Inspired Community, Real Impact
A report on Wilfrid Laurier University’s academic, social, cultural and economic impacts in the Brantford-Brant community since 1999.
A report on Wilfrid Laurier University’s academic, social, cultural and economic impacts in the Brantford-Brant community since 1999.
When Laurier’s Brantford campus launched in 1999, it was entering uncharted territory for both the university and the community. A quarter of a century later, the campus has flourished, grown, and gone well beyond its original mandate of making undergraduate university programs more accessible in Brantford and surrounding areas.
Laurier is now entrenched in the community as an anchor institution. It has been a driving force behind downtown revitalization and supports a thriving community for all – not just students and faculty – by creating opportunities for everyone to access infrastructure, spaces, careers and programming that would otherwise not exist.
The Brantford campus is home to innovative academic programs, actionable research and award-winning teaching, helping prepare more than 9,000 Golden Hawk alumni to leave their mark and make a difference through their professional careers and community contributions.
Laurier’s Brantford campus has partnered with hundreds of individuals and community organizations on research initiatives, special projects, student placements, businesses and social innovations, enhancing community well-being, economic health and prosperity across the region, province and beyond.
As Laurier marks its first 25 years in Brantford, this report celebrates but a few of the countless, inspiring ways the campus has positively impacted the broader community.
Laurier Brantford’s Community Service-Learning (CSL) courses fuse classroom content with experience in a community setting or local organization through placements or projects. Since 2007, students have logged 127,529 CSL hours with more than 200 local non-profit or social profit organizations, schools, community centres and social agencies. Not only does CSL's innovative format drive home the practical applications of course material, it also has the power to inspire future community leaders and agents of change.
For Laurier Brantford alumna Becca Vandekemp-McLellan (BA '12), a CSL placement at the Why Not Youth Centre (WNYC), a not-for-profit organization providing outreach to at-risk youth in Brantford, sparked a career in local community development.
“I was hooked,” says Vandekemp-McLellan. “I could see the potential in these young people and I wanted to help them realize their own self-worth.”
In 2014, she was brought on-board WNYC as an employee. Just two years later, she would take the lead as its Director of Development and Operations.
Read more of Vandekemp-McLellan's story in our 25 Alumni of Impact showcase.
At a time when many school boards are reporting teacher shortages, the Bachelor of Education program offered at Laurier’s Brantford campus is producing passionate, enthusiastic and professional educators committed to helping Ontario students thrive.
More than 85% of Laurier Education alumni who graduated between 2021 and 2023 work in schools within 100 kilometres of Laurier’s Brantford and Waterloo campuses, according to the findings of an employment survey by Laurier’s Career Centre.
"The Grand Erie District School Board has seen the positive contributions that Laurier’s Bachelor of Education students and graduates make to school communities," says JoAnna Roberto, director of education at Grand Erie District School Board. "Their strong foundation in pedagogy, combined with a commitment to student well-being and achievement, is evident in the teaching practices of Laurier Education students and graduates."
One-third of teacher education students at Laurier’s Brantford campus complete practicum placements in local schools each year.
Not only does Laurier Brantford increase the community’s supply of skilled, engaged graduates, it also increases the demand for them.
The university itself plays a significant role in ensuring the local community retains its human capital, employing more than 340 in full-time, part-time and contract positions.
Among them is Pam Malins, who, as a child growing up in Brantford, never imagined she’d have the opportunity to pursue higher education in her own hometown, let alone return one day as an assistant professor. After graduating from Laurier Brantford with a BA in Contemporary Studies in 2005, she would earn a BEd, as well as master’s and doctorate degrees, before becoming the first full-time hire at the campus’s burgeoning Faculty of Education.
“It’s ironic that Laurier’s tagline is ‘Welcome home,’” Malins says. “I love teaching in the Bachelor of Education program.”
Read more of Malins' story in our 25 Alumni of Impact showcase.
