The mission of the tourist resorts is to preserve and promote certain historical treasures and tourism facilities entrusted to them by the government. This requires a management approach that is in line with sustainable development principles, as well as environmentally sound operations and service.
In 2008, Sépaq developed an environmental management program that defines the issues, orientations and objectives promoted by the organization for all of its facilities, including the 8 tourist resorts:
Training plans for better staff-clientele integration were implemented and significantly improved our daily operations.
Regional partnerships are one of Sépaq's corporate values. The tourist resorts created partnerships with the local businesses, for example, with Station touristique Duchesnay (d'Arbre en Arbre Duchesnay). Using this regional partnership approach, Sépaq has joined forces with local and regional communities to meet its overall objectives, while making a significant contribution to the regional economy.
In September 2007, the Aquarium du Québec received certification for good animal care practices from the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC). The Aquarium is only the second Canadian animal facility (after the Toronto Zoo) to obtain this certification. Since research plays a major role in the Aquarium's activities, Sépaq has created an animal protection committee, as required by the CCAC and which established all policies, procedures, protocols and research ethics with respect to laboratory animals.
Also, with the aim of reducing their ecological footprint, several tourist resorts will be using electric vehicles for short drives on resort grounds. For example, Parc de la Chute-Montmorency is already using an electric cart for washroom maintenance. This ecological initiative favours the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.