Canada’s Climate Change Adaptation Platform Webinars

June 23, 2020 Presenters: Sheri Andrews-Key, University of Saskatchewan Mark Johnston, Saskatchewan Research Council This presentation described an integrated regional climate change assessment currently underway on a forested landscape in eastern Saskatchewan and western Manitoba. Partners include the forestry companies Weyerhaeuser and Edgewood Forest Products in Saskatchewan as well as Louisiana-Pacific Canada and Spruce Products Limited in Manitoba. The governments of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are also involved. Funding has been provided by the Natural Resources Canada Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Program and in-kind contributions have been offered by the partners. This webinar covered two components of the project:  landscape…

September 30, 2020 Presented by: Steve Winkelman (Founder, Green Resilience Strategies; incoming Executive Director, Ottawa Climate Action Fund) Deborah Harford (Executive Director, ACT (the Adaptation to Climate Change Team), Faculty of Environment, Simon Fraser University) Dr. Alison Shaw (Founder, FlipSide Sustainability) Facilitated by: Alexa Bradley (Policy Analyst, Transport Canada) Climate change mitigation and adaptation have traditionally been approached as separate endeavours, but there are compelling benefits to integrating them using “Green Resilience” strategies that both reduce GHG emissions and enhance climate resilience. Without integrated and proactive green resilience strategies, project proponents risk spending time and money on adaptation projects that…

March 23, 2020 Presented by: Adam Cheeseman, Nature NB Jamie Burke, Town of Sackville Located on the traditional territory of the Mi’kmaq people along the Bay of Fundy, Sackville, New Brunswick is vulnerable to many climate risks, including increased extreme weather events, sea-level rise and flooding. As a direct response to youth climate strikes, the Mayor of Sackville convened the Mayor’s Roundtable on Climate Change in 2019. The Roundtable is comprised of youth and agricultural representatives, biologists, educators, administrators and other community leaders. The mandate of the Roundtable is to improve Sackville’s mitigation and adaptation efforts by eliciting public input…

March 17, 2020 Presented by: Jeff Eustache, FFM, FNESS Dr. Dan Thompson, CFS, NRCan; U of A This webinar had two presentations: PRESENTATION 1 Wildfire adaptation options in Canadian and international landscapes: tackling the known unknowns Presented by Dr. Dan Thompson Wildfire represents an episodic threat to community and individual well-being across every vegetated continent.  Wildfires in grasslands and forests represent the nexus of challenges surrounding climate, ecosystems under stress, but also competing land and air management objectives.  Canada has been a world leader in wildfire management science and technology for nearly a century, as well as a strong promoter…

December 11, 2019 Presented by: Randy Angus (Director, Integrated Resource Management, Mi’kmaq Confederacy of PEI) Don Jardine ( Senior Scientist, DE Jardine Consulting) Dr. Adam Fenech ( Associate Dean of Science, School of Climate Change and Adaptation, University of Prince Edward Island) The First Nation Adapt Program of Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada has provided valuable financial assistance to First Nation Communities on Prince Edward Island (PEI) for the development of plans to respond and prepare for the impacts of a changing climate. PEI First Nation Communities are very vulnerable to the impacts of sea level rise, coastal…

December 6, 2019 Presented by: Kari Tyler (User Engagement and Training Specialist, Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium) Elaine Barrow (Canadian Centre for Climate Services) Facilitated by: Stephanie Austin (Canadian Centre for Climate Services) This webinar introduced participants to a new PowerPoint presentation that will be available on ClimateData.ca in February 2020 for public use, following a final revision. This webinar included time for discussion and opportunities for feedback on the presentation. The presentation is being developed as part of a collaboration between the Canadian Centre for Climate Services (CCCS), Ouranos and the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC). The intent of this…

October 31, 2019 Presented by: L. John Leggat, FCAE (Former Assistant Deputy Minister, Science and Technology, Department of National Defence and former President of the Canadian Academy of Engineering) Deborah Harford (Executive Director, ACT) Facilitated by: Jill Watkins (Project Director, Council of Canadian Academies) This webinar summarized Canada’s Top Climate Change Risks, a report recently published by the Council of Canadian Academies. The report identifies the top areas of climate change risk for Canada, and rates the risk areas according to society’s ability to adapt and reduce negative outcomes. Additionally, the report describes an approach to inform federal risk prioritization…

July 22, 2019 Presented by: Abderrahmane Yagouti (Manager, Canadian Centre for Climate Services, ECCC) This webinar provided an overview and demonstration of ClimateData.ca, a user-friendly online climate data source. With the support from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Canadian Centre for Climate Services, ClimateData.ca is the result of a collaboration between the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium, Ouranos and the Prairie Climate Centre to jointly deliver climate data and information, with HabitatSeven and the Centre de recherche informatique de Montréal developing and operating the portal. The portal includes: over 25 different indicators for temperature and precipitation across Canada including extremes; historical…

July 4, 2019 Presented by: Dr. Xeubin Zhang (Senior Research Scientists, Environment and Climate Change Canada) Dr. Nathan Gillett (Senior Research Scientists, Environment and Climate Change Canada) Canada’s Changing Climate Report was released to the public on April 2, 2019. This report is about how and why Canada’s climate has changed and what changes are projected for the future. Led by Environment and Climate Change Canada, it is the first report to be released as part of the national assessment process Canada in a Changing Climate: Advancing our Knowledge for Action. This webinar presented results from Chapter 4: Changes in…

