Stéphanie Jensen-Cormier (2011 - 2012)

France and Canada

Stéphanie was born in London, U.K. to a French /American mother and a Newfoundlander father with Irish, Lebanese, French and Mi’kmaq ancestry. She was recently accepted as a Founding Member of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq Band Council in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. From her childhood Stéphanie has been inculcated with the wisdom of First Nations peoples that we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. This has contributed to her passion for achieving positive environmental changes and strong drive to work on practical and proactive ways of ensuring the sustainability of the planet.

She spent her early years in Ottawa, Singapore, Hong Kong and Brussels with her parents and two younger siblings, “developing a transient concept of 'home', based on important peoples in my life, not geography.”

Her specialization in China is driven by her conviction of the importance of China in international environmental policy. She believes that there are many lessons to be learned from how the Chinese government and Chinese civil society are tackling the issue of climate change, one of the most defining challenges of our times.

Stéphanie has a Bachelor’s in Asian (China focus) and Environmental studies from the University of Victoria, British Columbia. Following her B.A., she was awarded a Canada-China Scholarship to further her study of Mandarin at Yunnan University in Kunming. In May, 2010 she received a Master of Arts in the Regional Studies of East Asia from Columbia University, where her thesis on “The Social Effects of Job Creation in the Renewable Energy Sector in China” was supervised by Professor Guobin Yang. During her year at Columbia, she was also a grantee of the Women’s International Leadership Program, a merit-based fellowship awarded to women who demonstrate strong leadership ability and represent a variety of different cultural, national and academic backgrounds.

Stéphanie's work experience includes a consulting contract with the International Labour Organization (ILO) Office in Beijing; work for an international environmental foundation in Geneva; an internship with the Green Jobs Initiative at the ILO in Geneva; assisting the Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) during its 42nd session, and working as a consultant for the largest private plastic bottle recycling plant in Northern China.

As a Sauvé Scholar, Stéphanie's project will entail investigating the economic, scientific and political reasons for China's green leap forward and raising awareness of the strategies that the Chinese government is employing in transitioning towards a green economy and greener society. She notes that Chinese advancement in environmental policies and renewable energy technologies has been changing the pattern of employment for the largest labour force in the world. Believing that innovation drives the economy and that it is critical to understand the technologies that can promote more sustainable development, she looks forward to bettering her understanding of solar, wind, tidal and other renewable energies and of concepts such as the “cap and trade” of CO2 emissions.

While expanding her own knowledge, Stéphanie will work to promote greater understanding in Canada of environmental initiatives taken by China, particularly by contributing articles to university and Asia-focused journals and publications. “It is of particular interest and relevance to me to communicate in a clear and engaging manner with Canadians and Canadian politicians the policy planning that the Chinese government has undertaken to transition towards a greener economy and society as well as the successes resulting from these long-term and shorter-term actions.”

However, her Sauvé year will not be all work and no play, as Stéphanie's interests are broad and include community theatre, salsa dancing, running - including competitive races, and scuba diving and, like many of her fellow Scholars, she loves to cook.

Mother Tongue

English and French-- other languages: Mandarin, Spanish (advanced proficiency)

Country of origin

France and Canada