June 2021’s “heat dome” sent temperatures in many parts of British Columbia into the mid-40s, contributing to the deaths of just under 600 people. Wildfires that consumed the town of Lytton followed. Then in November the “atmospheric river,” with its intense rainfall, created massive flooding that destroyed sections of crucial road and rail infrastructure, cutting off the most populous part of BC from the rest of Canada and forcing the evacuation of communities in the Fraser Valley’s Sumas Prairie, the town of Merritt and several First Nations.
With $9 billion and counting in infrastructure damage, loss of life, livelihoods and livestock, BC has joined the legions of other jurisdictions that have been significantly affected by our changing climate.
While BC has one of Canada’s most ambitious policy packages to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions with “CleanBC’s Roadmap to Net Zero,” climate adaptation policy is playing catchup.
New initiatives and funding have been promised by federal and provincial governments, but is there a robust policy agenda that incorporates best practices gleaned from adaptation research, local knowledge and experience that will reduce the risk of catastrophic losses to communities and the environment?
Our panel of climate adaptation experts discussed the policies and practices that will be needed to build climate resilience.
Video
This talk is part of the IRPP’s 50th anniversary event series, What should be on Canada’s policy radar? Held throughout the spring and fall of 2022, these panel discussions will help us to identify the challenges that our decision-makers will face in the coming years, and examine ways in which Canada can promptly address these issues.
Located 14 km south of Lytton, BC (Canada’s hotspot), Patrick Michell of the Kanaka Bar Indian Band (one of 15 indigenous communities that make up the Nlaka’pamux Nation) has lived in the Fraser Canyon all his life. Since 1978, with awareness of the growing changes within and upon his traditional territory caused by climate change, Patrick and his community worked to design and complete site specific programs and projects that re-establish sustainable community foundations in water, food, and shelter with supporting resilient systems like storage, energy, communications, transportation and waste; preparing Kanaka Bar and its residents for the environment and economy of today and more importantly – for tomorrow.
In 2018, Patrick was honored with a Clean Energy BC lifetime achievement award for his work in renewable energy project design, permitting, development and operations, and in 2021 was honored with a Clean50 Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on climate change awareness and action. Kanaka’s 2021 Community Resilience Plan (or CRP) was also recognized as the Clean50 2022 Top national project.
On June 30, 2021, Patrick and his family lost their intergenerational home in the Lytton fire and have lived in response mode since and then they had to manage the Atmospheric River in November that “wiped out” all but one regional road and in late December the region lived through never before experienced minus 32 degree temperature along with a snowfall event in excess of 4 feet. After 13 months of regional emergency response mode and “recovery”, Patrick, his family and the region are now currently dealing with the impacts of the Nohimin fire that started on July 14, 2022.
While the timeline to actually start rebuilding the town of Lytton’s (regional hub) homes, businesses and essential support services and basic supporting infrastructure remains uncertain – the people are working together to look after each other and gathering to plan, design and ultimately rebuild – an entire region.
Vice President, Sustainability & Citizenship, The Co-operators
Chad Park holds a master’s degree from the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University in Sweden. Prior to joining The Co-operators in June 2020, Chad played a leadership role with several sustainability-focused organizations and initiatives. He served for five years as the Founding Director and Lead Animator of the Energy Futures Lab. He also served as Executive Director of The Natural Step Canada, a founding Board-member for the Future Fit Foundation in the United Kingdom, and a Board member of the Canadian Energy and Climate Nexus. He currently oversees The Co-operators’ nation-wide community investment and partnership programs and leads the co-operative’s efforts to embed and integrate sustainability principles throughout the organization
Director Sustainability and Resilience, BC Housing
Magdalena (Magda) Szpala is an uninvited settler on the traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. In her current position as Director, Sustainability and Resilience at BC Housing, Magda is responsible for strategic leadership in integrating social and environmental priorities into the organization’s activities. Magda was responsible for BC Housing’s first Carbon Neutral Action Report and led the development of BC Housing’s first Climate Adaptation Framework. She’s been working on BC Housing’s Extreme Heat Response for the last few years. She is also a co-lead for the Mobilizing Building Adaptation and Resilience (MBAR)initiative that focuses on resilient building design and renovations. She holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Psychology, a Masters degree in Strategic Leadership toward Sustainability.d Sustainability.
Economist and professor, School of Public Policy, Simon Fraser University
Nancy Olewiler is an economist and professor in the School of Public Policy at Simon Fraser University. Her areas of research include natural resource and environmental economics, with a focus on public policy. She co-chairs BC’s Climate Solutions Council and is a member of the mitigation expert panel of the Canadian Climate Institute. Her work has been published in academic journals, edited books, and policy papers. She has written two widely used textbooks – The Economics of Natural Resource Use and Environmental Economics. Nancy has served on the boards of directors of BC Hydro, Powertech, the Pembina Institute, and TransLink, where she was chair from 2010 to 2013. She is currently also on the boards of Technical Safety BC and Genomics BC and chair of the Macroeconomic Accounts Advisory Committee at Statistics Canada.
