Thank you, Mr. Chairman and the committee.
I'm representing the Canadian Urban Transit Association, but my day job is the director of enterprise sustainability at TransLink, and I'm responsible for developing and for leading the climate action plan and strategy for our organization.
TransLink is North America's first multimodal transportation authority, as enacted by provincial legislation in 1998. We serve a region of 2.5 million people, which is going to grow to 3.5 million people by 2050. This region encompasses 21 municipalities, nine first nations, one treaty nation and one electoral district.
We're not just about transit. We own and operate six bridges in the region. We provide operations and maintenance funding for the major road network, and together with our regional partners, we invest in cycling and walking infrastructure.
Climate change is directly affecting our region. In 2021, as you know, our population was directly affected by significant events that have been directly linked to climate change. During the summer of that year, 619 people died across British Columbia during the successive heat waves and the heat dome. Then, later in October and November that year, the region was effectively cut off, physically and economically, from the rest of Canada due to the successive atmospheric rivers, the flooding and the bridge takeouts that ensued.
Climate change is also affecting TransLink and transit infrastructure. Our work on an adaptation strategy and plan told us that water—essentially flooding, intense rain and sea level rise—is going to affect infrastructure, while heat affects people.
We know that several of our bus depots, which we use to deploy our fleet in the region, are located on flood plains, some of which are very well protected, while others are not, and they will become essentially islands that are unable to deliver services during a critical flood event along the Fraser River.
We also know heat is affecting our staff. We've had to shorten some shifts, provide temporary cooling and extra PPE, and make accommodations for staff working in facilities that were designed 30 years ago without air conditioning. We also know that heat is going to affect our customers. Whether they take transit or walk or bike, it's really important that we keep them comfortable and safe by ensuring that they continue to choose TransLink and transit over taking the automobile.
Adaptation is key to managing the long-term risks to transit, whether physical or financial. Our government institutions, our financial institutions, our regional partners and the Government of Canada, all of which serve and fund transit in Canada, are expecting us to have mitigation and adaptation plans and to provide disclosure of those risks. We are grateful for federal investments via the zero emission transit fund that we use to address climate change mitigation through our fleet transitions, but our long-term success in climate change adaptation is dependent upon three things.
Number one is close collaboration in proactive planning and design among climate change adaptation specialists, engineers, architects, emergency management and preparedness experts, as well as in the building codes. As Mr. Ness mentioned, it is really important to plan and design to higher standards that are based on the future climate rather than on the historical norms.
Number two, we need consistent, reliable funding primarily for key things. The first of these is regional cross-infrastructure, cross-jurisdictional protection against severe events. For example, the Lower Mainland flood management strategy requires collaboration across the entire region.
The second key thing is a premium for designing and constructing new infrastructure that can adapt to the changing climate over the typical 50- to 70-year life cycle for which we design and build our infrastructure. I think a permanent transit fund would be an excellent means of delivering the support needed to enable transit agencies to manage these long-term risks.
Finally, programs that keep our customers safe and comfortable—active or passive cooling strategies or tree canopies—may continue to make transit, walking and cycling preferred over the automobile as reliable, convenient and frequent choices.
Next, we need to protect and enhance our natural assets, which oftentimes can not only be our best protection against severe events but can also sequester carbon, improve biodiversity and bring nature back into the suburban or urban landscapes.
We need to do this work in a couple of ways that are different from the past. One is equity. Our solutions have to be equitable and just and do no further disadvantage to equity-seeking groups, those with lower incomes. Can't the planting of trees go alongside zero emissions transit in these neighbourhoods?
Second, two-eyed seeing—acknowledging both indigenous and western knowledge systems—can help us find long-term adaptations and solutions that we may otherwise not see or discover on our own.
Finally, I'd like to thank the Canadian Urban Transit Association and B.C.'s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure for sharing knowledge with us and the other agencies. We hope TransLink's leadership in climate change adaptation will help other agencies across Canada.
I look forward to the discussion this morning.