Announcements

When:
August 7, 2020
Posters/Attachments: Event Poster
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Posters/Attachments: Event Poster
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Posters/Attachments: Event Poster

Financial Services Update – July 2020

With your help, we have successfully completed the 2019/20 year end audit.

We have had to make some changes to our operations since our last communication on March 19, 2020, as working remotely has required us to do so. The following information should assist you going forward as we continue to work from home:

a) Ordering supplies when working from home:

Given the duration of the current work from home situation, staff may require items or supplies that would typically be available in the office; as a result, Financial Services has revised processes to accommodate these requirements and conditions. Any supplies and/or equipment required to work from home should be pre-approved by the requestor’s manager prior to any purchase. Managers should reference the expense reimbursement policy and procedure and should use their discretion with regards to approving items requested due to need for staff to work from home. Wherever possible, the most cost effective option should be approved. Once approval is granted, the requestor may purchase the supplies and the complete the Employee Reimbursement form, attach electronic copies of receipts and submit their request for reimbursement via email to the Manager that pre-approved their initial request.

Completed Employee Reimbursement forms must include appropriate FOAP allocation and electronic receipts and can be circulated via email to your Manager for approval. Managers are able to approve an employee reimbursement by one of two ways:

  1. Signing the completed form electronically and emailing the signed form, receipts and FOAP’s to Accounts Payable, or
  2. Emailing the completed form, receipts and FOAP’s to Accounts Payable indicating their approval in the email.

As per usual practice, staff will be reimbursed by electronic funds transfer. Please keep all original claims and receipts for audit purposes, as we may contact you to provide these up to seven years from original date of claim. Any questions regarding employee reimbursements should be directed to Accounts Payable.

b) No PO, No Pay Process

Humber will be implementing a ‘No PO, No Pay’ process effective September 1, 2020. ‘No PO, No Pay’ means that without a valid Purchase Order (PO) issued by the College, payment of vendor invoices will be refused or delayed.

To ensure best practices and compliance to our Purchasing Procedures, vendors should only deliver products or services after they receive a valid PO number generated from Banner either verbal or in electronic form through our standard requisition to PO process. It is the responsibility of the requisitioning Faculty or Department to provide the Purchase Order number to the vendor before the goods and/or services are received.

Once a vendor has received their PO, they must quote the PO number on their invoice, and submit it to the College for payment upon completion of their deliverables. Any invoices which are received without a valid College Purchase Order will not be processed for payment and will be returned to the Vendor. Vendors will be notified of this change via email.

c) Eliminating physical cheques:

As of August 1, 2020 we will be moving to EFT ONLY (electronic funds transfer) with a few exceptions. Here’s how you can help:

  • Encourage your vendors to submit their invoices electronically to accounts.payable@humber.ca and sign up for EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) to ensure faster payments,
  • All new vendors will be EFT only

d) Depositing Cheques:

Financial Services will no longer accept a scanned copy of cheques. All cheques must be forwarded to Financial Services, Attention: Accounts Receivable along with the Miscellaneous Deposit Receipt Form to accounts.receivable@humber.ca as the actual cheque is required in order to be deposited with the Bank. Please make the necessary arrangements to send any physical cheques to the Financial Services department (B311) via interoffice mail. Accounts Receivable will be on campus in the middle and end of the month to deposit these cheques to the bank and post the transactions in Banner.

Note: The physical cheque becomes stale dated after 6 months from the cheque payment date and will no longer be able to be deposited.

e) Payments owed to Humber:

Please encourage customers/vendors to send funds owed to the College via EFT (electronic funds transfer) rather than cheques. Here is Humber’s EFT Info. Please complete the Miscellaneous Deposit Receipt Form and email accounts.receivable@humber.ca and instruct the vendor to send the EFT remittance advice to accounts.receivable@humber.ca as well. For any further inquiries, please contact accounts.receivable@humber.ca.

