Question Period Note: Residential Flood Insurance and Relocation and Flood Risk

Measures to address the rising frequency and costs of flooding, including flood insurance and relocation

• Flooding continues to be the most frequent and costly natural disaster facing Canadians, causing over one billion dollars in direct damage to homes, property and infrastructure annually.
• This is why the Government of Canada is taking steps to prioritize flood risk.
• These measures include increased funding to complete flood maps in Canada and to mitigate homes and communities against future flood events.
• The Government has also set up an interdisciplinary task force to examine options for both a national flood insurance program that would target residents of areas at high risk of flooding and measures for potential relocation. A report from that Task Force is expected by Spring 2022.
• Through the Emergency Management Strategy, the Government of Canada continues to work with provincial and territorial partners, municipalities and Indigenous representatives to better identify, plan for and reduce the impact of weather-related emergencies and natural disasters.

In the event of a large-scale natural disaster, the Government of Canada provides, upon request, financial assistance to provincial and territorial (PT) governments through the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA), administered by Public Safety Canada (PS).

Flood assistance is the single largest draw on the federal DFAA. Approximately 75 per cent of all DFAA events are flood-related, amounting to about two-thirds of all DFAA payments.

PT governments also share risk exposure by providing financial assistance to municipalities and their citizens for flooding events through their respective disaster recovery programs.
It is expected that flood-related costs under the DFAA will continue to grow significantly as Canada continues to see the impacts of climate change, increasing urbanization, and aging infrastructure.

PS has been working closely with stakeholders to advance work on addressing the growing risk and associated costs of flooding.

In January 2019, FPT Ministers approved the Emergency Management Strategy (EMS) for Canada: Towards a Resilient 2030, which seeks to guide FPT governments and emergency management partners to strengthen Canada’s ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. The EMS provides a long-term, strategic vision for emergency management over the next 12 years and establishes five priority areas for action, aligned with the United Nations Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Flood Mapping and Awareness

Public Safety (PS) is in the process of collaborating with Natural Resources Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada to help Canadians better understand their flood risk. To achieve this there is a need to advance flood mapping in Canada and to make available open and authoritative flood and risk maps. The Minister of Natural Resources Canada and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada have received a mandate commitment from the Prime Minister to complete all flood maps in Canada. This commitment will require close collaboration and coordination with the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

These efforts are widely supported by our Federal, Provincial, Territorial and Indigenous (FPTI) partners. In July 2019, the Council of the Federation called for increased funding for federal programs meant to address climate change, adaptation measures and disaster mitigation efforts.

Flood risk reduction efforts are aligned with the Emergency Management Strategy for Canada. Through the Strategy, the Government of Canada has committed to better identify, plan for and reduce the impact of weather-related emergencies and natural disasters.

Among the strategic priorities of the EMS, it identifies “improving understanding of disaster risks in all sectors of society”. To support this strategic priority, PS is advancing work on a National Risk Profile (NRP), which is a strategic national risk and capability assessment that uses scientific evidence and stakeholder input to inform prioritization, decision-making and federal investments. The NRP includes a hazard-specific stream focused on flooding, which coordinates the development of whole-of-government flood risk policy and direction on activities related to flood risk awareness, engagement and education.

Related Investments in Flood Mitigation and Emergency Management

Funding has also been made available to PS to support the extension of the National Disaster Mitigation Program (NDMP) to March 2022. The NDMP aims to reduce the impacts of natural disasters on Canadians by focusing on investments which address recurring flood risks and costs.

PS continues to work closely with other government departments to ensure that existing federal infrastructure funding is targeting areas at high risk of flood. For example, the department participates in the project selection committee for the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF), which is administered by Infrastructure Canada. Budget 2021 provided an additional $1.375 billion to the $2 billion originally provided in 2018 for this program. DMAF is designed to support both small- and large-scale infrastructure projects to help communities better prepare for and withstand natural disasters, extreme weather events, and climate change impacts. The majority of these projects are related to flood mitigation.

Public Safety Canada continues to work with federal partners, other orders of government, Indigenous partners, non-government organizations, and the insurance industry to determine how best to advance flood risk awareness, increase physical and financial flood resiliency, and encourage communities to mitigate their risk.

Residential Flood Insurance and Relocation

The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, as minister responsible for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, have received a mandate from the Prime Minister to create a new, low-cost national flood insurance program to protect homeowners at high risk of flooding and without adequate insurance protection as well as a national relocation action plan to assist homeowners with potential relocation for those at the highest risk of recurrent flooding (i.e., mandate letters of 2019 and 2020).

This mandate commitment is being fulfilled through a Public Safety Canada-led task force on flood insurance and relocation, set up in January 2021. It is intended that the task force will bring together representatives from Federal, Provincial and Territorial (FPT) governments and the insurance industry with a view to examine alternative viable options for the insurance program and potential elements of a relocation action plan

The interdisciplinary Task Force is currently assessing viable flood insurance arrangements and measures to support potential relocation. The Task Force is mid-way through its work plan and is expected to complete its work with a Statement-of-Fact report by Spring 2022.

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