As part of the festivities surrounding its 15th anniversary, at 15:00 hours (3 p.m.) May 26, Collège Boréal co-ordinated the planting of more than 15,000 trees distributed free to the schools and community agencies in 45 cities in the province.
This initiative entitled 15 ans, 15 000 arbres! (15 years, 15,000 trees!) falls under the priorities of the college’s new strategic plan, aimed in particular at promoting access to a quality education, technological innovation and environmental soundness.
Collège Boréal president Denis Hubert said the 15 years, 15,000 trees! operation is in addition to the many initiatives taken by the college in order to increase awareness among its students and the community as a whole about acting in a responsible way for the preservation of our environment.
“Thanks to some 500,000 seedlings grown annually in the new greenhouses of our Xstrata Nickel Biodiversity Applied Research Centre, Collège Boréal is not only able to support the City of Greater Sudbury Biodiversity Action Plan, and to be for its partner Xstrata Nickel a privileged supplier of trees within its reforestation strategy, but it is also a communicator of ideas which sets up innovative initiatives involving many Ontarians individually.”
Marc Hébert, chair of the college's green committee, and professor in the natural resources programs, underlined the scale of the initiative.
“The challenges surrounding this project were at the level of the territory served by Collège Boréal,” he said.
“However, thanks to the support of all our regional staff, and our partners of the Anglophone and Francophone school boards and community agencies, we were able to exceed our objective while contributing, all together, to the well-being of our environment.”