For staff that need to reimburse the College for non-payroll expenses; send an email money transfer (etransfer) to etransferpayments@humber.ca, and complete the Miscellaneous Deposit Receipt Form and submit to accounts.receivable@humber.ca.

f) Student Payments:

The Financial Services team has implemented email money transfer for all payments required to students.

  1. The Cash Office remains closed until further notice. Any questions related to Cash Office functions should be directed to: binder.sehmi@humber.ca.

 Other Key Contacts:

Contact: For the following services and requests:
purchasing@humber.ca
  • sole source, new vendor forms, change order requests, invoice discrepancy resolutions

mastercard@humber.ca

  • purchase card cancellations, limit change request, other purchase card and Chrome River requests

accounts.receivable@humber.ca

  • expecting electronic payment and any other payments

treasury@humber.ca

  • treasury inquires, journal entry support

finance@humber.ca
  • Banner, Chrome River, general inquiries

financesecurity@humber.ca

  • Finance Security access

We appreciate your cooperation and understanding as we continue to work from home to flatten the curve and protect ourselves and our community from COVID-19.

Feel free to reach out to kelly.tsoumagas@humber.ca should you have any questions and/or concerns that you would like to discuss so we can continue to work together.

When:
August 6, 2020

Humber College held a virtual Q&A session for the community on August 6 with an update on the status of the Humber Cultural Hub and timelines for the project.

The archived presentation and Q&A can be found here.

The committee plans to hold bi-monthly sessions to touch base on the project and relevant happenings on campus. If you would like to attend a future session, please email culturalhub@humber.ca.

When:
August 6, 2020
Contact:
Safa Al-Haji

This is your last chance to sign up for the at-home Waste Audit Challenge!

The Waste Audit Challenge is a way for you to monitor the waste you produce at home (especially, your workspace) and learn waste management tips. To sign up and receive your tracking sheet before Monday, August 10, click here.

Don't forget that the winner of the Waste Audit Challenge will receive a $100 e-gift card to The Green Jar shop. The Green Jar shop is a Black-owned package-free shop in Toronto, ON that prioritizes reducing single-use plastics. The shop contains package-free items ranging from personal care to household necessities. 

Make sure to connect with us on social media (@SustainHumber), as we will be sharing waste management tips throughout the two-week challenge.

When:
August 5, 2020

Starting on August 5, licensed staff from the City of Toronto's Urban Forestry department will be coming to control an invasive plant species in the Humber Arboretum with selective, targeted use of a pesticide. This work is vital in protecting the health and well-being of our local plants, animals, and ecosystems because the targeted species, dog-strangling vine, crowds out native vegetation and young trees and reduces the abundance of insects and other wildlife. Dog-strangling vine has a particularly negative impact on monarch butterflty populations, as the monarch butterfly mistakes the invasive plant for milkweed and lays eggs on plants which will not provide appropriate food for the monarch caterpillars.

The treatment area is marked with signs at every entry point around its edge. Information signage will be posted by city staff, along with the standard warning signage, to provide more information to Arboretum users. Warning signage is posted 24 hours before treatment, and is removed 48 hours following treatment, according to Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change guidelines.

Legislation: The Cosmetic Pesticide Ban, Regulation 63/09 under the Pesticides Act, allows some exceptions for non-cosmetic use of pesticides including a forestry exemption. The use of pesticides in forestry is essential to protect trees from competing vegetation in the maintenance or establishment of a forest. For more information about the Ontario Legislation call 416.325.4000 or visit ene.gov.on.ca/en/land/pesticides.

For more information about City of Toronto Forestry Management, please visit toronto.ca/trees.

 

When:
August 5, 2020
Contact:
Casey Norris
Quarantots Kids' Art Call

Humber Galleries Virtual Field Trips and Call for Kids' Artwork

Quarantots – Kids Creating Artwork for Seniors and Essential Workers

Humber Galleries is excited to announce our new call for artwork: #Quarantots!

