Areas
Electrical Engineering Professor Dr. Waleed Ejaz received a National Sciences and Engineering Research Council Discovery Grant for his research project "Resource Management for Massive Connectivity in Future Wireless Networks." The purpose of his research is to help make 5G and future 6G networks accessible to everyone, regardless of where they live in the world. This is challenging because of the large number of devices, varying service requirements, and networks with devices made by different manufacturers. Dr. Ejaz will focus on 3D networks that integrate traditional earth-based networks with non-terrestrial networks.
Opening Doors for Indigenous Students
Lakehead has partnered with OpenText—a Canadian enterprise information management software company—to create summer internships for up to 25 Indigenous students enrolled at Lakehead. These four-month placements will allow students to intern remotely at OpenText's software engineering, marketing, finance, information technology, and human resources departments. The goal is to give students valuable soft and technical skills, as well as confidence, to better prepare them to enter the workforce. The internships will also include mentorship, career planning, and financial planning training sessions.
Bringing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to the Workplace
Institutional policies promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) have become commonplace in businesses and organizations, but Dr. Sandra Jeppesen has found that they’re often inadequate at improving inequality. Dr. Jeppesen, a professor in the Media, Film, and Communications program at Lakehead’s Orillia campus, hopes to change this situation. She will be leading an international team of community-engaged scholars and community organizations to foster knowledge and build capacity around EDI practices. Their research will be funded by a $448,376 grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
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Expanding Educational Opportunities in the North
Lakehead University and Confederation College signed a joint admission agreement that will facilitate the seamless transfer of students earning a college diploma directly into undergraduate studies at Lakehead. The agreement covers more than 30 diploma-to-degree programs and will reduce red tape as well as the time, costs, and barriers to higher education by encouraging students to continue with postsecondary education after completing their Confederation College diploma. The agreement will also give students improved and collaborative recruitment, communication, transition, and academic advising services.
Opening a Path to Truth and Reconciliation
A free five-week series called "Truth and Reconciliation: Community Dialogues" was offered by Lakehead's Office of Community Engagement and Lifelong Learning in partnership with Dr. Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, Chair on Truth and Reconciliation. The series featured Indigenous Elders and knowledge keepers and allowed community members to learn truths about Indigenous histories and experiences in Canada and to discuss how reconciliation can be enacted in meaningful ways. "Shining a light on truth allows us all to move forward together, heal injustice, and ensure an inclusive and equitable future," Dr. Wesley-Esquimaux explained.