Three municipalities that suffered severe damage from British Columbia's 2021 flooding are sharply criticizing the federal government's access to prevention funds.
Mayors Abbotsford, Merritt and Princeton held a joint press conference on Monday to vent their frustration over the rejection of their application for the federal Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF).
“We are shocked as to why the federal government has chosen to abandon our community, our region and our province,” said Abbotsford Mayor Ross Siemens.
“This was the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history and the first time we’ve witnessed a major transportation corridor in the Fraser Valley shut down for nine days.”
In November 2021, a series of unusually powerful atmospheric rivers triggered flooding that killed five people and thousands of farm livestock.
About 15,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes, and highways and rail lines in and out of the province's Lower Mainland were washed out.
“We have a commitment from the top of government to support us. They told us this is the way to get the money,” Merritt Mayor Michael Goetz said of the multibillion-dollar disaster fund.
“Our application is over 500 pages long and covers everything that could go wrong or happen. If you get denied and you don't get a letter saying your application didn't cover enough of the information we were looking for, I don't know what 500 pages of it will do you any good.”
Emails needed on the day
Top news from Canada and around the world.
Since the floods, each affected community has been working to develop new flood mitigation plans and infrastructure goals.
Abbotsford said its plan includes protecting Highway 1 to ensure the supply of food and goods is not disrupted during future flooding. Princeton said the city remains under a boil water advisory due to the 2021 flooding and will need to build 1.6 kilometres of levees and relocate critical infrastructure.
Merritt said the city's levee system was breached in the disaster and that a quarter of the community would still be at high risk if water levels rise before the levees are repaired.
But mayors say they are being left out because DMAF is structured as a competitive process where they compete with other communities across the country for funding.
They added that smaller municipalities and those with fewer financial resources are at a disadvantage when applying for limited funding.
Princeton Mayor Spencer Coyne likened the process to playing the lottery.
“Community members have lost their homes, key infrastructure has been affected and the community has been severely damaged,” he said.
“DMAF funding has been critical to Princeton’s flood mitigation and adaptation plans, but now we are in the lurch, trying to find ways to address the impacts of global climate change on our own with 3,000 people and tens of millions of dollars.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Infrastructure Canada acknowledged the “devastating impact” of the 2021 floods and noted that Ottawa has provided $1.4 billion in recovery funding.
To prepare for future disaster risk reduction, the federal government has provided more than $333 million in funding to projects in British Columbia through the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund.
The funding includes nearly $180 million for five major flood mitigation projects, including $7.3 million for Abbotsford.
“All projects seeking funding under the DMAF will be evaluated based on the information provided in the application, particularly in determining hazard risk, resilience and return on investment,” the statement read.
“Infrastructure Canada will communicate the reasons for its decisions directly to applicants and will be available to answer any questions they may have.”
However, mayors say the federal government has not lived up to promises made in the wake of the deadly disaster.
“You’ve made the commitment, so give me the money,” Goetz said.
Siemens added: “Without their cooperation, we simply would not be able to take the next crucial step towards the next flood disaster.”
The mayors called on the federal government to reconsider their application and open up another avenue of funding.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
