Evidence of meeting #24 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was housing.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Director General, Policy and Outreach, Emergency Management Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
It's not by default.
Conservative
David Bexte Conservative Bow River, AB
I appreciate that. I know subsequent work and civil works exacerbate the conditions a lot of the time. That's why up-to-date maps and understanding are so important.
Along with that, are there any plans to limit rebuilding in areas where.... We kind of talked about that, but what specific mechanisms can Public Safety Canada use to encourage municipalities and developers to not do bad behaviour, to not develop on flood plains and to have adequate setbacks on the urban interface to prevent urban interface fires?
What mechanisms are you looking at employing to do that?
Director General, Policy and Outreach, Emergency Management Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
On the one hand, we need to work with PTs and make sure that their program, the new DFAA, is addressing that. Then, on the other hand, the federal government will continue to work on the flood insurance program.
Liberal
February 10th, 2026 / 4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for the expertise that you bring here.
Like my colleague, Mr. Ross, I also served as a band councillor for a first nation in British Columbia. Like him, my nation is on the coast of British Columbia and very prone to flooding. It's at the mouth of the Fraser River. We're seeing this right across our province of British Columbia, but in more frequent and more severe manners. The cost of housing is probably undoubtedly going up, because of trying to protect the homes that people live in.
I just wanted to know, Mr. DeFazio, if you know how much climate change has started to impact the cost of housing, if any, as we're building that into the future?
Director, Risk Management, Strategy and Products, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Unfortunately, sir, I don't have that information.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Do you agree that it's impacting it so that it's becoming more expensive to build homes in British Columbia?
Director, Risk Management, Strategy and Products, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Generally across Canada, it is becoming more expensive to build homes, sir.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
You've also spoken previously about intersections between the climate crisis and housing, and the need to address both simultaneously. Could you highlight some of the most effective and efficient potential solutions and mitigations?
Director, Risk Management, Strategy and Products, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Sure. In terms of the direct work that I'm doing, reinsurance is an important element. Reinsurance to be able to then allow insurers to offer insurance, I think, generally will have a good effect.
When you think about escalating costs for housing, there are the direct costs to actually construct the housing, there are the housing costs for financing and there are also secondary costs like insurance. They all, essentially, are linked. If we look at the financing costs, eventually, one day, they could take into consideration things like climate risk, which would then make the financing and the ability of the borrower to service that debt more expensive. It also has a play into resale markets and creating stability in housing markets. There are several different links in how this all comes together.
Again, going back to my original function, which is looking at the reinsurance, hopefully this is a way to create some stability in insurance markets.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Thank you.
Ms. El Bied or Mr. Bhupsingh, could you tell us a little bit more about the new incentives for businesses and municipalities to build back better, as you told us earlier, and proactively reduce risks through the modernized disaster financial assistance arrangements program?
Director General, Policy and Outreach, Emergency Management Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
One of the key elements of the new disaster financial assistance arrangements program is that it has five streams, and one of the streams is resilience. That is really focusing on building back better, doing things like mitigating the key situations.
Again, I want just to indicate that the federal government has put in place the new program, but each of the provinces and territories takes our terms and conditions and creates their own programming. Those five streams are available for the PTs, and stream five about resilience.... They know it is very important to build back better, so most of them have finalized their own new program and are taking that seriously as part of their terms and conditions.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
How are post-disaster reviews conducted, and how does the program address lessons learned during previous disasters and best practices internationally?
Director General, Policy and Outreach, Emergency Management Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Best practices internationally...?
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Yes, do we take lessons from around the world as well? I'm sure many around the world are experiencing disasters as well.
Trevor Bhupsingh Assistant Deputy Minister, Emergency Management and Programs Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Thank very much.
There are a number of things that we do. Here at Public Safety Canada, after every sort of major hazard season, natural disaster, we'll do what we call a lessons learned or an after-action report. We'll look at what happened across the season, and we will actually talk to stakeholders. We'll engage with them to get a sense of where we've done well and where issues have cropped up. Every single hazard season brings new challenges for us, whether they are in new communities or the impacts that have been felt. There could be capability issues in terms of response or challenges afterwards in terms of recovery. We'll develop and share a report.
Internationally, we certainly work with lots of countries that are similar in nature. There is a lot to learn from our Australian colleagues about bushfires, as they call them over there. We're in close contact with other emergency management agencies around the world, whether those are European or American. There's a lot to learn from their kinds of examples, through either flood or fire seasons, etc. We will exchange information in terms of doing that. We have bilateral programs set up with lots of international partners.
Conservative
Ellis Ross Conservative Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thank you.
I want to go back to the first nations component in terms of insurance and protection from climate change events. When I started on council, we had no money. We were under the Indian Act. It was a catch-22. We didn't have firefighting capabilities. Due to the way the Indian Act is set up, it just would not fund us. However, that actually corresponded to high insurance rates or no insurance rates on reserve.
We've changed that now with LNG, forestry and mining revenues. We fully fund our own fire station. We have state-of-the-art equipment. We have all the training.
Can any of the witnesses tell me how many first nation communities or how many reserves across Canada are still under the Indian Act and don't have adequate firefighting capabilities?
Director General, Policy and Outreach, Emergency Management Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
It's a good question. I would not have the answer. I would have to check with Indigenous Services Canada. We don't have that information within Public Safety Canada.
Conservative
Director, Risk Management, Strategy and Products, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
No, sir.
Conservative
Ellis Ross Conservative Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
It does correspond to insurance rates on reserve. I get the complication of band council-driven housing versus individual housing, but does it actually coordinate with affordable insurance on reserve, if at all? We're talking about affordable insurance here, but more often than not, nobody is aware of the pressures that the band council is put under, in a situation they can't resolve, because they can't fund what is being asked of them.
In terms of the zoning, can anybody on the panel tell me how many first nation communities are living in high-risk zones, whether you're talking about forest fires or flooding?
