As you may have heard through media reports earlier this week, the federal government has turned down the City of Abbotsford’s application for vital flood mitigation funding from the federal Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF). This is a grave disappointment for our City and for the farmers, residents and business owners who live and operate in Sumas Prairie, as well as commuters, transportation and trucking companies, and any other stakeholder who utilizes the Trans-Canada Highway through Abbotsford.
During the flood of 2021, senior federal government officials promised Abbotsford that support would be there for us to rebuild and improve our flood mitigation infrastructure to keep our residents, businesses, transportation routes and farmland safe from future disasters.
As a Council, we did everything that was asked of us on our end: we developed a long-term flood mitigation plan; we participated in numerous meetings, working groups and consultation sessions; we received wide support from local First Nations, regional stakeholders, industry leaders and businesses; and we’ve advocated for the urgent needs of our community. Last July, we submitted the federal government-required DMAF application in support of our long-term flood mitigation solution, as we were encouraged to do by senior levels of government. We were told that if the Province was on board with our application, which they were, that it would have a positive outcome.
The DMAF is a $3.375-billion federal disaster grant funding program that is to be allocated in communities across Canada over the next nine years. It is a national, competitive, and merit-based contribution program requiring communities to apply for funding through a competitive application process.
Abbotsford’s application – alongside the City of Merritt and the Town of Princeton, who also made DMAF applications under similar promises of federal support – was turned down flat. As Council we all feel this demonstrates a blatant disregard for our City, our region, our economy and quite frankly, a disrespect for the fairness of due process when no community in the Province of BC that was impacted by the historic 2021 flooding event was successful in receiving federal government support for establishing disaster mitigation programs. We are all left feeling completely abandoned by our federal government.
On June 3, Abbotsford Mayor Ross Siemens was joined by Merritt Mayor Michael G. Goetz, Princeton Mayor Spencer Coyne and former Abbotsford mayor Henry Braun at a joint press conference to demand the federal government reconsider, and to open another stream of funding to give our three communities the help and support that was promised to us during the flooding event.
Local farmers and industry leaders from BC Dairy, the BC Egg Producers Association, Surrey Board of Trade, Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Abbotsford as well as Councillor Troy Ganzeveld from Sumas First Nation all joined to show their support. While Chief Dalton Silver was unable to attend, he did provide a quote of support which was included in the news release.
Through this process, we learned that this is not the first time the federal government’s DMAF grant process has failed Canadian communities. In 2019, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities recommended that the federal government “re-evaluate” the DMAF program’s eligibility criteria so that communities of all sizes could “access critical funding and support,” yet no changes were ever made.
The flooding that BC experienced in 2021 has been called the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history with impacts far beyond Abbotsford. For the first time, we witnessed a nine-day closure of the key transportation corridor through the Fraser Valley, the national Trans-Canada Highway. Across southwest BC, railway lines were disrupted, major highways were closed – some for several months – halting the movement of people, goods and services. This resulted in severe disruptions to the Asia Pacific gateway supply chain, closed the US/Canada border, and devastated residents, businesses and farms.
We know that Abbotsford has the most productive agriculture land in Canada on a per hectare basis. Roughly half the dairy, chickens, turkeys and eggs that are consumed in B.C. come from Abbotsford producers and a large majority of food production takes place in Sumas Prairie. Our farm economy is also responsible for $3.83 billion in economic activity each year and supports 16,770 local jobs. If our farmland remains unprotected, it puts the food security of our province at risk.
The federal government’s lack of support for our community and our province is a disappointing setback. Rest assured that your Mayor and City Council will not give up that easily. We will continue to fight for adequate disaster and flood mitigation funding to ensure that our community is safe from the next extreme climate-related event throughout our term.
Abbotsford City Council