This summer, Humber Galleries has partnered with some wonderful cultural institutions and attractions around Toronto to create some brand new Quarantots Virtual Field Trips. Each Tuesday we'll be posting a special virtual field trip or online exhibition on our social media channels for you to visit from the comfort of your own home. All you have to do is explore the weekly exhibitions and turn one of the pieces you see there into a brand new work of art! Once you've got your masterpiece is complete you can send us a photo on social media using the hashtag #Quarantots or through the submissions form below and we'll add it to a special online gallery at the following Monday.

These artworks won’t just be online though! We want to bring some colour and positivity to the residents and front-line workers at long-term care homes. We’ve partnered with a few long-term care homes around Toronto that are beyond excited to receive some kids’ art that they can display. Let’s help bring more creativity and positivity and show them we are thinking of them! 

Check out humbergalleries.ca/quarantots or @Humbergalleries on social media for more info on how to get involved.

When:
August 5, 2020
Contact:
Ginette Ng-Tin-Sze

Coverage for Over-age Student Dependents

If you have an over-age dependent who is college or university-bound, you can help prepare him or her by ensuring that your child is still covered under your group insurance benefits. Please see below.

Deadline to submit Confirmation of Enrolment is August 31, 2020.

If you require assistance please do not hesitate to contact your Compensation & Benefits Specialist:

  • Hannah Song (A-I)
  • Ginette Ng-Tin-Sze (J-M)
  • Denise Giacomelli (N-Z)

Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology
GROUP INSURANCE BENEFITS COMMUNIQUÉ
Important Information

Coverage for over-age student dependents

If you have an over-age dependent who is college or university-bound, you can help prepare him or her by ensuring that your child is still covered under your group insurance benefits.

Dependents over the age of 21 (but under age 25) may still be eligible for benefits coverage if they are:

  • full-time postsecondary students
  • financially dependent on you

What you need to do

  1. Advise your Compensation & Benefits Specialist by providing a Confirmation of Enrolment which confirms that your dependent qualifies as an over-age dependent. Otherwise, the dependent child’s claim will be declined.
  2. After you inform your Compensation & Benefits Specialist, whenever you submit claims, simply check “Yes” where it asks you to confirm if your dependent is a full-time student.  
  3. When over-age dependents visit the dentist, they can let the dentist know that they are in school full time. This is important because most dentists submit claims electronically.
  4. You can print an extra paper drug card that your over-age dependent can present at the pharmacy. Otherwise, simply indicate “full-time student” whenever you submit a paper claim form for their drug claims. 

Note: If the drug card is not used for all the drug purchases, your reimbursement could be affected due to pharmacy mark-ups on the cost of the drugs. This means that you may have to pay more out-of-pocket.

Keep your Compensation & Benefits Specialist informed of any change in status. Prompt notification of changes in the status of your covered dependents is very important to ensure continued coverage.

Post-secondary school needs proof of coverage

If your over-age dependent’s postsecondary school needs confirmation of your dependent’s benefits coverage, and you use Sun Life’s Plan Members Services website, you can print coverage information that your over-age dependent can give to their school. Sign in to Sun Life’s Plan Member Services website. Next, click ‘Profile’, ‘Personal Info’, and then ‘Personal and dependent information'.

Simply print the page that appears. Your over-age dependent can give it to their school and may receive a refund on their fees.

Coverage for students studying abroad

If your dependent is studying abroad (except in the United States) their benefits coverage may be extended beyond the 60 day limit under the out-of-country coverage. Please contact your Compensation & Benefits Specialist for more information and well in advance of the dependent departing Canada.

When:
August 5, 2020
The President's Breakfast Virtual Series

The President’s Breakfast will be held virtually this year. The President’s Breakfast Virtual Series will run for four days (August 31 to September 3) and be delivered each morning through Communiqué.

Since we haven't been together in person for a while now, we are asking for photo submissions of yourselves and your teams working from home. These submissions will be considered for a photo montage that will be featured leading up to the President's Breakfast Virtual Series. 

