Skip to Main Content
You are now in the main content area

Our Story

Students with backpacks walk through Allan Gardens.
We challenge historical and existing systems of exclusion through establishing novel ideas and partnerships in the pursuit of equity, sustainability and justice.

The Office of Social Innovation (OSI) was founded on August 1st, 2016 under the auspices of the Provost and Vice-President Academic. OSI was created in response to the growth of social innovation initiatives for students and the need for consolidating the university’s ecosystem to support the advancement of social innovation.

We recognize that social innovation (SI) has many definitions. At OSI, we define social innovation as the practice of using creative and collaborative approaches to challenge historical and existing systems of exclusion in order to have a transformative impact on society and the environment.

Vision & Values

Our vision is to model socially innovative approaches that support communities both locally and globally. Our work is guided by social justice, equity, respect, accessibility, and reconciliation.