Donation to Women's College Hospital establishes
The Sun Life Awards for Excellence in Research
TORONTO, Feb. 24, 2021 /CNW/ - Sun Life is donating
$100,000 to The Emily Stowe Society
at Women's College Hospital Foundation to empower and support
underrepresented communities. The donation will establish The Sun
Life Awards for Excellence in Research. Preference will be given to
researchers or scholars who identify as female or gender-diverse,
are from the Black community and who specialize in diabetes or
mental health research in the Black community.
This donation aligns with Sun Life's Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion (DE&I) commitment to address health inequities in
communities historically underrepresented from a funding and
research perspective, and who see a greater risk of diabetes and
mental health challenges.
"We continue to build on our DE&I commitments, ensuring
everyone has equal access to opportunities and resources," said
Jacques Goulet, President, Sun Life
Canada. "Our purpose is to help Canadians live healthier lives, and
we are actively working to remove systemic barriers that negatively
affect the lives of Black, Indigenous and other underrepresented
populations. Diabetes is Sun Life's global philanthropic cause,
while the mental health crisis has been a growing concern for us in
Canada. Establishing these awards
will help future generations of researchers uncover new
preventions, treatments and cures."
The Emily Stowe Society is named in honour of Dr. Emily Stowe, Canada's first woman doctor and the founder of
Women's College Hospital. It is dedicated to breaking down barriers
to careers in health sciences research. The Sun Life Awards for
Excellence in Research will help increase the number of women and
underrepresented scholars in health, research and leadership
positions.
"It's with tremendous gratitude that we celebrate Sun Life's
commitment to Women's College Hospital and the Emily Stowe
Society," says Jennifer Bernard,
President and CEO, Women's College Hospital Foundation. "In
Canada today, women – and
particularly women from diverse communities – continue to be
underrepresented at all levels of the health sciences field.
Without equity in the health research community, we simply cannot
achieve equity in healthcare. The Sun Life Awards for Excellence in
Research will help advance this mission for equity while
attracting, advancing and retaining exceptional and deserving
researchers at every stage of their career."
As a global industry leader committed to sustainability, Sun
Life has a responsibility to help create lasting social change. Sun
Life is taking actionable steps to remove systemic barriers for
Clients, advisors, communities and employees.
Clients and the Community
Sun Life is focused on
creating an inclusive environment that reflects the diversity of
our Clients and communities:
- Signed on to the goals of the BlackNorth Initiative, led by the
Canadian Council of Business Leaders Against Anti-Black Racism, to
help remove systemic barriers that negatively affect Black
Canadians.
- Donated $60,000 to the Canadian
Race Relations Foundation to support their effort in addressing
discrimination, and an additional $40,000 to various charities supporting DE&I
initiatives in Canada in
2020.
- Signed the #DearEverybody agreement, a commitment to ensure our
marketing is inclusive of people with disabilities and reflects
everyone in our communities.
Employees
Sun Life continues to build a culture where
employees see themselves reflected at all levels of the company,
and feel included and engaged:
- Created numerous inclusion networks for colleagues to come
together, share experiences and drive social change across the
organization. The networks helped allocate donation funds to
various Canadian charities.
- Launched Inclusion Works, a peer-to-peer learning program,
designed to train employees on unconscious bias, commit to
conscious actions and enable acts of inclusion into their daily
behaviours.
- Reaffirmed our goal to have 25 per cent of underrepresented
minorities at the vice-president level and above by 2025, with
specific representation objectives for Black, Indigenous and People
of Colour. Further, set a new goal to achieve gender parity at the
vice-president level and above by 2025.
As outlined in Sun Life's 2019 Sustainability Report, our
efforts in DE&I are directly aligned with our purpose, business
strategy and ultimate success as a company.
Sun Life in the community
At Sun Life, we are
committed to building sustainable, healthier communities for life.
Community wellness is an important part of our sustainability
commitment and we believe that by actively supporting the
communities in which we live and work, we can help build a positive
environment for our Clients, employees, advisors and shareholders.
Our philanthropic support focuses on health, with an emphasis on
diabetes awareness, prevention, and care initiatives through our
Team Up Against Diabetes™ platform; and mental health, supporting
programs and organizations with a focus on building resilience and
coping skills.
We also partner with sports properties in key markets to further
our commitment to healthy and active living. Our employees and
advisors take great pride in volunteering close to 12,000 hours
each year and contribute to making life brighter for individuals
and families across Canada.
Learn more about Sun Life in the community.
About Sun Life
Sun Life is a leading international
financial services organization providing insurance, wealth and
asset management solutions to individual and corporate Clients. Sun
Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including
Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong
Kong, the Philippines,
Japan, Indonesia, India, China,
Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of December 31, 2020, Sun Life had total assets
under management of $1,247 billion.
For more information please visit www.sunlife.com.
Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New
York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the
ticker symbol SLF.
About Women's College Hospital
Women's College
Hospital is Canada's leader in
advancing health for women and a global leader in conducting
groundbreaking women's health research. As the first and only fully
independent hospital focused on women, Women's is building on its
100+ year history as a trailblazer in identifying and addressing
health gaps and delivering pioneering firsts for women, the
vulnerable and the underserved.
Women's is also the only fully ambulatory, academic healthcare
institution in Canada, with a
provincial mandate to lead the way in improving the health system
for all people. Women's achieves this by addressing the most
pressing health system challenges facing Canadians today and
proactively confronting the gender and social inequities that
threaten people's health.
Women's College Hospital Foundation fuels the hospital's
excellence in research and health care by connecting donors,
partners, advocates and volunteers to its mission. We work to bring
healthcare equity to the diverse communities in which we live and
serve and, together, we are creating a healthier and more equitable
world for women and for all.
Note to editors: All figures in Canadian dollars
Media Relations Contact:
Meredith Mundick
Manager, Corporate Communications
T. 416-979-4048
meredith.mundick@sunlife.com
Laura Zarnke
Senior Communications Officer
Women's College Hospital Foundation
647-469-5136
Laura.zarnke@wchospital.ca
SOURCE Sun Life Financial Inc.