Flooding is the most frequent natural disaster in Canada with 2 in 10 Canadian homes at risk.
The impacts of flooding stretch from coast to coast, but most people don't know they are at risk or what to do, and all sectors need to be part of the solution. It's this gap that propelled Partners for Action (P4A) to be established in 2015 by founding partners The Co-operators Group Ltd. and Farm Mutual Re. with the Faculty of Environment.
"We created P4A to create the conditions for flood resilient communities: that Canadians understand the risk, that this understanding is used by policy makers and communities to make sound decisions, and that people have insurance and other options even after adaptations are in place," says Shawna Peddle, Associate Vice President, Citizenship at Co-operators, and P4A's first director. "We are proud of the impact P4A has had on all three fronts, and on influencing the conversation at a national level."
As P4A winds down, we reflect on its decade of impact and legacy.
Advances in Canadian flood resiliency
P4A has made some historic achievements. One is FloodSmart Canada, a bilingual portal promoting inclusive flood risk preparedness. It was the first resource of its kind, and, for a long time, the site was the only place where the public could access flood maps. This was foundational work in Canadian hazard awareness, uniting key players seeking solutions to protect people and properties, and building on work by Jason Thistlethwaite, P4A's associate director, which has improved how flood information leads to property and community-level action.
As the work progressed, so did the focus to include equity-informed risk mapping. Working with the Canadian Red Cross and Co-operators, P4A aimed to determine who is made most vulnerable to flooding and map the drivers of this vulnerability for developing inclusive policies. This work resulted in a Social Vulnerability Index that identifies areas within communities that likely need support before, during, and after hazardous events.
More recently, P4A developed the novel database of multi-hazard Climate Resilient Retrofits for adaptation so that people can search and filter by the area of a home they are renovating, and by which hazards they want to protect against. The database not only details actions to take, but which actions go well or conflict with one another.
"As Canada continues to experience more severe weather, P4A has been at the forefront of collaborative research that communities need," says Jean-Pierre Gagnon, President & CEO at Farm Mutual Re. "Sites like Climate Resilient Retrofits are valuable for our current reality, so people and policymakers know how to protect homes from floods, heat and fire."
While these are but a few of the highlights from a decade of research and action, it is worth noting that, like any story, this journey has not always been easy, nor is the work complete.
"It is very tough to straddle that line between giving enough information so that people can take action, and overwhelming people by getting too in the weeds,'" says Sharmalene Mendis-Millard, director of P4A. "Also, making change is context specific. Not everyone is impacted equally or has the same time or access to resources to adapt and prepare."
The lasting legacy of Partners for Action (P4A)
Solving these challenges takes more than a decade it requires long-term commitment, collaboration, and innovation. Climate resilience, flood mitigation, and community adaptation are ongoing efforts that evolve with new data, shifting policies, and changing environmental conditions. The work of P4A has laid a strong foundation, but the need for knowledge-sharing, research, and action will only continue to grow in the years ahead.
Moving forward, Waterloo researchers across faculties will focus on growing networks and pursuing strategies designed to reduce the impacts of extreme weather and climate change. Strategic relocation from flood and fire prone areas is one such project that began under the banner of P4A and will continue under the leadership of Brent Doberstein, professor in the Faculty of Environment and member of the Waterloo Climate Institute and Water Institute, thanks to a New Frontiers in Research-International $2.45 million grant.
As a leader in whole-of-society resiliency, P4A played an instrumental role in catalyzing innovative, collaborative research and convening key players across Canada. P4A's legacy lives on through the students who gained practical, applied experience and in the relationships built across sectors, disciplines, and levels of government.
"This work has really been about harnessing the resources of academia to benefit Canadian communities and learning from people to make our research and our work better," says Mendis-Millard.
