There’s an old proverb that says,
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
This adage certainly holds true when it comes to tackling the incredibly complex and challenging issues of climate change and sustainability. It is those who are able to apply their education and experience to a cause they care deeply — galvanizing the support and cooperation of others — who ultimately create the kind of lasting impact needed to create a more sustainable future.
This year, the Faculty of Environment proudly recognizes two such graduates with the 2018 alumni awards. One who recognized the barriers impeding youth engagement and created a platform to empower young people to take action on climate issues, the other who dedicated more than 20 years of his life to creating consensus and oversight measures to preserve and protect one of the most delicate ecosystems in the country.
Championing youth empowerment
When Dominique Souris began her studies at Waterloo, she had no idea where her journey would take her. Driven by a deep passion for the environment that began in childhood, her career has taken her from Canada to the Seychelles to the Arctic and many places in between.
Having graduated from the Faculty of Environment’s Environment, Resources and Sustainability (ERS) program just two years ago, Souris has already made a name for herself as an exceptional leader in the environment field both in Canada and around the world.
She sits on a number of boards and councils, including the Steering Committee of ECO Canada Environmental Training Development, the board of the Foundation for Environmental Stewardship and the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Canada advisory council.
A self-professed, “climate nerd,” Souris’ commitment to climate action was evident early in her academic career — from actively contributing to grassroots programs like the Sustainable Campus Initiative, to her roles in the ERS student association and Climate Students Group, to helping organize a student delegation to COP19, where her passion for international policy affairs was sparked. Not only did she navigate the complicated labyrinth of the international proceedings, she volunteered herself to negotiate on behalf of the Island nation of Seychelles. With this experience in hand, she then used her knowledge to make space for others by mentoring future student delegations, paving the way for them to become meaningfully engaged in what can easily be seen as a complicated and intimidating process. In the years since, Souris has returned to many United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) proceedings, forging countless relationships with diplomats, politicians, non-profit leaders and other youth.
“The University of Waterloo enabled my journey as a young climate leader. When I look back, I point to the school’s commitment to comprehensive experiential learning, the continued support I received from faculty and staff, and the incredible Faculty of Environment community as the important foundations that shaped the person I am today and fuelled my passion for climate action.”
Her research as a graduate student at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and formerly as Graduate Research Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) explores innovative finance for climate change impacts and refugee responsibility sharing. It has been recognized both by the World Refugee Council, who will be further developing the work, and by the Government of Canada, garnering her placement as a finalist in the International Policy Innovation Challenge.
A social entrepreneur herself, Souris co-founded Youth Climate Lab (YCL) in 2017, a global non-profit organization that promotes intergenerational collaboration for climate action through innovative initiatives advancing climate policy and entrepreneurship. In her role as executive director, Souris serves as a connector, facilitator, and designer, striving to create an ecosystem that empowers youth to channel their creativity. In one short year, her big-picture thinking and desire to connect and amplify has led to the rapid growth and development of YCL, which has mobilized a team of ten across six countries and enabled youth in 35 countries to become agents of positive change.
“Climate change offers a challenge like no other ever faced by humanity; it calls to shake things up and create new ways to collaborate across sectors, and generations. To me, meaningful youth engagement is the conduit to reach the diverse world of climate action further, faster and more effectively. Our work at YCL aims to do so through policy engagement, capacity building and entrepreneurship. We connect, create and amplify youth-led efforts to accelerate climate action.”
An avid advocate for the importance of youth as partners for climate action, she has been invited to give keynote presentations, facilitate workshops and sit on panels in a variety of international forums including World Government Summit, ECOSOC Youth Forum, COP23 and at the National Climate Youth Summit in Canada.
Among her many well-deserved accolades, Souris was named one of Canada’s Top 30 under 30 Sustainability Leaders, one of six World Environment Day Youth Ambassadors by Minister McKenna in 2017 and one of 25 Global Shapers to attend the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Impact Summit. Most recently, she was recognized as one of the world’s top 100 visionary leaders by Real Leaders and we are honoured to add the 2018 Faculty of Environment Young Alumni Award to her already impressive list of accomplishments.
“It is such a privilege to be receiving this award from the institution where ‘it all began!’" I feel honoured and grateful for the recognition by the Faculty of Environment and the continued support of the UW community. I am inspired and motivated to continue with this work.”
