About Us
Imagineaction is a program designed to facilitate teacher-student-community interaction in social action.
UNESCO describes the role of education for sustainable development (ESD) as helping people “develop the attitudes,
skills, and knowledge to make informed decisions for the benefit of themselves and others, now and for the future,
and to act upon those decisions.” This is the very core of the Imagineaction movement. Imagineaction builds on the
successful Green Street program by enhancing the strictly environmental focus to include a focus on six themes – Connect
(relationships), Engage (participatory citizenship), Thrive (Health and Wellness), Lead (Leadership), Live (environmental
sustainability), and Care (poverty). Each of these themes in intertwined in a program geared to facilitate action after
teachers and students have engaged in a critical thinking exercise about the issue that they want to take on. Imagineaction
will assist teachers in four ways. A series of web-based professional resources are available to assist teachers in the
initiation of social action projects tied to both curricular and co-curricular activities. Teachers may also apply for
funding subsidies to assist them in initiating their projects. Project teams will also have access to an electronic
showcase of projects to enable them to tell others of the good work being accomplished and to let them search for new
and innovative ideas related to sustainable development. Finally, teachers and their students will have access to a
database of community experts related to each of the Imagineaction themes. These resources, available to teachers and
students on a trusted platform, will provide a key piece in any provincial or territorial strategy for the promotion and
support of ESD in the school system.
Who is Behind Imagineaction?
The Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF)
As the national bilingual umbrella organization for teachers in this country, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF)
has 15 provincial and territorial Member organizations and one Affiliate Member representing nearly 200,000 teachers
across Canada.
CTF is a powerful voice for the teaching profession and advances the cause of education for its Member organizations
and teachers by: acting as the collective voice of teachers at the interprovincial, federal and international levels;
facilitating the sharing of ideas, knowledge and skills; fostering research; addressing societal issues that affect the
health and well-being of children and youth in Canada and abroad; coordinating and conducting international assistance;
and cooperating with like-minded organizations, in Canada and elsewhere.
CTF supports education for sustainability, which includes any teaching approach designed to promote understanding of
issues of the environment, economy and society and the interconnections among them, and which fosters the knowledge, skills
and values needed to participate in appropriate change for a more sustainable future.
The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation
Established in 1937 by John Wilson McConnell (1877-1963) and nurtured and managed by him until his death, The J. W. McConnell
Foundation grew out of Mr. McConnell’s deep commitment to the public good and his life-long involvement with non-profit and
charitable work in Canada. It was renamed The J. W. McConnell Family Foundation after his death to reflect the family’s enduring
support for his ideals.
The purpose of The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation has not greatly changed since it was established by its founder some 70
years ago: now, as then, it seeks to improve quality of life by building communities that help people to develop their talents
and contribute to the common good.
Over the years, the ways to achieve this have evolved; what remains central to its purpose is the importance of community,
how people contribute, and the Foundation’s need to make choices in its granting decisions, to take risks, to learn and to be
engaged with its grantees.
The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation is a private family foundation to this day: the Board of Directors is comprised of family
members who set policy and assure the Foundation’s good governance. The Foundation has a small staff based in Montreal.
Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic
of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal
critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.
Paulo Freire