2011 Winners

Since 2000, best practices in sustainable community development have been celebrated each year with the FCM Sustainable Community Awards. The Awards are open to all municipal governments and their private-sector partners.

FCM's Green Municipal Fund is the primary sponsor of the Awards. Awards are presented in nine categories: brownfields, buildings, energy, integrated neighbourhood development, planning, residential development, transportation, waste, and water.

The Awards were announced at a reception and awards ceremony during FCM's Sustainable Communities Conference and Trade Show (SCC) in Victoria, B.C. This year marks the first time that the Awards have been presented at the SCC.

Brownfields

About eight years ago, when the Town of the Blue Mountains found itself with too little space to meet its administrative needs, Council examined its options and made a bold choice: to build a new town hall on a brownfield site.
Buildings

The 79-year-old Calgary Public Building required extensive renovation to continue as a home for the performing arts and a healthy workplace for City of Calgary staff.
Energy – Co-winner 1

In 2008, the City of Medicine Hat developed a community environmental roadmap that set two targets: to reduce residential energy consumption by 20 per cent by 2020 and to obtain 25 per cent of residential energy from renewable sources by 2025.
Energy – Co-winner 2

In 2005, the City of Montréal committed to reducing its GHG emissions by 20 per cent by 2012 (compared to 2002 levels), and in 2007, adopted a corporate action plan entitled Climate Protection.
Integrated Neighbourhood Development

The initial architectural plans for Simon Fraser University (SFU) in 1963 conceived of a dense residential community surrounding the new university.
Planning – Co-winner 1

Starting in 2005, 18,000 citizens of Calgary worked together to envision their future well into the next century. The process that established the city's long-term vision was called imagineCALGARY.
Planning – Co-winner 2

Yellowknife's northern geography, coupled with complex historical, political and resource-related issues, presents unique challenges for community development.
Residential Development

The City of Victoria has a long history of permitting secondary suites in older and larger homes.
Transportation

The City of Toronto has adopted a strategy to become a city where people choose to walk more and drive less.
Waste

The Regional District of Nanaimo owns and operates the Regional Landfill and the Church Road Transfer Station, and provides residential garbage collection and recycling service to more than 25,000 households in the region.
Water – Co-winner 1

The Town of Olds' wastewater treatment plant was almost 30 years old and serving a population of 7,500 when trouble began - the facility was at capacity and posed an environmental hazard to receiving waters.
Water – Co-winner 2

Residents of the small seaside community of Victoria, P.E.I., had always relied on private holding tanks and septic systems to handle sewage but, by the 21st century, failing septic systems were discharging effluent not only into the soil, but also into the groundwater and into Victoria Harbour.