Queen’s University joins global Blue Universities network, deepening focus on water stewardship.
The designation is intended to create accountability while strengthening water-focused teaching, research and public engagement.
Queen’s University has formally joined the international Blue Universities network, committing the institution to advancing sustainable water stewardship and promoting access to water and sanitation as a human right.
The declaration was signed Thursday at Breakwater Park on Kingston’s waterfront, where university leaders, students, community members and water advocates gathered alongside Lake Ontario to mark the designation.(…)
Water advocate and author Maude Barlow, founder of the Blue Communities movement, attended the signing ceremony and welcomed Queen’s into the network:
“Queen’s becomes the 23rd Blue University and the ninth in Canada.”
Barlow said concerns about water privatization, declining freshwater supplies and unequal access to clean water helped drive the movement’s growth.
“We are also here because lack of access to clean water remains one of the greatest human rights challenges of our time,” she said.
Read in The Kingston-Whig Standard
Picture above: (Blue Community Ambassador) David McDonald, a professor in the Department of Global Development Studies, jumps off Gord Downie Pier at Breakwater Park in Kingston, Ont., on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. McDonald led the initiative to bring Queen’s University io the International Blue Universities network. (Bill Hall / The Kingston Whig-Standard)
Pictures below: Queen’s University principal Patrick Deane, Maude Barlow, founder of the Blue Communities movement, professor David McDonald, Department of Global Development Studies, and Alexander Wong, commissioner of environmental sustainability with the Queen’s Alma Mater Society, all proudly share the signed agreement between the Blue Communities network and Queen’s University, making it the 23rd university in the world and ninth in Canada to join the Blue Universities community. Picture taken at Breakwater Park in Kingston, Ont., on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (Photo by Bill Hall/The Kingston Whig-Standard/Postmedia Network) Bill Hall / The Kingston Whig-Standard
