The Government of Canada has announced new measures to support and transform Canada’s forest sector, highlighting its essential role in economic resilience, low-carbon construction, and the delivery of affordable housing.
Toronto, ON, December 16, 2025 — Sustainable Buildings Canada (SBC) is pleased to announce its 2026 Board of Directors, including two new directors: Marianne Touchie and Roya Khaleeli Keon and five new Board Associate members who bring deep expertise in international sustainability strategy, building science, Indigenous housing innovation, legal governance, and climate-focused research. Together, these leaders will help strengthen SBC’s mission to create and connect communities of learners, practitioners, and leaders, providing platforms to collaborate and share real-world sustainable solutions.
Welcome to Episode 13 of Sustainable Buildings Canada’s Greenroom podcast. In this episode of the podcast, we dive into the important topic the national building code of Canada and the national energy code for buildings. Specifically, how our series of workshops led by SBC are helping building officials across the country work with the latest higher tier energy code requirements.
Toronto, ON, October 22, 2025 — Sustainable Buildings Canada (SBC) is proud to announce that its Better Condos Boot Camp initiative has been recognized as a 2026 Clean50 Top Project, celebrating leadership and innovation in advancing Canada’s clean economy.
Sustainable Buildings Canada (SBC) supports the federal government’s Housing Design Catalogue initiative as a timely response to Canada’s housing crisis but urges that energy performance and accessibility must remain core design requirements—not optional features. While the initiative aims to fast-track construction through a set of pre-approved designs, SBC cautions that offering lower-tier options could lead to a drop in building standards unless climate resilience and universal accessibility are embedded into all baseline templates.
Sustainable Buildings Canada (SBC) supports the federal government’s Housing Design Catalogue initiative as a timely response to Canada’s housing crisis but urges that energy performance and accessibility must remain core design requirements—not optional features. While the initiative aims to fast-track construction through a set of pre-approved designs, SBC cautions that offering lower-tier options could lead to a drop in building standards unless climate resilience and universal accessibility are embedded into all baseline templates.
Natalia Ortiz, student of Project Management Environmental (PME) program in Seneca Polytechnic, has an Environmental Engineering background completed at Universidad El Bosque in Colombia. She has always been involved in sustainability roles and projects that included Environmental Management Systems implementation, Water Treatment Systems’ design and operation, Hazardous and Conventional Waste management and minimization practices, as well as Ecosystem’s Conservation and Energy
Efficiency programs.
For the PME – Applied Project Management Course, Natalia developed a Green Roof Assessment Tool for Seneca Polytechnic’s Office of Sustainability, with the aim to provide green roof technology recommendations best suited to a particular scenario, taking into consideration multiple aspects of green roofs and buildings; infrastructure, design, materials, environmental factors, and costs, as well as the Toronto Municipal Code – Green Roof bylaw. Natalia also has a scientific journal publication as the main author of the project “Selection and sizing of industrial wastewater treatment units required at the
new maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) aircraft facility owned by Avianca S.A. in Rionegro Antioquia” in the El Bosque University Journal of Technology.
Natalia strongly believes there are several research topics left to be developed, and the importance of
working towards Sustainability from different backgrounds, knowledge, and cultures to build strong, productive, and resilient communities.
With the vision of growing cities and infrastructure along with nature, always preserving and respecting the ecosystems’ attributes and services, Natalia would like to keep researching and acquiring more experience in Sustainability roles.
Emily is a second-year PhD student in Geography at the University of Toronto, and a co-operator of a small home renovation company, Magnus Home Improvements. Her research seeks to determine how single-family homes can quickly and best be retrofit to achieve Toronto’s emissions reductions targets – including net-zero by 2040 – as part of the TransformTO climate action plan. Specifically, she will assess the impact of municipal home energy reporting and disclosure programs, as well as produce recommendations for growing the retrofit labour force in ways that attend to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Further, her research seeks to understand how home retrofit activities can be regenerative and produce net-positive impacts for humans and the environment towards transformative, place-based sustainability. When not at her computer, Emily can be found cycling with her kids to and from school or making funky sounds on her analog synthesizer.
Bofa is a sustainability professional with over seven years in the energy and environment industry. He has a Bachelor of Science in Energy and Petroleum Studies from Novena University in Nigeria and graduate certificates in Energy Management and Environmental Project Management from Seneca College in Toronto. In 2020, he graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Master of Environment and Business degree. He is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the Building Science program at Toronto Metropolitan University, researching whole-life carbon reduction in new construction and building renovations.
Bofa‘s work experience is primarily in the built environment, working in the private and public sectors in roles that involve structural and environmental assessment of building structures, HVAC engineering design and sales, and facilities management. Bofa is a member of several industry associations, such as the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), the American Society for Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and the Project Management Institute (PMI). SBC’s bursary will go a long way in supporting Bofa‘s research and his desire to learn.