2026 CRHNet Symposium

Building resilience to flooding begins with the communities who experience these impacts most directly. As cities face mounting pressures from climate change, urbanization, and increasing impervious surfaces, sustainable stormwater management has become crucial for reducing flood risk and safeguarding community well-being. Green infrastructure (GI) has proven effective as a nature-based approach, yet its adoption has often been limited by social, technical, and institutional challenges. Understanding the factors that supported successful implementation in past projects is therefore essential. This study employs a fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) across 16 GI case studies to identify the combinations of factors that enable successful adoption and implementation. The analysis showed that stakeholder engagement was a central driver, encompassing public participation by government and public agencies, interagency collaboration among diverse organizations, contributions from private-sector partners, and most notably community involvement. Although each form of engagement played a role, community involvement stood out across cases, as many projects actively included residents in planning and decision-making or were implemented specifically to address community needs. The study also found that Regulatory Policies and Regulations consistently operated alongside engagement, reinforcing their importance in supporting GI adoption. The findings reveal that strong regulatory frameworks paired with inclusive stakeholder engagement, especially community participation are the key factors underpinning successful and sustainable green infrastructure implementation for flood-risk reduction.

The IPCC emphasized that effective risk reduction and adaptation strategies must be co-developed with the Indigenous and vulnerable communities, recognizing their unique knowledge and values as essential for building resilience (IPCC, 2023). In this regard, consideration of Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) is critically important (Díaz et al., 2018; Choudhury et al., 2021). Here, “Two-Eyed Seeing” is an appropriate metaphor for bridging Western knowledge and ILK (Bartlette et al., 2012). As envisaged by the Mi’kmaw elder, Albert Marshall, Two-Eyed Seeing (Etuaptmumk in Mi’kmaw) embraces “learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of mainstream knowledges and ways of knowing, and to use both these eyes together, for the benefit of all” (Reid et al., 2020, p. 243). The panel discussant will explore the application of the Two-Eyed Seeing approach in reducing climate-related disasters and formulating climate-just adaptation measures.

A single story has the power to change hearts and minds. Our collective stories, when shared, have the potential to shape our futures.

Climate-charged disasters are becoming more frequent across Canada, and communities like Jasper, Alberta are navigating the complex impacts of events such as the 2024 wildfire. Stories of Resilience – a signature program of The Resilience Institute – is a thematic learning program that brings people together to explore what it means to be resilient in a changing climate. Through workshops on local climate risks and a creative storytelling process, participants craft personal narratives paired with visual arts, including painting, photography, and sketches.

This session focuses on Stories of Resilience: Voices from Jasper, an edition co-developed with Jasper residents in the wake of the wildfire. It shares artwork, photographs, audio recordings, and written stories that reveal experiences of displacement, loss, grief, vulnerability, support, belonging, and reconnection to land and community. Together, these stories illustrate how creative, community-rooted methods can build climate risk awareness, strengthen social support networks, and inspire agency and local action.

Co-presenters Brooklyn Rushton and Paulette Dubé will reflect on how story-based approaches supported community recovery, mobilized residents to engage in resilience-building, and helped deepen understanding of shared risk and collective pathways forward in a rapidly changing climate after disaster.

To extend this learning, the session includes a guided reflection activity inviting attendees to respond to these stories, identify attributes that foster individual and community resilience, and consider how story-based methods can help mobilize climate action, preparedness, and agency in their own communities.

Resilience in emergency management is often described as something communities build from within through preparedness, relationships, and adaptive capacity. However, many communities, especially those in northern and remote regions, experience resilience as something shaped, enabled, or withdrawn by decisions made far beyond their control. This presentation examines how external power dynamics, including political, economic, and infrastructural factors, actively create or erode community resilience. It argues that emergency management must broaden its understanding of what truly determines a community’s ability to withstand and recover from disruption.

Using the recent cancellation of Starlink connectivity expansion in northern Ontario, which was connected to Canada and United States trade tensions, I explore how a decision unrelated to hazards had significant implications for emergency communication, digital inclusion, and community well-being. This case illustrates that resilience is not only a local outcome but also a product of dependencies on infrastructure providers, regulatory decisions, global supply chains, and policy environments.

The presentation introduces the idea of “externalized resilience,” which refers to resilience that depends on systems and actors outside community control. I discuss the implications for risk reduction, planning assumptions, northern and Indigenous communities, and the need to account for structural dependencies in resilience strategies. By examining resilience through the lens of power, the session encourages participants to rethink where vulnerability originates and how it can be addressed.

Canada’s disaster risk environment is evolving faster than many of our governance structures, planning models, and communication systems were designed to handle. Wildfires, floods, cyber incidents, public health emergencies, infrastructure disruptions, and societal pressures increasingly intersect to create compounding and cascading impacts across communities. In this context, communication must be understood as a core operational capacity within disaster risk reduction.

Internal information coordination impacts external communication, and when it is delayed, fragmented, or inconsistent, it results in heightened risk, making it difficult to establish and sustain public trust.

