Excellence Canada announces the 2019 Canada Awards for Excellence Recipients

TORONTO, Nov. 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Excellence Canada is pleased to announce it will be celebrating the 35^th anniversary of the Canada Awards for Excellence on November 5^th. This year, 27 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®; Financial 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. These organizations epitomize excellence in the areas of leadership, planning, customer experience, employee engagement and process improvement. We congratulate the management and the teams for their admirable leadership."

Allan Ebedes, President and CEO of Excellence Canada, remarked: "Over the past 35 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 27 Canada Awards for Excellence to excellent organizations. We are also honoured to be presenting the Board of Governors’ Special Recognition of Achievement Awards to four distinguished Canadians: Bianca Andreescu, 2019 Canadian and US Open Women's Tennis Champion; Linda Hasenfratz, President and CEO, Linamar Corporation; Huda Idrees, Founder and CEO, Dot Health; and Renu Mandhane, Chief Commissioner, Ontario Human Rights Commission.”

The awards will be presented at the 2019 Performance Excellence Summit and Canada Awards for Excellence on Tuesday, November 5^th in Toronto.  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 35^th Canada Awards for Excellence, 2019

EXCELLENCE, INNOVATION AND WELLNESS® AWARD

The Champion of Excellence for the Excellence, Innovation and Wellness® category is Sun Life Financial. This award is based on Excellence Canada's Excellence, Innovation and Wellness® Standard and was developed by Excellence Canada in association with its partners and professionals from across Canada. 

Order of Excellence Recipient

• SE Health – Markham, Ontario

Platinum Award Recipients

• Canadian Forces Housing Agency – Ottawa, Ontario
• Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver - Vancouver, British Columbia
• Region of Peel – Brampton, Ontario

Gold Award Recipients

• Agilec – Oshawa, Ontario
• Calian - Ottawa, Ontario
• CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Natural Resources Canada – Ottawa, Ontario
• Hydro-Quebec Distribution – Montreal, Quebec
• University of Waterloo – Waterloo, Ontario
• York Region Public Health – Newmarket, Ontario

Silver Award Recipients

• Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada – Toronto, Ontario
• College of Pharmacists of British Columbia - Vancouver, British Columbia
• Department of Service Nova Scotia and Internal Services - Halifax, Nova Scotia
• The Corporation of the Town of Aurora - Aurora, Ontario

Bronze Award Recipient

• Carleton University, Students and Enrolment Division - Ottawa, Ontario

FINANCIAL WELLNESS

The Financial Wellness requirements were developed by Excellence Canada in association with its partners and professionals from across Canada. Organizations must demonstrate a strategic, integrated approach to employee financial wellness by demonstrating excellence in areas such as awareness building, the provision of education, financial programs and the provision of employee support. The awards will be presented by Sun Life Financial.

Certificate of Merit Recipients

• Alberta Blue Cross - Edmonton, Alberta
• Michael Garron Hospital, Toronto East Health Network - Toronto, 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

• Workplace Safety and Insurance Board – Toronto, Ontario

Gold Award Recipient

• Workplace Safety North – North Bay, Ontario

Silver Award Recipient

• University of Guelph - Guelph, Ontario

Bronze Award Recipient

• TELUS Communications – Vancouver, British Columbia

MENTAL HEALTH AT WORK® AWARD

The Champion of Excellence for the Mental Health at Work® category is Manulife. 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 for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace.

Platinum Award Recipient

• Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences – Whitby, Ontario

Gold Award Recipient

• Carleton University – Ottawa, Ontario
• CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Natural Resources Canada – Ottawa, Ontario
• Workplace Safety and Insurance Board – Toronto, Ontario

Bronze Award Recipient

• Across Boundaries: An Ethnoracial Mental Health Centre - Toronto, Ontario
• TELUS Communications – 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, and Mr. Chris Hadfield. This year, in keeping with the Summit theme “Excellence Made Possible”, the Board of Governors is presenting the Special Recognition of Achievement Award to:

• Bianca Andreescu, 2019 Canadian and US Open Women's Tennis Champion, for being the first Canadian Tennis player to win the US Open
• Linda Hasenfratz, CEO, Linamar Corporation, in recognition of her Exceptional Executive Leadership and for Excellence in Canadian and Global Business
• Huda Idrees, Founder and CEO, Dot Health, in recognition of her outstanding accomplishments as a successful executive and entrepreneur
• Renu Mandhane, Chief Commissioner, Ontario Human Rights Commission, in recognition of her influential work as a lawyer focusing on human rights not only in Ontario but also internationally

PROUD SPONSORS OF CANADIAN EXCELLENCE

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