Students in Laurier Brantford's User Experience Design co-op program can gain a full year of work experience — all while earning money to help finance their education. In co-op positions ranging from information architect to business analyst, participants explore career paths, develop professional contacts and build valuable industry skills. As recently hired co-op students Nicholas Chan and Noah Lach can attest, it’s a great way to kick-start a successful career in UX design.
When Michelle Drake of Crossing All Bridges Learning Centre first came to LaunchPad at Laurier Brantford she knew she had a great idea for a social enterprise. At LaunchPad – now known as StartUp Lab Brantford – she found the resources and guidance needed to bring that idea, Shredding Barriers, to life. Now, nearly a decade later, Shredding Barriers is still going strong, and its workforce has increased fivefold.
StartUp Lab is Laurier’s early-stage business incubator run by the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics. It provides support to budding entrepreneurs and social innovators in the form of mentorship, guidance and networking to help ventures succeed. The programming is open to Laurier students and alumni, as well as individuals and organizations from the broader community, like Crossing All Bridges.
Launched in 2016, Shredding Barriers offers secure document shredding services while fulfilling its core mission: to build a stronger, more inclusive community by providing meaningful work for individuals with developmental disabilities. The enterprise launched with five employees and now has 25 staff, some of whom have been working at Shredding Barriers since it started.
“LaunchPad was instrumental in helping us turn our idea into a reality,” says Drake, now the executive director of Crossing All Bridges Learning Centre. “They provided invaluable mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs, access to co-working spaces and opportunities to connect with potential investors. The supportive community allowed us to network with other start-ups, leading to collaborations and new growth opportunities.”
In terms of the impact Shredding Barriers has had on its employees, Drake says it is immense.
“For our employees, Shredding Barriers means independence, pride, purpose and confidence. Shredding Barriers provides them an opportunity to experience what many of us take for granted – employment. They shine with excitement when they talk about their work. They are supportive and encouraging to one another and enjoy coming to work each day.”
When Vidya Singh tells people she works at Laurier, the first question they often ask is: “What do you teach?”
“People assume that we’re all faculty, that only teachers work here,” says Singh, a housekeeper at the Brantford campus. “They don’t think about the facilities people, the tradespeople, the special constables, the administrators – all the other people who have jobs at the university.”
Singh, who came to Canada from Guyana in 1983, has worked at Laurier since 2005. She is one of nearly 160 staff employed at the Brantford campus.
When she applied to Laurier – initially as an employee of the Students’ Union – she was caring for two young children and an elderly parent at home and working at a long-term care facility. She was drawn to the idea of making a change and intrigued at the notion of working in an educational setting.
On and off campus, Singh has developed a reputation as a helper. Whether assisting a lost student in finding their way, organizing an on-campus donation drive for school supplies benefiting local children, or redirecting food at risk of being thrown away to community members in need, Singh is driven by a desire to make life a little easier for those around her.
In terms of what she enjoys most about working at a university, Singh says she likes helping students, appreciates the opportunity to connect with and learn from faculty, and enjoys the many days of significance celebrated at Laurier International, where food, culture and traditions are exchanged.
“I’ve learned so much from working here,” she says. “Laurier means a lot to Brantford. It brings a lot of opportunities for the people who live here, the businesses, the newcomers. It’s got so much potential.”
Singh’s children are now grown. Her daughter is a two-time Laurier alumna, graduating with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. She was able to access an employee and family tuition benefit, one of the many Laurier initiatives that helped earn the university the title of Southwestern Ontario’s Top Employer in 2024.
“Laurier has impacted me personally in many ways,” says Singh. “It has opened up my life and opened up a lot of doors. Working here has given me a better life.”
A bright, sparkling, fully accessible pool. A state-of-the-art fitness centre. Child-care facilities. And an airy gymnasium with the Laurier Golden Hawks logo at centre court. The opening of the Laurier Brantford YMCA in fall 2018 marked the dawn of a new era for athletics and recreation in downtown Brantford.
The 122,000 square foot facility was made possible thanks to an innovative partnership between Laurier and the YMCA of Hamilton | Burlington | Brantford, with funding support from sources including the City of Brantford, provincial and federal governments, private donors and the Students’ Union, which contributed $3.6 million towards the build.