And of course, we can’t have a President’s Breakfast without some dancing. To help us celebrate the kick off to the new academic year, please send us clips of your own moves. We are looking for submissions of members of the Humber community dancing to this clip of Justin Timberlake's Can't Stop the Feeling. Please note that a song with a similar beat may be used in the final video. 

There is still time to submit your photos and dance video clips for consideration. Please submit photos and video clips for consideration here.

#HumberTogether

When:
August 5, 2020
Contact:
Grace Francisci

Upon completion of our search, it is my great pleasure to announce Regina Hartwick as the successful candidate to this brand new role, Associate Dean of Indigenous Education & Engagement. I want to thank members of the interview panel for their support, time and involvement. The panel included:

  • Kelly ONeill, Dean, Program Planning, Development and Renewal
  • Vera Beletzan, Senior Dean, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Innovative Learning
  • Lisa Salem-Wiseman, Associate Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellness

This new role will be reporting to the Dean of Indigenous Education and Engagement, while also working closely with Program Planning, Development and Renewal and the Centre for Teaching and Learning. Regina will be responsible for facilitating awareness within an environment of teamwork to create consistent, open channels of communication in support of educational initiatives that expand and enhance Indigenous programming, methodology, research, practice and delivery. She will work collaboratively to actualize institutional commitments to Indigenous Education, creating opportunities for a breadth of teaching and learning experiences that are integral to the multi-disciplinary learning experience that every Humber student is offered. The Associate Dean promotes innovation, long-term planning, and collaborative relationship building to foster culturally safe, accessible, and welcoming learning environments across all levels of the institution.

A Kichi-Sìbì Anishinàbekwe, Regina Hartwick holds eight years of experience in Indigenous Student Services, nine years of experience teaching within and developing Indigenous Studies courses, and 16 years of combined academic experience in Canadian Studies, Indigenous Studies, Psychology and Social Services. Regina is currently completing her Doctorate in Indigenous Studies at Trent University and is focusing her research on stories of presence that speak not only of dispossession but also of strength and resilience in the face of innumerable odds.

miigwech/Nia:wen/kinanaskomitin/Thank-you, Regina for your hard work you have committed to Humber College over the years and your successful transition into this new role! I look forward to working alongside you as we integrate Indigenous knowledges and ways of being in Humber College.

Regina began this new role as of August 3, 2020.

 

Jason Seright
Dean, Indigenous Education & Engagement

When:
July 30, 2020

Dear Humber and University of Guelph-Humber employees,

As we make plans and anticipate being able to expand our ability to return to campus over the next year, we are asking employees to take steps to mitigate the risks related to COVID-19. This can be done through education, adherence to established safety protocols and presenting safety concerns immediately to your manager.

Two key steps to be taken by you are: to read and complete the Return to Campus Agreement by August 31, 2020, regardless of your planned return to campus date, and prior to attending campus, daily completion of the COVID -19 self-assessment on the Humber Guardian app which will determine your ability to attend campus that day.

Health and safety are a shared responsibility between students, staff and the Humber Administration. Accordingly, Humber will count on all members of the community to adhere to safety guidelines, self-monitor and assess one’s own health, and to continue to learn and work remotely in adherence with established operational plans.

In accordance with our principles for the resumption of on-campus activities, individuals, including students, employees and contractors, who are asked to attend campus in the coming weeks and months will be responsible for helping to maintain a safe and healthy environment that will allow Humber to succeed with its return to campus plan and protocol, including:

1. Complete the Return to Campus Agreement

All members of our community are required to complete and sign the Return to Campus Agreement.

Please watch your Humber inbox for an email from Human Resources and Organizational Effectiveness with the Return to Campus Agreement. Once you receive it, kindly follow the instructions to complete and electronically submit the form before returning to campus.

Signing this document will signify your acknowledgement and awareness of the return to campus rules and agreement to co-operate with the measures that are, and/or may be put in place to ensure that we can all remain safe while on campus. The purpose of the agreement is to confirm a commitment to adhere to all safety protocols established by the College.

