SHARED TOOLS FOR COLLABORATION
One shared floodplain. One shared risk. Resilience requires working together.
PROJECTS
To support collaboration across the floodplain, LFFC is developing regional tools that help show shared risks, shared assets, and shared opportunities. These tools bring together data and knowledge from First Nations, municipalities, provincial agencies, and other partners.
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Work in Progress
Critical Infrastructure Interdependency Analysis
A regional model that maps how transportation, water, power, communications, emergency services, cultural infrastructure, and natural systems depend on one another. This work helps identify weak points, cascading risks, and priorities for regional resilience planning.
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Planned Work
Regional Flood Risk Assessment (Full Methodology)
A regional assessment that integrates First Nation knowledge, cultural values, ecosystems, food systems, and infrastructure to build a holistic understanding of flood risk. This work will guide shared priorities, support equity in decision-making, and enable coordinated, resilience-based planning across the Lower Fraser.
REGIONAL CLIMATE
HAZARD DATABASE
A Shared Tool for Mapping Climate and Flood Risk Across the Lower Fraser
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We are building a regional, spatial database that brings together technical studies, assessments, and climate-hazard information from across the Lower Fraser. By pooling knowledge from First Nations, local governments, provincial agencies, and partners, the database helps show what we know, what we don’t, and where future work is needed.
What the Database Does:​
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Map completed studies and assessments across the region
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Identify information gaps for flood, erosion, fire, and other climate hazards
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Support place-based risk assessment using shared, transparent data
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Strengthen funding applications by showing clear evidence of regional needs
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Reduce duplication, especially for communities working on the same river reach
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Help coordinate technical work across boundaries and jurisdictions
​​Why It Matters:
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Flood and climate risks do not stop at municipal borders.
A shared database allows communities to:
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plan with better information,
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understand regional patterns,
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avoid repeating work, and
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make smarter, more collaborative investments in resilience.
A Living, Shareable Tool:
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The database will continue to grow as partners contribute their studies and local knowledge.
It is designed to:
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evolve over time,
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support both First Nations and local governments,
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and make regional coordination easier and more equitable.
Contribute Your Data:
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Have you completed a study or assessment related to flood or climate resilience in the Lower Fraser?
Your contribution helps strengthen the region-wide knowledge base.
Together, we can identify gaps, avoid duplication, and build smarter, more connected resilience planning.
CRITICAL INFRA-STRUCTURE
Understanding Interconnections
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We’re developing a regional model that maps how critical infrastructure systems — roads, power, communications, water, emergency services, cultural infrastructure, and natural systems — are connected across the Lower Fraser. This helps us understand how these systems rely on one another and where they may fail during flooding.
What the Analysis will Show:​
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Weak points in the network and which services are most at risk
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Interdependencies, such as how a power loss affects water treatment or communications
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Smarter planning, by prioritizing the most vulnerable or high-impact systems
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Better emergency response, with insights into which routes, facilities, or backups matter most
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A shared regional understanding, bringing First Nations, local governments, CI operators, and others together around common risks and solutions
Rethinking What Counts as “Critical”
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Traditional definitions focus on built systems and emergency services.
Many First Nations, however, consider cultural infrastructure, natural systems, and traditional food sources — including salmon-bearing rivers and sacred sites — as equally essential to community health and continuity.
This work explores how to expand the definition of critical infrastructure to better reflect Indigenous perspectives and regional values.
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REGIONAL FLOOD RISK ASSESSMENT
Developing a First Nation–Centered Risk and Resilience Methodology
The Emergency Planning Secretariat, our partner, is developing a place-based, First Nation–centered approach for assessing risk and resilience in the Lower Fraser. Unlike conventional risk assessments that focus narrowly on physical or economic losses and often lead to recommendations like “build more dikes,” this approach is rooted in a holistic, values-based understanding of risk that reflects the lived realities of Mainland Coast Salish First Nations.
Why a New Approach Is Needed:
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Traditional risk assessments often overlook what matters most to communities. They typically emphasize quantifiable harm — infrastructure, population, economic loss — without considering:
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Cultural continuity
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Food sustainability of native plants and animal relatives
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Human and community connections to place
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Collective well-being and identity
A more equitable and effective flood strategy requires expanding what “at risk” truly means.
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Laying the Groundwork
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EPS has begun assembling the foundational elements of the new methodology, including:
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Compiling commonly used flood-risk data (population, infrastructure, economic assets)
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Engaging with First Nations to understand what conventional assessments miss
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Identifying values, relationships, and cultural priorities that shape how risk is experienced
This process has led to a deeper, more inclusive understanding of what is at stake across the floodplain.
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Inclusive Receptors of Risk
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Through engagement, EPS developed an expanded “receptors of risk” framework that integrates both conventional and First Nation priorities. New receptors include:
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Cultural Use and Stewardship — sacred places, harvesting areas, and lands supporting intergenerational knowledge
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People and Community Connections — belonging, identity, and relational ties to place
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Food Sustainability — traditional food systems and agricultural lands vital to local food security
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Community Structures vs. Built Infrastructure — recognizing the difference between cultural gathering places and engineered assets
These receptors reflect a fuller picture of risk and resilience across the Lower Fraser.
What’s Next
EPS is now working with First Nations and partners to co-develop the full methodology. The goal is not only to identify what is at risk, but to guide decision-making in a way that supports First Nations self-determination, stewardship, and resilience-based planning.
A public report will be released once this work is complete.