The facility serves the diverse needs of both Laurier students and the wider Brantford, Brant and Six Nations of the Grand River Territory communities, with community membership growing 40 per cent over the past six years. Serving all segments of the city including children and youth, seniors, persons with disabilities, newcomers and families from low-income households, everyone from the city’s diverse population can feel they belong.
Woven amongst the retail spaces, offices and restaurants of historic downtown Brantford are the distinctive buildings that make up Laurier’s Brantford campus. Adaptive reuse — restoring historic character while renovating spaces for university purposes — has been a guiding principle for the development of the Brantford campus, which began with just one building, the city's former Carnegie library, in 1999. Twenty-five years later, Laurier has restored and repurposed several landmark structures in Brantford’s downtown core, including the SC Johnson Building (a turn-of-the-century bank), the Odeon Building (a former movie theatre) and Post House (the city's 19th century post office).
Free and open to the public, this inaugural event on Sept. 27 and 28, 2024, transformed the atrium at the university’s One Market building into a marketplace of Indigenous vendors, curated by acclaimed Indigenous artist and Laurier alumna Alanah Jewell (BA ’19) of Morningstar Designs. Guests were also invited to attend public lectures on subjects ranging from local history to Indigenization at Laurier and take in live music from the Little Creek Singers, Six Nations Women Singers, Lacey Hill and James N. Wilson. Hosting MarketFest in One Market was a step toward fulfilling Laurier’s commitment to restoring mutual benefit at this site (1 Market St.) for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
In 2024, more than a quarter of all bookings at Laurier Brantford’s Podcast Studio were made by members of the community. Over the past year, the studio's Podcaster-in-Residence Avery Moore Kloss has provided training and support for organizations including the Brant County Health Unit, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the Brantford Writers' Circle. Following a workshop Moore Kloss offered in partnership with the City of Brantford, Child and Family Services of Grand Erie launched their own podcast, “The Messiness of Parenting,” recording all 11 episodes of the series in the Laurier Brantford Studio.
Laurier Brantford’s commitment to creating a thriving, sustainable community earned the campus a Green Business Award from the City of Brantford in 2024. The accolade highlighted several environmentally conscious initiatives, including:
Read more about Laurier’s Sustainability Strategy and Progress.
In partnership with the City of Brantford, Laurier developed a free online course to introduce members of the community to Indigenous peoples’ experiences, history and culture. Since its launch in January 2025, Introduction to Indigenous Matters, offered through the Department of Indigenous Studies, Law and Social Justice, has an enrolment of more than 800. Learning is self-directed, giving participants the ability to complete the six to eight-hour course at their own pace.
Laurier's Brantford campus doesn’t always get to play itself on TV, but as a scenic backdrop to productions from Reacher to Murdoch Mysteries, it often threatens to steal the show. Campus staff coordinating movie and TV shoots have earned a reputation among film crews for their professionalism and flexibility, contributing to Brantford’s status as a premiere filming location.
In 2024, Laurier appointed local Indigenous writer Alicia Elliott as the incoming Laurier Stedman Fellow. In this role, the best-selling author of And Then She Fell (2023) and A Mind Spread Out on the Ground (2019) serves as a mentor for budding writers from Laurier and the broader community, who are invited to schedule one-on-one sessions for expert feedback on their work.
Photo courtesy of Alex Jacobs-Blum.
It isn’t just returning alumni who are welcome at Laurier Brantford’s Homecoming. For the past several years, the centrepiece of Homecoming celebrations has been the alumni vs. current students basketball game, which is open to the public. Held at the Laurier Brantford YMCA, members of the campus and community fill the stands with purple and gold, cheering for the Golden Hawk team of their choice.
Shinerama, Canada’s largest post-secondary fundraiser for cystic fibrosis, was founded at Laurier's Waterloo campus (then known as Waterloo Lutheran University) in 1964. In keeping with that tradition, students at Laurier's Brantford campus have raised more than $175,000 in Shinerama initiatives over the past 25 years.
