E X H I B I T
An exhibit of artifacts from wildfires, floods and hurricanes in Canada: Testimonies of loss and resilience calling for an emissions cap.
The wildfires and floods that have hit Canada over the past few years have been extreme, leaving disaster in their wake.
The rise in extreme wildfires across North America are linked directly to emissions from oil and gas companies. A peer reviewed study released in 2023 found that 37% of the total burned forest area in Western Canada and the United States between 1986 and 2021 can be traced back to 88 major fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers.
Climate change made the high temperatures that enabled the devastating Jasper wildfire in July 2024 at least two times more likely. An estimated 25,000 people were evacuated from the Jasper wildfire in July 2024.
During the record-breaking wildfires in 2023, over 230,000 people were evacuated including 25,000 Indigenous people. Evacuation orders were issued in Yellowknife, parts of British Columbia and Quebec. This year, more than 3.4 million hectares have burned so far in Canada— well above the average of the last 25 years.
In 2021, a formal attribution study for a two-day heavy rainfall in British Columbia found that "the probability of events at least this large has been increased by a best estimate of 45% by human-induced climate change." Rainfall has increased over much of Canada, especially in the North, and is projected to further increase, worsening flooding. Roughly 80% of major Canadian cities are in flood zones and flooding is the costliest unnatural disaster in Canada when it comes to property damage. Flooding is almost the most common unnatural disaster in Canada.
Economic costs from climate impacts in Canada could climb to CAD 101 billion per year by 2050 and up to CAD 865 billion by the end of the century in a high-emissions scenario. 2024 wildfires destroyed CAD 283 million worth of property in the town of Jasper, while estimated insurance costs of the Jasper wildfire could be upwards of CAD 700 million, making it one of the most expensive wildfires in Canadian history. Estimated costs for the July 2024 Toronto flood could reach CAD 4 billion.