Dedicated to Northern sustainability
Just outside of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories you'll find the end of the road. Literally, the road stretching across our vast country simply ends. But for Faculty of Environment grad and 2018 Alumni Achievement Award Winner Kevin O'Reilly, Yellowknife was the beginning of a remarkable career improving environmental and social sustainability in the Northwest Territories while opening-up the North to economic development in a way that respects the land and its original peoples.
Today, Kevin O'Reilly is a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Frame Lake, NWT Legislative Assembly in Yellowknife. With more than two decades of environmental and social justice advocacy, he is recognized as a national expert on abandoned mines and the perpetual care of contaminated sites as well as independent environmental monitoring and oversight boards.
O'Reilly arrived at the University of Waterloo in the late 70s, when Environment was only a few years old and what would become the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability (SERS) was called Man-Environment. He earned his BES in 1981 and his MA in 1984 in Regional Planning and Resource Development.
After graduation, O’Reilly moved to Ottawa, but having studied Canada's sub-arctic region and travelled to the Yukon during in this fourth year, the North was always in his mind as a place where he could really make a difference. He had learned that at the heart of planning, beyond all of the technical and policy aspects, was people and he saw the massive potential the North had to offer for economic development, as well as the potential danger facing Indigenous communities whose land was situated on top of some of our most commercially valuable resources. He moved back North.
“My first job up here was working for the Dene Nation. It was a great job because there had been a northern land use planning agreed to by the federal and territorial government and they viewed this as another opportunity for the Dene people to have a say in lands and resources and resource development,” he says. “I got to travel to a lot of the smaller communities, which was very exciting and I worked with the Dene National Chief, for a while, I was his executive assistant.”
At this time in North, the economy was changing in many ways. The gold mining of 20th century was giving way to energy development and diamond mining. These shifting dynamics, along with improving recognition of indigenous land rights led to many more opportunities to facilitate sustainable economic development in a variety of areas.
In 2005, O'Reilly co-founded a socioeconomic and environmental justice organization Alternatives North and took on work as intervener on Mackenzie Gas Project. Later, he served the same role for the Giant Mine, an abandoned diamond mine that had left hundreds of thousands of tonnes of insecurely stored arsenic trioxide, in close proximity to the city of Yellowknife and its water source. His many years of work resulted in a thorough environmental review of the clean-up plan, the conception, development and long-term funding of a formalized agreement between government and public partners, and implementation of a public interest oversight board, the Giant Mine Oversight Board. For these efforts, O’Reilly received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 for service on environmental issues.
During this time, O’Reilly was also Executive Director of the Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency (IEMA) where he oversaw the closure of the Ekati diamond mine. In this role, he was instrumental in creating a much needed environmental review process while promoting and ensuring the participation of both professional scientists and indigenous communities in agency proceedings.
“It was a great experience because the board was, and continues to be made up of experts in one field or another, some of whom are affiliated with universities, some with consulting, and so on, it was kind of like the dream board, because they were all experts, they all go a long reasonably well,” O'Reilly says. “It was just a fantastic learning opportunity and on a very focused – one mindset – covering land, and water, and animals, air quality, regulatory processes, and communicating a lot of this work to communities as well.”
Under O’Reilly’s leadership, IEMA became known both nationally and internationally for its excellent work promoting effective environmental management and providing a definitive example of responsible resource management. It brought critical oversight and public involvement and transparency to ensure environmental protection of the commons.
After nearly a decade with IEMA, O'Reilly saw an opportunity to apply his experience to a public service role, and in 2015 he was elected to the legislative assembly of the Northwest Territories. This is where you'll find him now. Working on a variety of issues, from health, to resource development to promoting effective environmental management and more.
Reflecting on being named Environment's Distinguished Alumni Award Winner, O'Reilly can trace work he did at Waterloo directly back to the skills he has used in his many different roles.
“When I think back to the Man-Environment program, we did some role playing, mock environmental assessments, we looked at actor theory, in terms of how they are divergent, and sometimes overlap, and how diverging interests on the surface might actually have some common interests.”
O'Reilly has not been back on Waterloo's campus since graduation and is looking forward to the experience as he collects his award this fall.