June 19, 2019 Presented by: Blair Greenan (Research Scientist, Fisheries and Oceans Canada) Thomas James (Research Scientist, Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada) This presentation summarized the observed and projected changes for the three oceans surrounding Canada in the context of anthropogenic climate change and natural climate variability. The results were drawn from Chapter 7: Changes in Oceans Surrounding Canada of the recently released Canada’s Changing Climate Report, a contribution to the National Assessment Canada in a Changing Climate: Advancing our Knowledge for Action. Changes in the physical and chemical properties of the oceans surrounding Canada were covered along…

June 6, 2019 Presented by: Dr. Chris Derksen (Research Scientist, Climate Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada) Dr. Barrie Bonsal (Research Scientist, Watershed Hydrology and Ecology Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada) Canada’s Changing Climate Report was released to the public on April 2, 2019. This report is about how and why Canada’s climate has changed and what changes are projected for the future. Led by Environment and Climate Change Canada, it is the first report to be released as part of the national assessment process Canada in a Changing Climate: Advancing our Knowledge for Action. This webinar…

April 18, 2019 Presented by: Elizabeth Bush (Project Lead, Canada’s Changing Climate Report, Environment and Climate Change Canada) Canada’s Changing Climate Report is about how and why Canada’s climate has changed and what changes are projected for the future. Led by Environment and Climate Change Canada, the document is the first of a series to be released as part of Canada in a Changing Climate: Advancing our Knowledge for Action. It documents changes across Canada in temperature, precipitation, snow, ice, permafrost and freshwater availability as well as in Canada’s three oceans. You can access the report here. watch webinar recording

March 19, 2019 Presented by: Dirk Nyland (Chief Engineer, BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure) Allison Kader (Research/Analysis Officer, Transport Canada) Representatives from British Columbia’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (BCMoTI) and Transport Canada’s (TC) Transportation Assets Risk Assessment (TARA) initiative discussed the importance of incorporating climate considerations into current and future transportation infrastructure design projects. BCMoTI’s presentation covered design criteria and climate resilience assessment; provided an overview of BCMoTI’s Climate Change Technical Circular policy and examples of its implementation; as well as climate projection resources. TC’s TARA initiative was announced following Budget 2017, receiving $16.35 million over five years…

March 12, 2019 Presented by: Carolann Harding (Executive Director, SmartICE Sea Ice Monitoring & Information Inc.) Andrew Arreak (Nunavut Operations Lead, SmartICE Sea Ice Monitoring & Information Inc.) This webinar focused on SmartICE, an award-winning technological innovation for the North, which was first developed in Newfoundland and Labrador through collaboration with northern communities, including Nain and Pond Inlet. SmartICE is the world’s first climate change adaptation tool to integrate Inuit traditional knowledge of sea ice with advanced data acquisition and remote monitoring technology to provide data-driven insights into sea-ice thickness and local ice conditions in real-time, to support safer travel…

February 27, 2019 Presented by: Elizabeth Smalley (Transport Canada) Marianne Armstrong (National Research Council) Lo Cheng (Canadian Centre for Climate Services, Environment and Climate Change Canada) This webinar focused on three federally-led climate initiatives of interest to the transportation sector. The transportation aspects of the Climate-Resilient Buildings and Core Public Infrastructure Initiative (National Research Council and Infrastructure Canada), including work underway to inform the update of the Canadian Standards Association’s Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code to account for a changing climate and the creation of guidelines for monitoring rail tracks for the effects of freeze/thaw in response to the needs…

December 12, 2018 Presented by: Hollie McLean (Environment and Climate Change Canada) Stephanie Austin (Environment and Climate Change Canada) The Canadian Centre for Climate Services (CCCS) is the Government of Canada’s authoritative source for climate data and information and offers resources to help Canadians understand and plan for climate change. The CCCS is an important part of Canada’s efforts to combat climate change and increase resiliency to its impacts under Canada’s climate action plan. This webinar provided an overview of the CCCS program and services, introduced the concept of climate services, and included a live demonstration of the new CCCS…

November 20, 2018 Presented by: Chad Nelson (Infrastructure Canada) Kristy Darragh (Infrastructure Canada) Francois Levesque (Infrastructure Canada) This webinar provided an overview of the why and how of Infrastructure Canada’s new Climate Lens and provided a better understanding of the GHG Mitigation Assessment and Climate Change Resilience Assessment that form the Climate Lens. For further information about the Climate Lens General Guidance, please click here. watch webinar recording

September 18, 2018 Presented by: Joanna Kyriazis (Zizzo Strategy) Sarah Keyes (Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada) Dr. Janis Sarra (University of British Columbia) The focus of this webinar was on climate related disclosures and legal risks. Speakers discussed some observed and projected climate change trends in Canada, initiatives such as the Financial Stability Board Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures, as well as developments in knowledge regarding physical and transition risks related to climate change and how these risks may impact corporations. This webinar consisted of three presentations: Exploring Risks and Opportunities in a Changing Climate Climate Change Disclosure…