This session draws on recent Canadian and international events to explore the interconnected nature of contemporary emergencies and the role of communication in shaping risk perception, decision-making, and collective action. It also examines misinformation and digital disruption as emerging hazards that directly influence vulnerability and resilience.

Grounded in the theme of “Living the Lessons: From Impact to Insight,” this presentation synthesizes evidence, practitioner experience, and behavioural research to outline a forward-looking framework for 2026 and beyond. Participants will gain practical, scalable approaches they can adapt to their own organizations, including methods to strengthen internal information flow, improve cross-system message alignment, pre-bunk misinformation, and activate trusted networks to support community-level resilience. The session aims to strengthen linkages among research, policy, and practice to advance DRR outcomes across Canada.

As Alberta faces compounding disasters, we must move beyond standard ideas of emergency responders and recognize the important role of community organizations, Friendship Centres, as frontline emergency responders.

A facilitated question and answer session with the Insight Talk presenters on a different take on what resilient infrastructure and institutions mean.

Networking and refreshments 

Concerts are a venue where popular culture and disaster risk can intersect. The phenomenon of Taylor Swift and the cultural juggernaut of her Eras Tour stops in Canada will be used to illustrate how the emergency management community of scholars and practitioners can situate concerts in the domain of emergency management.

The findings presented are based on research work by York University graduate student Talia Shortt and Professor Jack Rozdilsky who both explored: 1) Implications of the global Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert phenomenon and 2) Local Toronto experiences of the Eras tour. Both case study and participant observation methods were applied to better understand theoretical and practical aspects of concert safety.

In context, Swift’s body of work fosters deep para-social connections where young women and girls feel seen, validated, and find home in a community that actively engages in discussions around personal and social transformation. Unfortunately, in today’s polarized society Swift and her fandom can inadvertently become symbolic targets for those people invested in the preservation of traditional hierarchies and exclusionary ideologies.

Three take-aways that have been derived from study of Swift’s Eras Tour will be highlighted. First, understanding the social and culture contexts of the concert event itself are necessary for emergency managers to comprehend the potential risks present. Second, the recognition by municipalities of the necessity to treat concerts with a level of preparedness similar to that of special events and festivals is important. Third, and perhaps most important, is the need for emergency management authorities to engage in public outreach with concert goers to provide them with tips on how they can be prepared on an individual level to attend mass gatherings. The presentation will conclude with an interactive element engaging the audience in an exercise developing an individual concert safety plan.

Recovery doesn’t have to take years. This session explores how coordinated, community-wide approaches to disaster debris management can help residents return home sooner, reduce inequities, and streamline recovery. Through real-world examples and practical insights, the conversation will unpack how collaboration between government, insurers, and industry can eliminate delays and transform outcomes.
 
Moderated by RaeAnn Schnurr, and joined by J.T.E. (Tim) Kenney, MSM, CD, Chief Operating Officer at Team Rubicon, Rob de Pruis, National Director, Consumer & Industry Relations at the Insurance Bureau of Canada, and Michael Higgins, Practice Director at Colliers Project Leaders, this discussion offers actionable insights for anyone working to enable faster, more equitable recovery in their communities.

The objective is to bring together two lived perspectives during Indigenous humanitarian evacuations, Ernie, a First Nations resident and retired police officer, and Tiffany, the Planning Section Chief and Health Lead for Incident Command Teams. Using storytelling and case studies from past evacuations, the presenters illustrate how culturally safe and trauma-informed emergency management practices can create an effective advocacy platform by bringing cultural identities and systems into meaningful alignment. Participants will gain concrete insights into fostering respectful engagement, supporting Indigenous sovereignty during crises, and integrating community-driven resilience into practice.

This work is informed by two complementary perspectives:
1. Indigenous community experience, through a First Nations liaison deployed repeatedly since 2021, providing trust-building, cultural connection, safety navigation, and support for evacuees in unfamiliar municipal contexts.
2. Operational emergency management, through a Planning Section Chief and Health Lead responsible for establishing infrastructure, coordinating across three levels of government, integrating health and public health partners, and ensuring culturally safe and clinically appropriate services.

