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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

Youth Outreach Initiative

An image of youth at the UOIT Youth Outreach InitiativeUOIT takes clean energy research message to Durham Region high school students   

More than 100 high school science students took part in a series of sustainable energy workshops organized by the Clean Energy Research Laboratory (CERL) at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT).

UOIT faculty members and graduate students were invited by four high schools across Durham Region to share how they are developing renewable energy technologies to advance hydrogen as practical alternative as a renewable energy source. Following the workshops, CERL provided teachers with special kits that will allow students to conduct their own simple renewable energy experiments in the classroom. 

“UOIT is seeking answers to tomorrow’s challenges through innovative research, so we are really pleased with how warmly our outreach efforts have been received by students and teachers alike,” said Ed Secnik, CERL Manager. “UOIT is very supportive of students exploring courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM-based disciplines), and perhaps some of these students will eventually become UOIT researchers.”

CERL’s tour included workshops for students at:

  • Dunbarton High School, Pickering
  • Eastdale Collegiate and Vocational Institute, Oshawa 
  • Henry Street High School, Whitby
  • O’Neill Collegiate and Vocational Institute, Oshawa

“UOIT’s hands-on and interactive workshops provided an exciting opportunity for students in all grades to discover how various forms of renewable energy sources are created,” said Sandra McEwan, Science and Technology Program Facilitator, Durham District School Board. “CERL certainly piqued the students’ curiosity and helped them make meaningful real-world STEM connections. The hosting teachers at each school were appreciative to receive the renewable energy kits, as were the students who also received CERL’s hydrogen power themed t-shirts.”

Since 2010, CERL has been leading an international consortium to advance the production of hydrogen through clean production methods such as the splitting of water molecules into their hydrogen and oxygen components.

Last year CERL visited Maxwell Heights Secondary School in Oshawa, Pine Ridge Secondary School in Pickering and J. Clarke Richardson Collegiate in Ajax.