The CIP/ICU Planning Student Trust Fund (CIP-PSTF) is the Canadian planning profession’s national charity, providing a scholarship and bursary program to students in accredited planning programs in Canada. The Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) created CIP-PSTF in 1989 to contribute to the advancement of professional planning. After incorporating as a separate entity under the Canada Corporations Act, the fund received charitable status in 1990.
In 2021, CIP-PSTF awarded six scholarships and three bursaries, totalling $35,000 in financial assistance.
CIP PRESIDENT’S SCHOLARSHIP ($6,000)
Patrycia Menko, University of Waterloo
“The Retail Food Environment, Food Access, and Gentrification Processes in Toronto”
Patrycia Menko is an MES in Planning student at the University of Waterloo (UW). Patrycia’s thesis research focuses on geographic and economic retail food environments in Toronto, ON and gentrification constraints on healthy food access, particularly for minority and vulnerable populations. She hopes her research will help integrate healthy food access into municipal land use decisions through “food haven” policies that protect and promote retailer diversity and through impact studies that assess and mitigate business and resident displacement due to retail food development. Her additional interests include environmental sustainability and encouraging public transit ridership. Patrycia also works as a graduate research assistant at the University of Waterloo and has held several leadership and volunteer leadership roles in her community, including Social Officer for the Association of Graduate Planners at UW. She is motivated by the prospect of joining organizations and advisory groups to address planning issues, strengthening allyship between the planning profession and public health, and forevermore continuing her education through practice.
DILLON CONSULTING LIMITED SCHOLARSHIP ($5,000)
Claire Lee, Queen's University “Making Space for Physical Distancing in Canada's Urban Centres: A Case Study of Vancouver's Slow Streets”
Claire is a recent graduate of Queen’s Master of Urban and Regional Planning program. Hailing from the West Coast, she had the unique experience of growing up in a heritage house in Vancouver’s West End neighbourhood. Cycling the Seawall and exploring Stanley Park, wandering around downtown, and regularly taking public transit led to an early appreciation of urban life. Claire went on to complete her undergraduate degree in human geography at the University of Victoria, where she had the chance to realize her interest in urban planning graduate studies. In the past few years, Claire has taken opportunities to broaden her perspective, living in Vancouver, Victoria, Aberystwyth (Wales), Kingston and now Ottawa where she is currently working as a co-op student with the City of Ottawa’s Public Realm and Urban Design team. In the future, she hopes to continue to complete most trips by bike, visit as many breweries as possible and explore wherever her planning career will take her next!
CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION SCHOLARSHIP ($4,000)
Hillary Beattie, University of Manitoba “Planning for Cycling in Small Cities in Western Canada”
Hillary Beattie is an urban planner with a passion for climate change adaptation and active transportation planning. She currently works as a Junior Planner at Urban Systems Ltd. in Winnipeg. She received her Master of City Planning degree from the University of Manitoba in June 2021. Her capstone project explored barriers and opportunities for developing cycling infrastructure in small cities in Western Canada. Prior to this degree, Hillary completed her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Geography and Master of Environment degree. Her master’s thesis involved community-based research and filmmaking with the Heiltsuk Nation of Bella Bella, BC. She also worked as a Research Associate at the Prairie Climate Centre in Winnipeg, where she worked on research projects and short documentary films about climate change in communities across the country.
WAYNE DANIEL SMITH SCHOLARSHIP ($4,000)
Lucas Mollame, University of Waterloo “Advancing Municipal Natural Asset Management through Monitoring and Engagement”
Lucas Mollame is a Master of Arts in Planning student for the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo. Lucas completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Ottawa, with a Bachelor of Social Sciences. Lucas’s research interests include environmental planning, green infrastructure, monitoring and plan evaluation, policy analysis, and public consultation strategies. His current thesis work focuses on preparing a monitoring and evaluation framework for municipal natural asset management projects occurring across Canada. To complete this work, he is working alongside the Municipal Natural Assets Initiative and several partnered municipalities. Lucas is also a member of the Natural Resources Conservation Planning and Management Research Group at the University of Waterloo. As well, he is a student member at the City of Waterloo’s Sustainability Advisory Committee. He works closely with other members and residents of the City of Waterloo to write reports, advocate for policy changes, and help other committees to uphold sustainability commitments.