Disaster recovery often shortchanges communities by prioritizing quick fixes over lasting resilience, leaving local voices unheard and local capacities untapped. Communities need an approach that strengthens resilience from within. This storytelling session draws on recovery experience from the B.C. atmospheric floods and other events to show how resilience grows when communities lead their own recovery. Grounded in more than a decade of work with Samaritan’s Purse, the session demonstrates how shifting from a reactive, deficit-based mindset to a proactive Asset-Based Community Development approach transforms recovery from frustration to empowerment, connection, and long-term capacity building.
Participants will learn how community-driven initiatives such as faith-based financial aid coalitions, mental health and wellness events, and multi-sector resiliency task forces demonstrate the power of local leadership when supported by the right tools, relationships, and frameworks. The session introduces the Resiliency Roadmap, which focuses on accompanying, empowering, and connecting as a model for fostering trust, strengthening social capital, and increasing community ownership. It also highlights Asset Mapping, a strengths-based approach that identifies and visualizes local resources and capacities to support positive change and resiliency in communities.
Aligned with the conference theme of Community-Led Resilience, this session emphasizes that resilience is not about returning to what was but about building forward. Communities become stronger when personal resilience is supported within existing networks, collaboration is intentional, and local organizations engage in emergency management conversations before disasters strike.
The session demonstrates how a whole-community approach can reduce long-term risk, enhance preparedness, and support more equitable recovery systems. It encourages emergency managers, community organizations, and policymakers to recognize and invest in the capacities already present within communities, using recovery as a catalyst to strengthen local networks and coordinated planning.
Now is the moment to shift from reactive recovery to community-led resilience. This session offers a clear path forward, empowering practitioners to activate local strengths, elevate community voices, and build recovery systems that are more connected, better prepared, and resilient for the long term.

During the Panel, emergency management professionals will share lived experiences working with under-served populations, gaps of services to assist in the response and recovery of these individuals or families and knowledge-sharing in community outreach or capacity building.

In both 2023 and 2024, Hinton supported neighbouring communities during major wildfire events while managing extended smoke and increased demands on local systems. The experience highlighted a common reality for many smaller and rural communities: strong emergency response capacity is essential, but it must be paired with longer-term planning and coordination to strengthen resilience over time.

Through the Roots for Resilience program, the Town of Hinton, The Resilience Institute (TRI), and the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) worked together to begin that shift. The partners completed a Climate Risk Assessment, a Climate Resilience Gap Analysis, validated and evolved through conversations with community organizations and residents that surfaced current strengths, capacity considerations, and priority areas for action. These inputs informed the development of Hinton’s Community Climate Resilience Plan, which outlines a set of practical steps the Town and partners can take to strengthen the resilience of vital interdependent local systems (e.g., social, ecological, economic, health, emergency management, and built environment).

This presentation will share how the partnership approach supported alignment across organizations, how the understanding of resilience has evolved locally, and the early actions now underway.

Indigenous communities in Canada are becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate-related extreme events such as wildfires due to several interconnected environmental, sociopolitical, and governance-related factors. The systematic destruction of their land-based resource governance and traditional fire stewardship practices through colonial fire ban policies has disrupted their long-standing ecological relationships that further eroded their and-based knowledge and their livelihoods. The continued adoption of a Western, top-down fire control and management system centered on fire suppression has constrained Indigenous leadership and the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge in wildfire preparedness and management. It is critically important to empirically investigate how these changes are affecting Indigenous communities. In this context, between April and August 2025, we collected primary data by participating in land-based cultural camps, sharing circles, and storytelling sessions with Elders and knowledge keepers in the Lac La Ronge Woodland Cree community. These engagements provided key insights into the experiences from the 2015 and 2025 wildfires, Indigenous fire management practices, land-based coping strategies, and structural challenges in wildfire governance. Our findings revealed that the 2025 wildfire season marked a sharp increase in severity of fire, fueled by prolonged drought, low river levels, rapid snowmelt, and erratic wind speed. The lack of institutional preparedness for the wildfire hazards was noticeable during the 2025 wildfire season. Community Elders described the 2025 evacuation as chaotic and inequitable, marked by poor communication, delayed transport, and fragmented coordination. The absence of a unified command structure left nearby communities unsupported, revealing jurisdictional complexities and governance failures. The lessons from 2015 & 2025 demand a paradigm shift toward more inclusive and anticipatory wildfire governance.

This interactive session invites emergency management practitioners to contribute theirexpertise to an ongoing national research project on Mass Care planning in Canada, conducted by JIBC, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness BC, and community partners. With its focus on shared language, operational clarity, and community relevance, the session directly supports the conference theme “Community-Led Resilience and Inclusion” and complements the 2026 Symposium theme “Living the Lessons: From Impact to Insight.”

The session’s primary objectives are to (1) present emerging project findings, including preliminary terminology, models, and conceptual frameworks; (2) gather practitioner, community, and researcher feedback; and (3) collaboratively refine elements that will inform the project’s major outputs.

Participants will engage with three focused activities: a Terms and Concepts Stress Test, exploring how well core terms and concepts emerging from the research hold up— or don't — in participants' own organizational and community contexts; a Playbook Design activity, where participants react to and shape the concept of a non-prescriptive, resource-based community “Playbook” for mass care planning; and a Gap Spotting activity, where participants review and annotate a concept map presenting the project's current understanding of key players, roles, and interdependencies across core masscare functions — identifying what's missing, misrepresented, or context-dependent inways the research has not yet captured.

Disaster and emergency management (DEM) is increasingly complex. Understanding who makes up the DEM system, the roles they perform, and the relationships which influence system capability and performance - before, during, and after a disaster - is essential to building societal resilience. This presentation critically examines DEM as a complex adaptive system, using New Zealand as a case study.