ResilientTO
Toronto’s Resilience Office has a two-year mandate to develop a Resilience Strategy to help Toronto become more resilient.
Resilience is the capacity of a city to deal with day to day chronic stresses, as well as acute shocks. Toronto, like all cities, is facing stresses and shocks from urbanisation and intensification, climate change, and globalisation. Stresses are day to day chronic or cyclical issues, like inequality, housing issues or traffic, whereas shocks are often sudden, acute impacts that threaten a city, like flooding.
The process to develop the Resilience Strategy includes three phases:
- The Preliminary Resilience Assessment (PRA) – Completed
- Strategy Development – Underway
- Implementation of the Strategy – 2019
About the City’s participation in 100RC
As a member of the 100 Resilient Cities Network (100RC), a global community of cities working together to build urban resilience, the City is working to improve our resilience to the physical, social, and economic challenges of the 21st century.
Through 100RC, the City will have the facility to share resilience knowledge and best practices, and foster relationships and partnerships with other leading cities. In addition, the City is receiving funding and resources to:
- hire a Chief Resilience Officer to coordinate, oversee, and prioritize resilience-building activities
- support the development of a comprehensive Resilience Strategy for Toronto
- collaborate with the 100RC Platform of Partners to support the implementation of Toronto’s Resilience Strategy, including solutions that integrate big data, analytics, technology, resilience land-use planning, infrastructure design, innovative financing supports, and insurance products
Hired in June 2017, Toronto’s Chief Resilience Officer, Elliott Cappell, is leading the city-wide resilience-building efforts and overseeing the development and implementation of a comprehensive Resilience Strategy. The position is fully funded by 100 RC.
Learn more about Resilient TO and get involved
The City of Toronto is supporting a new pilot program – the Toronto Home Resilience Program.
From July through September 2018, up to 200 residents can participate in the Toronto Home Resilience Program to receive emergency preparedness resources and a 50-point flood risk assessment that identifies priority actions to reduce basement flood risk.
Subsidized home assessments are available on a first come, first served basis for Toronto homeowners for a fee of $95 (full value $450).
The Home Resilience Program is developed by the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo, is delivered by AET Group, and is available in Toronto thanks to funding support provided by the Insurance Bureau of Canada. Additional program support is generously provided by the City of Toronto, Intact Financial Corporation, and the Province of Ontario.
What you can expect:
A Home Flood Protection Assessment takes 60 to 90 minutes and includes:
-
- Emergency preparedness resources for Toronto residents
- 50-point visual inspection of flood risks inside and outside your home by a trained assessor
- Confidential report that identifies top actions you can take to reduce your risk of flooding
- Optional follow-up phone call with your inspector to discuss the report
- Optional seasonal maintenance reminders sent to you via email
How to participate:
Website: homefloodprotect.info/register
Phone: 1-877-876-9235
E-mail info@aet98.com
Free web resources:
Free web resources are also available to all Toronto residents, and include:
-
- Self-help checklists
- How-to videos
- Tips for finding qualified contractors
- Questions to ask insurance providers
- Information about how to reduce your flood insurance premiums
Visit www.intactcentreclimateadaptation.ca/programs/home_flood_protect/resources/ for more information.
The Toronto Home Resilience Program is a Toronto-based update to the University of Waterloo’s innovative Home Flood Protection Program. Visit www.homefloodprotect.ca or call 1-877-876-9235 to learn more.
This project receives support from the sponsors listed above. Such support does not constitute endorsement of the contents.
Understanding how Torontonians experience resilience is an important step towards creating a Resilience Strategy that improves everyone’s quality of life.
- What kinds of shocks and stresses do you experience, or have experienced, in your everyday life?
- What about your community?
- What resources, assets, or networks do you draw on to help you cope with these challenges?
- What can the City do to better support you?
Share your story with us, or comment on someone else’s story that you identify with! Our engagement web page offers a number of ways to get involved resilienttoronto.ca
The Resilient City Working Group, established in 2013, facilitates collaboration between City Divisions, Agencies, Corporations and external stakeholders on the topic of climate change resilience. Members share knowledge and technical information to facilitate the implementation of resilience actions within their operations.
Membership:
- City Divisions:
- City Planning
- Engineering and Construction Services
- Environment and Energy Division
- Facilities Management
- Insurance and Risk Management
- Legal Services
- Office of Emergency Management
- Parks, Forestry and Recreation
- Purchasing and Materials Management
- Shelter, Support and Housing Administration – Tower Renewal
- Social Development, Finance and Administration
- Toronto Building
- Toronto Fire Services
- Toronto Public Health
- Toronto Water
- Transportation Services
- Hydro One
- Metrolinx
- Toronto Hydro
- Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
- Toronto Transit Commission
In partnership with 100 Resilient Cities (100RC), the City formally kick-started a process to develop and implement a resilience strategy in December 2016. Toronto’s Agenda Setting Workshop brought together more than 110 stakeholders from a broad range of sectors to begin to identify and discuss the critical issues to be considered in preparing Toronto’s resilience strategy.