That spirit of service extends to the immediate community as well, with a number of student-led clubs and associations investing in the wellness of neighbours off campus. Laurier Students for Literacy provides local schoolchildren with homework help and hosts reading club programming at the Brantford Public Library. Through Laurier Brantford Best Buddies, students forge lasting friendships with individuals living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
On campus, the Students’ Union Food Bank helps undergraduate students dealing with food insecurity through a food parcel program and emergency hot meal vouchers.
From free movie screenings presented in the International Film Series to lectures from renowned thought leaders, Laurier Brantford hosts around 150 events each year that are open to the community. Here are a few highlights from the campus’s 25-year tradition of enriching and entertaining public programming.
Police officers are regularly called upon to address mental health crises in the community, requiring specialized skills to manage these complex situations. A mental health crisis response (MHCR) education and applied training program developed by Laurier, in partnership with Toronto Metropolitan University, is now mandated for all 26,000 Ontario police officers to enhance their de-escalation and communication skills to safely resolve crisis incidents. More than 2,000 recruits in Ontario have received MHCR training to date.
Working with a diverse group of community stakeholders, including people with lived experience of mental illness, mental health professionals, Indigenous cultural safety experts and police instructors, Laurier’s Jennifer Lavoie and her research team designed authentic, live-action simulations featuring a range of mental health crises to better prepare officers to identify and respond to mental health calls. Together with an industry partner, they leveraged advanced virtual reality (VR) technologies to build immersive training scenarios available through a VR headset so officers can practice de-escalation techniques.
Lavoie, an associate professor of Criminology and Psychology, says the course emphasizes “relational policing,” which focuses on using the power of human connection to build trust, as well as trauma-informed and cultural safety approaches to meet the needs of diverse community members. Her award-winning research has found that this innovative, scenario-based training program results in significant increases in the use of de-escalation and enhanced communication strategies in simulations, increases police officer confidence and empathy, and reduces bias towards people with serious mental illness.
In the early 20th century, Brantford was one of Canada’s most multicultural cities, boasting the country’s largest proportion of foreign-born residents.
The Laurier-partnered Memories of Brantford project sets out to research, share and celebrate the stories of those diverse immigrant communities through interactive exhibitions and events ranging from musical performances to guided walks.
Following an enormously successful Jewish History of Brantford event that included a walking tour for more than 200 participants, Memories of Brantford has hosted events showcasing the histories of the city’s Italian, Chinese, Ukrainian and Armenian communities.
Laurier Brantford's annual Academic, Creative and Engaged Research Showcase (ACERS) celebrates creative undergraduate student projects across disciplines and highlights the importance of research in professional careers. The showcase provides a unique opportunity for students to present their work to their peers and the broader community in the form of posters, videos or podcasts, while competing for prizes.
In 2021, Laurier Brantford alumnus Wei Pang (BBTM ’22) earned first place in the poster category for his research into the efficacy of a tablet-based screening tool for cognitive impairment.
Crediting his research experiences at Laurier as a catalyst for his post-graduate studies, Pang has gone on to earn a Master of Science in Health Informatics at Yale University and is now pursuing a PhD in Management Information Systems from Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business.
Read more of Pang's story in our 25 Alumni of Impact showcase.
Vital Signs reports provide an important tool with which to gauge wellbeing in communities across Canada. By collecting and analyzing data on topics such as the economy, transportation, arts and culture, belonging, health, safety and the environment, these reports are an invaluable resource for individuals and non-profits, helping to spark conversations and inspire strategic action. Locally, Laurier Brantford Associate Professor James Popham partnered with the Brant Community Foundation (BCF) to offer research and data analytics for their 2024 Vital Signs Report. Last published in 2018, this is the second time Popham and the BCF have partnered on this pulse-check initiative.
The demographic research presented in the report paints a picture of life in Brantford, the County of Brant, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. Armed with this data, community organizations can make strategic decisions about investment and philanthropy.
