University Policies Update: October 2025

1. Chemical Pesticide Use Policy

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that chemical pesticides such as fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides are used only as solutions of last resort within the broader framework of Carleton University’s Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program and in compliance with all applicable government regulations. Within the IPM program, a hierarchy of administrative, mechanical, biological, and lastly chemical controls is used to control undesirable organisms, plants, insects, or animals to ensure compliance with relevant provincial and federal legislation and to recognize the university’s commitment to the highest achievable standard of environmental quality.

Changes to the policy include the addition of the new sections, that of “Scope” and “Roles and Responsibilities,” to align with the new policy template. Records maintenance requirements were also added to the policy in accordance with the Ontario Pesticides Act.

2. Student Communication Policy

Carleton University is committed to supporting student success by ensuring that departments, faculty, and staff communicate effectively with undergraduate and graduate students. To achieve this, the university employs a range of communication tools including email, websites, portals, the learning management system, calendars, a mobile app, and various digital and social media platforms. However, the widespread use of these tools, particularly email, has led to a high volume of messages reaching students. The Student Communication Policy aims to mitigate this problem and promote best practices in choosing appropriate, consistent, and coordinated communication channels to encourage efficient and effective outreach.

Changes to the policy include updating the communications channels/tools and expanding guidance on mobile app push notifications, updating language and order of content to help with ease of reading the policy, and updating headers and additional sections to align it with the university policy template. The formal Student Communications Advisory Committee has also been replaced with an informal student communication network, housed in Microsoft Teams, to intentionally engage staff and house resources and reminders of best practices.

3. Payments to Individuals and Business Entities Policy

This policy ensures that the university adheres to all statutory requirements governing payments for services rendered and any transactions that may generate taxable income, including those involving non-residents.

It applies to all payments to businesses and individuals, with specific provisions for issuing T4A slips when self-employed individuals or honorarium recipients are paid more than $500 in a calendar year, and for withholding tax and issuing T4A-NR slips when non-residents are compensated for services performed in Canada.