Thank you.
I'm proud to join you today from the ancestral and unceded traditional territory of the Similkameen people.
Let me start today by saying that we cannot have resilient or sustainable communities if we do not work together. The threat from climate events is real. In my community right now we have climate refugees in temporary housing.
Rural British Columbian communities like Princeton, Tulameen and Merritt are the very face of climate change in Canada. From unprecedented flooding to relentless fire seasons, the climate emergency is not a what-if. We are living it.
When I was asked to speak today, I was going to focus on the need for a national flood strategy. Communities like Princeton are facing hundreds of millions of dollars in mitigation work to adapt to the new climate reality. Canadian communities like ours need senior levels of government to be the largest partner at the table when we're talking about flood mitigation. Most of our rivers in B.C. are salmon-bearing or part of an international water agreement. We have miles upon miles—if not hundreds of thousands of miles—of dike works that protect communities and unincorporated communities that have orphaned dikes. Nobody's helping.
The NAS—the national adaptation strategy—points out roads, infrastructure and economy. Those depend on the very dike networks that protect these systems.
Forty per cent through DMAF does not reflect the reality of small communities that are facing hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure upgrades post-flood. Local government is trying to do what it can, but we do not have the ability to fund this alone. We have the least access to funding.
I would therefore like to recommend that the federal government create a national flood mitigation strategy, with funding allocated according to risk and recovery, not population.
The NAS and all levels of government speak to resilient economies and healthy communities, but there is no program to assist in the mass relocation of areas out of flood plains. Local government can zone out new development, but we have no means to relocate areas of communities—especially housing.
For this reason, I would recommend that the Government of Canada, in partnership with the provinces and local governments, create a program to fund the relocation of areas out of flood-prone areas in a fair and equitable way. Communities are trying not only to recover but to do so in a responsible way that respects public safety and the physical and mental well-being of our residents, that is in balance with the environment and that incorporates indigenous traditional knowledge. These things are extremely costly and, in most cases, beyond our reach.
While some talk about bike lanes, communities like ours are talking about restoring riverbeds to their natural channels, which were lost over 100 years ago. If we are to live in balance with the ecosystem, doing that cannot be symbolic. It must be truthful.
Climate emergencies are real. The threat from heat domes, wildfires, droughts and atmospheric rivers are all connected. The changing climate and the way we respond to emergencies that follow climate events can no longer be looked at in isolation from each other. If we are to speak about adaptation and mitigation, then we need to talk about a national response program that incorporates the climate adaptation element to prevention, response and recovery. I'm asking the federal government to recognize the need to take a bigger role.
I know I have a few minutes left, so I'm just going to give a quick example.
Our community has been here for over 160 years. We're one of the oldest communities in British Columbia. We have six river crossings for our water system. Five of them were lost during the flood. We've had to replace those. We had to evacuate one-third of our population. I know we're not as big as some communities, but one-third of our population also represents one-third of our most vulnerable individuals. They were in our lower-income areas. Those are the oldest parts of our community. They're the parts that were built 160 years ago beside the river.
We need assistance and help. We don't have the means to do this alone. That's why I'm here today. This is why I agreed to come. We need to be heard. We need a true dialogue open between all of us.
As much as I would love to talk about adaptation, we need to talk about mitigation, because they go hand in hand.
Thank you.