Excellence Canada and Canada Life announce the 2020 Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month® Great Employers

TORONTO, Dec. 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Excellence Canada and Canada Life are pleased to announce the *2020 Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month® Great Employers. *These organizations are being celebrated for their planning and actions to foster physically and psychologically safe and healthy workplaces, striving to continually improve across four main areas of focus, namely:*Healthy Lifestyles*

This involves helping employees develop and maintain healthy lifestyle practices, eat well, exercise, drop unhealthy or risky habits, and make optimal use of the healthcare system.

*Mental Health and Workplace Culture*

Culture is created, reinforced and sustained by ongoing patterns of relationships and communications that can have an important influence on psychological health and safety. The organizational culture reflects values that support mental health, such as trust, fairness, respect, diversity, inclusion and teamwork.

*Physical Environment*

Aiming to reduce the risk of fatalities and workplace disabilities, this area of focus involves fully and continually addressing matters of occupational health and safety, including the possible impacts of new technologies, production changes, increasing demands on time, and cost containment measures.

*Corporate Social Responsibility*

The interrelationship between the community, the workplace and the employee can influence employee health and well-being, as well as the health and performance of the organization. CSR activities are often seen as voluntary, going above and beyond what is legislated or required.

*This year’s recipients are, in alphabetical order:*

*Organization* *City* *Province*
AGS Rehab Solutions Inc. Mississauga ON
AV Mechanical Inc. Vaughan ON
CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Natural Resources Canada Nepean ON
Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Ottawa ON
Collingwood General & Marine Hospital Collingwood ON
Connecting Care & Points West Living Edmonton AB
Creative Options Regina Regina SK
Health Standards Organization (HSO) Ottawa ON
Lethbridge College Lethbridge AB
Mary Berglund Community Health Centre Hub Ignace ON
Vancouver Island Brewing Victoria BC
Victoria Airport Authority Sidney BC

Find out what it takes to be a *Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month® Great Employer* online.

Next year’s applicants can make their online submissions at www.healthyworkplacemonth.ca beginning Aug. 1, 2021. The deadline to apply is Oct. 31 and the 2021 recipients will be announced on Dec. 7, 2021.

*Excellence Canada, an independent not-for-profit organization, would like to thank Canada Life for its generosity and support as the Presenting Sponsor of **Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month**®**.* Established by Excellence Canada over 20 years ago, Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month*®* is celebrated every October. Our website provides organizations with year-round resources, tools, and knowledge that they need to implement a long-term Healthy Workplace*®* strategy.

*Thank you to all our sponsors:*

*Presenting Sponsor*

· Canada Life*Supporting Sponsors*

· Civic Action
· Durham Region
· SE Health
· WSIB

*About The Canada Life Assurance Company*
Canada Life is a leading insurance, wealth management and benefits provider focused on improving the financial, physical and mental well-being of Canadians. For more than 170 years, individuals, families and business owners across Canada have trusted us to provide sound guidance and deliver on the promises we’ve made.

As of January 1, 2020, Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life became one company – Canada Life, and today, we proudly serve more than 13 million customer relationships from coast to coast to coast.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.

*About Excellence Canada*
Excellence Canada is an independent, not-for-profit corporation that is committed to advancing organizational excellence across Canada. As a national authority on Excellence, Innovation and Wellness*®*, Healthy Workplace®, and Mental Health at Work® awards, Excellence Canada provides excellence frameworks, standards, and independent verification and certification to organizations of all sizes and in all sectors. It is also the custodian and adjudicator of the Canada Awards for Excellence program, of which the Patron is Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Julie Payette, C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D., C.Q., Governor General of Canada.

“Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month” and “Healthy Workplace” are Registered Trademarks of Excellence Canada.

*For more information contact:*

Liz Kulyk
Assistant Vice-President, Media & Public Affairs
The Canada Life Assurance Company
204-391-8515
Media.Relations@canadalife.com

Karen Jackson
Senior Advisor, Healthy Workplace Strategies
Excellence Canada
1(800) 263-9648 x250
Karen@excellence.ca