A recently launched resilience strategy will help Toronto’s vulnerable citizens cope with natural disasters or other unexpected hardship, as reported by The CBC. According to the City of Toronto’s website, the strategy was two years in the making, and is following the Rockefeller Foundations’ 100 Cities framework.
The strategy is meant to target both shocks (sudden events such as flash storms, extreme temperatures or blizzards) and stresses (everyday occurrences that weaken the city’s ability to deal with a shock).
Action items detailed in the plan include those dealing with climate change, such as flood reliance, actions to mitigate the effects of extreme heat, and city mapping to track flooding, which has been a problem throughout Ontario in recent years.
“I think what’s important is, going forward, every time we have an important decision to make, we’re asking the questions to our top city officials and staff: ‘How is resilience applied to this?’ And it’s something that we need to interweave into all of the decisions that we make,” Scarborough — Rouge Park Councillor Jennifer McKelvie told The CBC. “It’s not just about today and releasing the report. It’s really about our decisions that are on a day-to-day basis.”
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