The Martlet

UVic may be committed to being one of the greenest schools in the country, but millions of dollars of UVic’s endowment are invested in oil, one of the most environmentally-harmful industries in Canada.

The University of Victoria Foundation is a charitable foundation that handles UVic’s $150 million endowment. Foundation Treasurer Kristi Simpson says the foundation’s investment strategy does not involve any ethical considerations.

“The Foundation does not have a policy of divesting or saying we won’t invest in certain companies,” said Simpson who is also UVic’s Associate Vice President of Finance.  “Their current policy is they work for the best financial return. The board does not apply an ethical screen.”

According to its March 31, 2009 Schedule of Investments, the UVic Foundation has millions of dollars invested in oil – especially in Alberta’s tar sands.The Foundation owns shares of five oil super-majors: $174,307 in British Petroleum, $193,803 in Total, $204,465 in ConocoPhillips, $626,019 in Chevron and $675,916 in Royal Dutch Shell.

Alberta Tar Sands firms are among the Foundation’s top equity picks: Encana Corp., $2,333,146; Exxon Mobil-owned Imperial Oil, $1,057,980; Nexen, $1,030,516; Suncor Energy, $1,384,488; and Talisman Energy, $838,380, among others.

“Alberta’s Tar Sands [are] the most destructive project on the planet,” said Jamie Biggar of the climate-change action network, Common Energy UVic. 

Biggar said the tar sands cause “a phenomenal amount of green house gas emissions.”

He noted that the emissions are just one problem associated with the Tar Sands, citing the pollution of the Athabasca River, the vast quantities of water used to extract oil from the tar sands, the huge amount of natural gas (a relatively clean fossil fuel) used to make oil and the high cancer rates in First Nations communities downriver from the tar sands as well as other issues.

“We can’t be naïve to what it’s doing environmentaly,” said Matt Dell, a director of the UVic Sustainability Project (UVSP). “It’s an outrageous act.”

The Foundation also has $188,011 invested in cigarette-maker Philip Morris International and another $235,818 in tobacco giant Altria Group.

“I would agree that the research shows that cigarettes cause cancer,” said Simpson. 

But she declined to comment on whether investing in cigarettes is ethical or not.

“As an institution, we don’t have a position on that. We’ve not sat down and developed a position on cigarettes,” said Simpson.

The university does, however, have a position on the environment. UVic’s Sustainability Policy encourages members of the university community to “steward out natural resources in a responsible manner,” and to “maintain the functioning of natural systems.”

Simpson said that the sustainability policy, passed last March, has not yet been sent to the UVic Foundation board for consideration.Simpson also noted that the Foundation is a separate entity from UVic, and entirely responsible for its own policy decisions. She said UVic’s Board of Governors considered the UVic Foundation’s status in 2001 and decided it is a separate entity. 

But UVic Foundation Chair Lisa Hill disagreed, saying that the Foundation is not a separate entity. 

“[UVic President] David Turpin is on our board, Kristi [Simpson] is on the board, Shannon von Kaldenberg [UVic’s Associate Vice President of Alumni and Development] is on the board — these are all high-level members of the university,” Hill said.

UVic’s influence over the Foundation is “significant – very significant,” said Hill.

“[The Foundation board is] just supposed to be stewarding the assets in the Foundation,” said Hill. “All the rules and regulations … are put in place by the university, and we have to abide by those.”

Hill said that UVic executives and its Board of Governors “are the ones that put the rules in place.”

Biggar said he would like the UVic Foundation to adopt ethical investing guidelines.

“The Foundation board has an opportunity to show leadership on this, and ultimately [UVic’s] Board of Governors is responsible,” he said.

Dell said that by not investing in the Tar Sands, the Foundation could create real change.

“At some point, someone’s going to have to take a stand … and say, ‘you know what, we know we’re getting funding from [the Tar Sands], but it’s wrong,’” he said. “And UVic needs to take that stand … because without investors, nothing will go forward.”