COLLEGE OF FELLOWS UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP ($4,000)
Christian Peaker, Université de Montréal “Le REM de l’Est, une recension des écrits sur les coûts et les bénéfices attendus en fonction du mode d’implantation”
Having grown up in an English speaking household in Ontario’s Greenbelt I challenged myself by pursuing my post-secondary education in my second language (French). I’m proud to have joined the ranks of graduates from Université de Montréal’s baccalauréat en urbanisme (Bachelor’s of Urban Planning). In my final semesters of study I enjoyed the opportunity to work as a teaching assistant for geomatics and transportation planning courses, two of my favorite aspects of planning. One of my course instructors, Pierre Barrieau, recognized my enthusiasm for transportation planning and invited me to pursue it within the context of his private practice, Gris Orange Consultants, where I am currently employed. I have had the opportunity to work on a variety of contracts ranging from real estate development to mobility. I intend to pursue my passion at the graduate level where I hope to study the transportation aspects of planning in greater detail, particularly with regards to public transit projects.
THOMAS ADAMS SCHOLARSHIP ($3,000)
Angela Asuncion, University of Guelph “Building Agency in a Landscape of Extraction: Examining Corporate Social Responsibility as a Mechanism for Enhancing Community Agency and Sustainable Development in the Philippines Mining Industry”
Angela Mariz Asuncion is a MSc. Candidate in Rural Planning and Development in International Development Studies at the University of Guelph. At the intersection of mining, environmental governance, and human rights, her research examines how to strengthen community agency and Indigenous self-determination in the Philippines mining industry. As an emerging international planner, Angela's expertise is characterized by her steadfast dedication to serving communities and ecosystems through research, policy influence, and advocacy. Currently, she applies her community outreach and expertise as a member of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) and the Investigate PH initiative. Her organizational work aims to bring justice to victims of human rights violations in the Philippines at the Canadian parliament and United Nations levels. These diverse positions have been pivotal to her personal and professional growth, empowering her to be a leader in igniting change, connection, and resiliency within our communities.
DAVID PALUBESKI BURSARY ($3,000)
Lindsey Soon, University of Waterloo
Lindsey Soon is a Master of Arts in Planning student at the University of Waterloo, under Dr. Leia Minaker. She completed her Honours B.A in Geography and her B.Ed in Intermediate/Senior Geography-Biology with a specialization in Environmental Education from Queen's University. Her research interests span the disciplines of planning, public health and demography, emphasizing health and the built environment by engaging in innovative approaches to community planning and sustainable food systems to help achieve positive community health outcomes for youth and vulnerable populations. Lindsey is also a graduate research assistant at the Human Environments Analysis Laboratory at the University of Western Ontario. For the past year, she has been working on a pilot study examining the effects of COVID-19 on the retail food industry in Ontario across all types of communities. Within the community, she is an active member of the Ontario Professional Planning Institute and is currently a volunteer member of their Anti-Black Racism Task Force and serves on the Urban Land Institute's (Toronto Chapter) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and the
Connect Committee. She hopes her research will contribute to the ongoing conversation of the importance of health equity and the built environment and integrate this knowledge into her planning practice after graduation.
JOHN BOUSFIELD BURSARY ($3,000)
Yuelin Ge, University of Toronto
Yuelin is currently a MSc Candidate in Planning at the University of Toronto, with a specialization in Economic Development and Social Planning & Policy. Previously, she holds a BA (Hons) from Queen’s University in Geography and a Certificate in Business from the Smith School of Business. Yuelin’s research interests focus on the intersectionality between age-friendly cities, mental health + planning, housing affordability, and equitable economic development.
TED FOBERT AND ROBERT TENNANT PLANNING MERIT BURSARY ($3,000)
Eyvette Elliot, Vancouver Island University
Eyvette is a resident and a member of Cowichan Tribes and she is currently pursuing a Masters of Community Planning at VIU. Her passion is people and policy, and she brings forward her vision for healthier, vibrant and healthy communities in the work she does for non-profits, First Nations and local government. She holds a Certificate in First Nations Housing Management and a Bachelor of Business Administration from VIU. She is keen on furthering the field of Indigenous planning as it relates to government-to-government relationships, community engagement, sustainability and housing.