In November 2023, City of Brantford Director of Bylaw Compliance and Security Dave Wiedrick attended the Brantford Community Safety Search Conference, hosted by Laurier. There, Assistant Professor of Criminology Tarah Hodgkinson shared her assessment of Brantford police activity, which found that 85 per cent of police calls were related to situations such as visible homelessness and well-being checks. Hodgkinson’s research helped Wiedrick rethink the City’s approach to addressing homelessness. When police dispatchers receive a call about an unhoused person, they are now sending housing and bylaw officers who can connect the individual with social services.
This compassionate approach has improved the City of Brantford Encampment Network’s efforts, enabling it to quickly provide access to emergency shelters. Since July 2023, the team has helped more than 100 people find shelter.
Laurier Brantford’s Game Design and Development program has empowered graduates like Jonah Monaghan (BA '22) to make significant contributions to accessible gaming. While still a student at Laurier, Monaghan collaborated with Anthony DeVergillo to develop Overjoyed, a software application that enables a computer mouse to operate as a virtual joystick for gaming on a PC. This innovation — now available for download on the Microsoft Store — allows individuals with limited hand dexterity to enjoy video games that would otherwise be inaccessible. Monaghan has contributed his skills to other games designed for players living with disabilities, such as Painted Waters, a one-button game designed for children living with spinal muscular atrophy.
“Games are meant to be fun and should be accessible to all players,” says Monaghan. “Accessible design and a positive experience for all gamers has been at the heart of my work from the beginning.”
There are more than 80,000 unhoused people in Ontario — an increase of 22 per cent since 2022. To spark critical thinking on this issue, researchers at Laurier's Centre for Research on Security Practices partnered with the University of Guelph and York University to produce an original documentary, Bridging Divides: Voices and Visions about Homelessness in Mid-size Cities.
Using a case study of three mid-size cities in Canada, the film features a conversation among two people with lived experience of homelessness and housing precarity, a service provider, a business owner, and a member of law enforcement about the causes and consequences of homelessness, public safety, and ways forward. The documentary provides a greater understanding about homelessness among diverse members of the community with the goal of helping to move towards positive, solutions-focused responses that help build feelings of safety and a sense of belonging for all.
After reading a former foster child's memoir about having to move their personal belongings in garbage bags, students in Laurier Brantford's Social Work program were inspired to take action. In 2017, they launched the Moving Us Forward initiative to provide knapsacks and duffel bags to children and teens in the foster care system, promoting dignity during transitions.
Local secondary school students with a knack for creative writing have an incredible opportunity at Laurier Brantford. The Laurier Stedman Prize, hosted by the English program in the Faculty of Liberal Arts, is one of the richest writing contests for high school students in the world.
Funded by a gift from the late Mary Stedman, the biennial contest awards $13,000 in prizes for original, unpublished stories written by secondary school students in the catchment area of the Grand Erie and Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District school boards.
"A prize like this gives them the validation that says, 'you can do this,'" says English Associate Professor Ken Paradis.
Laurier Brantford’s Centre for Research on Security Practices partnered with the City of Brantford and Brantford Police Service to develop the Building Safer Communities: Action Plan 2024-2026. This initiative, funded by Public Safety Canada's Building Safer Communities Fund, aims to prevent youth aged 6 to 25 from engaging in gun and gang violence through community-based prevention and intervention strategies. The Action Plan focuses on engaging vulnerable youth, providing support, raising awareness of available services and fostering a sense of belonging.
Laurier Brantford hosted 800 local high school students for the 2024 Vision into the Future Conference. Focusing on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics), the campus-wide event engaged students from Brantford, County of Brant and Six Nations of the Grand River in hands-on workshops and seminars on topics including computer coding, robotics and advances in surgical techniques.
Photo courtesy of Kimberly de Jong / Brant Beacon.
Who better to advise on the needs of local youth than young people themselves? That's the grassroots approach taken by Laurier Brantford's Child and Adolescent Research and Education (CARE) Lab and the City of Brantford in co-hosting the Community Connections Conference. The annual event brings youth, service providers and researchers together to connect and share experiences. “We are thrilled to provide youth opportunities to express their needs and experiences directly to the people in the community who have the power to support them,” says Danielle Law, associate professor and director of the CARE Lab.
