Climate-related disasters are no longer rare, isolated events. From coast to coast, weather events are challenging Canadian municipalities, forcing them to rebuild and reshape their communities, ecosystems and economies. As these events become more frequent, municipalities are working hard to build the knowledge, resources and plans required to respond to community needs quickly and effectively.

During the past few years, our teams have expanded our climate readiness and community recovery expertise to support local governments preparing for, and responding to, wildfires, floods and other climate events. What’s clear is that climate readiness and community recovery truly requires a wraparound approach. Events like the devastating wildfires in Lytton, British Columbia; Enterprise, Northwest Territories and Jasper, Alberta, had a transformative impact, sparking the emergence of new disaster recovery trends across Canada. Partnerships between private industry and local authorities are critical.

In a recent webinar hosted by the Arctic Security Working Group (ASWG) in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, we shared 10 lessons we’ve learned from our work in climate readiness and community recovery. We combined our experiences with insights from local authorities to reveal key patterns, pitfalls and practical strategies to address critical climate issues. Here is what you need to know about climate readiness and community recovery:

1. No single organization is fully prepared to go it alone

Consistency and capacity are two of the biggest challenges when it comes to human expertise. The needs of a community drive decision-making at the municipal level. Local governments need to work together with higher levels of government to ensure they have consistent and available resources to prepare, plan and respond to community needs throughout climate-

2. Maintaining public confidence is essential

During an event or emergency, emotions can run high. Establishing public confidence before, and maintaining it during, an event is essential to building strong community resilience. With consistent capacity and support, across all levels of government, municipalities can drive climate readiness and community recovery projects long-term.

3. You must be responsive

Events will arise that need an immediate response. Taking a team approach enables municipalities to bring the right partners with the required expertise and connections to the table. With strong, well-rounded partnerships, you can develop, plan, test and deploy community recovery solutions quickly and efficiently.

4. Response efforts must be coordinated up to the highest level of government

Governing response efforts can be complex. Coordination involves various levels of governments and jurisdictions, as well as land use matters. Government representatives at all levels, as well as local authorities, should be included in a governance framework so they can understand their role, can mobilize quickly and help keep recovery efforts moving forward.

5. Effective communication is vital

Effective communication ties together the last four points. Having a functional communications plan can help ensure you have the resources, expertise, confidence and governance to implement climate readiness and community recovery strategies effectively.

6. Tracking funds is critical to success

There is rarely a reserve for emergency response. Community response and recovery efforts are legislated to municipalities, but many don’t have the funds to move forward with strategic plans or immediate recovery needs. Accountability and robust cost tracking helps assure funding agencies that the money is well spent, strategically administered and provides the rational to flow additional funds to your community.

7. Response and recovery can be very technical

Recovery efforts may involve rebuilding critical infrastructure and natural assets, which requires the technical expertise of a qualified engineering teams. Pre-qualifying technical experts ahead of any kind of disaster and recovery operation can save you time and help ensure you have the resources and capabilities to manage large-scale, long-term or complex infrastructure and environmental remediation projects.

8. Be flexible and prepared with standing offers

As climate-related events increase in frequency, we recommend that municipalities put forward standing offer agreements (SOAs) to ensure they’ve got the resources and expertise needed to flexibly respond to climate events. These standing offers also let industry partners know that there is going to be a role for them if, or when, an event occurs so they can appropriately allocate resources.

9. Use industry to reinforce community capacity

Industry partners can help reinforce community capacity. We are seeing this firsthand in Jasper, Alberta, where a general contracting approach is being used to manage the demolition and remediation of all the structures burnt in the 2024 wildfires. The Insurance Bureau of Canada and local jurisdictional partners are leading the project, but rather than dealing with properties on an individual basis, they are using available industry expertise to extend their capacity and support community recovery.

10. Integrate industry partners into your exit strategy

Climate readiness and community recovery strategies require a lot of planning, flexibility and communication. There will be times when your municipality is not in a position to manage the handoff from first responders or emergency response teams into recovery. Integrating industry professionals into your exit strategy can help you build long-term capacity and manage the load of recovery operations within your community.

 

Local governments across Canada understand that climate readiness and community recovery plans are no longer a luxury – they’re a necessity. As we look to the future, one thing is clear: the success of climate readiness and community recovery hinges on our ability to work together – governments, private industry and local authorities – to build solutions that are both sustainable and responsive. Let’s make climate resilience our shared priority.