All staff are being asked to complete, sign and submit the agreement by August 31, 2020, even if you are not scheduled to physically return to campus in the Fall, for ease of administration and commitment to campus safety. Individuals who do not complete and sign the agreement will be contacted by their manager for follow-up.

Employees who are unable to complete the agreement electronically should print and return a signed copy to their Associate Dean or Manager (as applicable) prior to coming to campus.

Students will also be required to sign the agreement before returning to campus. The Registrar’s Office is emailing the agreement directly to students.

Anyone who signed a paper copy of the form during the Summer months will be required to complete it electronically.

Given the critical importance of a safe campus environment, compliance with safety protocols, including completing the agreement form is mandatory for all employees and for students who are attending campus, and will be enforced. Failure to complete and submit the Return to Campus Agreement and/or failure to comply with established or future safety protocols will be taken seriously and addressed promptly. Employees and students are expected to confirm their adherence to established safety protocols.

2. Complete the COVID-19 Self-Assessment Form on the Humber Guardian App

The Guardian app is available for free in Apple or Google Play stores. The self-assessment must be completed prior to each day you come to campus. For example, if you are planning to be on campus on Monday and Tuesday in the same week, you must complete the assessment on both days.

You can access the self-assessment by clicking on COVID-19 Updates and then COVID-19 Self-Assessment.

In order to prevent a slow down at entry ways, you are asked to complete the app prior to attending campus and have your approval screen ready to show to designated staff who will be reviewing the approvals to attend campus at campus entrances.

Humber and the Department of Public Safety reserve the right to ask any student, staff and faculty for proof of daily completion of the COVID-19 Self-Assessment.

Anyone who does not have a smart phone or is unable to download or update the Humber Guardian app, may find an alternate format of the questions here. Contact the Department of Public Safety at 416.675.8500 or publicsafety@humber.ca if you have any questions.

Please visit our Return to Campus website and www.humber.ca/updates for more information.

When:
July 30, 2020
Contact:
Bharat Saini
Posters/Attachments: Event Poster

Humber College is committed to fostering a respectful and inclusive culture in which all members of the College community study, work and live free from discrimination and harassment. To this end, it is imperative that we understand the definition of key equity terms that will enrich our capacity to prevent all forms of harassment and discrimination. Over the summer months, the Centre for Human Rights, Equity & Diversity will be providing definitions of key terms and concepts pertinent to our work in building a more inclusive College.

Section 16 of the Canadian Human Rights Act and Section 14 of the Ontario Human Rights Code (Code) stipulates that it is not a discriminatory practice to collect information if it is intended to be used in adopting or carrying out a special program, plan or arrangement designed to eliminate discrimination of certain groups of individuals.

What are Special Programs in Hiring?

According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC):

Under the Code, all organizations are prohibited from treating people unfairly because of Code grounds, must remove barriers that cause discrimination, and must stop it when it occurs.

Organizations can also choose to develop “special programs” to help disadvantaged groups improve their situation. The Code and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Section 15(2)) both recognize the importance of addressing historical disadvantage by protecting special programs to help marginalized groups. The Supreme Court of Canada has also recognized the need to protect “programs” established by legislation that are designed to address the conditions of a disadvantaged group.

The Code allows for programs designed to help people who experience hardship, economic disadvantage, inequality or discrimination. The Code also protects these programs from attack by people who do not experience the same disadvantage. This guide describes the use of special programs, clarifies when they are allowed, and provides practical information on how they could be designed. The Ontario Human Rights Commission encourages the development and use of special programs as effective ways to achieve substantive equality by helping reduce discrimination, or addressing historical prejudice.

Organizations do not need permission from the OHRC to develop a special program. This means that special programs can be put in place without delay.

What the Code says:

Under Section 14 of the Code, it is not discrimination to put in place a program if it is designed to:

  • Relieve hardship or economic disadvantage
  • Help disadvantaged people or groups to achieve, or try to achieve, equal opportunity or
  • Help eliminate discrimination

(Source: Ontario Human Rights Commission, Your guide to special programs and the Human Rights Code)

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