CEO message
Making life brighter – a message from CEO Donald Stewart
Sun Life, together with our employees and advisors, is committed to investing in our communities, economy and the environment. The global economic turbulence does not deter us from fulfilling our corporate social responsibilities. Our philanthropy program supports hundreds of registered charities to help improve the lives of individuals and families within our global community.
In 2008, our international operations contributed more than $7.8 million to health, social services, education and culture programs.
We continue to support health programs that are proactive and preventive in nature. Our health-related grants to hospitals, organizations and institutions across Canada alone totalled more than $2.6 million. This support included partnering with Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre to develop and launch an event that raised more than $12 million to help build the hospital’s new birthing and neonatal care unit. And we established the Sun Life Financial Centre for Health Outcomes and Economics Research in Cancer and Trauma Care at Montreal General Hospital.
Our ongoing support for the arts includes our award-winning Making the Arts More Accessible® program. Across Canada, our program provides more affordable access for individuals and families to theatres, operas, museums, art galleries, libraries, festivals and other cultural events.
And we’re building on our wide range of sustainability programs and continue to invest in clean and renewable energy. We’ve provided millions of square feet of green office, commercial and residential space, and through our intensive waste reduction and recycling programs, we’ve diverted hundreds of tonnes of materials from landfills.
Our corporate social responsibility programs are upheld by three main pillars: Commitment to the
people we serve, wherever we live and work, empowerment of our communities through
financial support for forward-looking programs and initiatives, resulting in action – for a better
life and a brighter future.
Donald Stewart
In their own words
"Sun Life has been integral in bringing the lifesaving ACT High School CPR Program to students in 260 schools across Quebec. As a result of their continued support, more than 70,000 youth have been empowered to react in emergencies and many lives have been saved."
Sandra Clarke, Executive Director
ACT Foundation of Canada
