Mac expertise contributes to Ste-Anne sustainability plan

In formulating its first Sustainable Development Plan, the city of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue got a little help from one of its biggest constituents, McGill’s Macdonald Campus.
Prof. Jim Fyles, Chair of the Department of Natural Resource Sciences in McGill's Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Director of the Morgan Arboretum, represented the University at the launch of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue's new Sustainable Development Plan. / Photo courtesy of Ryan Young, City of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue.

In formulating its first Sustainable Development Plan, the City of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue got a little help from one of its biggest constituents, McGill’s Macdonald Campus.

Caroline Begg, Faculty Lecturer and Research Associate in the Department of Plant Science, and Peter Knox, Supervisor of Property Maintenance at Mac campus, both served on the City’s Sustainable Development Committee, which oversaw the whole process, said Ste-Anne City Councillor Ryan Young, who spearheaded the initiative. Aline Bennett, a recent graduate of McGill’s Bioresource Engineering program now serving as the City’s Sustainable Development Coordinator, oversaw the entire process and compiled and organized the plan, Young said.

“On behalf of Macdonald Campus and the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, I would like to extend my congratulations to the City of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue in developing this wonderful blueprint for the community’s sustainable future. We were happy to participate in the process and look forward to the implementation phase,” said Chandra Madramootoo, Dean of McGill’s Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The objective of the plan, initiated in 2010 and formally launched last Friday, Oct. 12, is to “provide guidance not only to the city, but to the whole community in order to offer a guide for a sustainable future that will hopefully fulfill the community’s present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs,” the City said in a news release prior to the launch.

To learn more about Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue’s Sustainable Development Plan, click on the “Moving Towards Sustainability 2010/2020” PDF here.