Dammee Sero’s determination to continue her studies while living in a refugee camp in Kenya brought her all the way to Brantford, and into Laurier's Human Rights and Diversity program.
Out of hundreds of refugee applicants, Sero was selected for the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) Student Refugee Program, which has been combining resettlement with opportunities for higher education for more than 40 years.
“I was overjoyed when I found out I would be going to Canada,” says Sero, whose family had been forced to flee their Ethiopian homeland because of her father’s political beliefs. “It was life-changing.”
Through the WUSC Laurier Scholarship, refugee students like Sero receive support to cover tuition and living expenses for four years. The scholarship is funded by an annual student levy, the Office of the President and the Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association. A WUSC student committee provides peer support to help refugee students acclimate to their life and studies at Laurier.
“I wasn’t just left alone,” Sero says. “There’s a great sense of community here.”
Receiving her degree in 2017, Sero has gone on to become a case processing officer at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
Studying abroad offers exciting opportunities to engage in experiential learning, develop intercultural competencies and advance career skills. But less than two per cent of Canadian postsecondary students studying abroad are Indigenous. For many Indigenous students, finances, family responsibilities and cultural commitments can create barriers to engaging in academic experiences away from home.
A course offered by Laurier aimed to change that.
In August 2024, nine Indigenous students from Laurier travelled to Auckland, New Zealand as part of an innovative two-week field course to learn about Māori culture. Offered by the Brantford campus-based Department of Indigenous Studies, Law and Social Justice and in partnership with Laurier’s Global Engagement team and the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, the course introduced students to aspects of Māori culture through lectures by Māori faculty members at the University of Auckland, intercultural experiences with Māori students and visits to sites of significance throughout Auckland.
Laurier is a member of Scholars at Risk (SAR), an international network that aims to protect scholars experiencing conflict and threats in their home countries and promote academic freedom. Through funding, access to library resources and faculty partnerships, the program enables these scholars to re-engage with their research goals.
Bree Akesson, an associate professor in Laurier Brantford's Faculty of Social Work and Canada Research Chair in Global Adversity and Well-Being, recently served as SAR sponsor for Sediqa Akbari and Rohina Zaffari, two Afghan academics who have persevered through armed conflict, persecution and forced migration to pursue their scholarship. The team collaborated on several published articles, one of which was awarded the 2022 best journal article prize from International Social Work.
Laurier Brantford's Bachelor of Social Work program is currently hosting Dr. Hadi Rassooli, the university’s first Visiting Researcher through the Afghan At-Risk Scholars Program. In addition to serving as a guest speaker for courses, Dr. Rasooli is spearheading an initiative to establish culturally sensitive mental health services for Afghan newcomers in Canada.
Among the first of its kind for a Canadian university, Laurier's exchange program with the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom allows students to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Laurier and a Bachelor of Laws from Sussex in just six years.
The innovative program made Laurier Brantford a first-choice school for current student Hannah Gilbert, whose outstanding academic performance earned her the Laurier Scholars Award — the university's most prestigious entrance scholarship.
“Being able to obtain an undergraduate degree and a law degree in six years is an amazing opportunity that is not available at many other Ontario universities,” Gilbert says. “This program will allow me to fast-track my goal of becoming a Canadian lawyer while gaining international education experience.”
Laurier's Brantford campus is located on the shared traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishnaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. This land is part of the Dish with One Spoon Treaty between the Haudenosaunee and Anishnaabe peoples and symbolizes the agreement to share, protect our resources and not to engage in conflict.
From the Haldimand Proclamation of Oct. 25, 1784, this territory is described as: “six miles deep from each side of the river (Grand River) beginning at Lake Erie and extending in the proportion to the Head of said river, which them and their posterity are to enjoy forever.” The proclamation was signed by the British with their allies, the Six Nations, after the American Revolution. Despite being the largest reserve demographically in Canada, those nations now reside on less than five per cent of this original territory.