This story is part of The Energy Mix’s partnership with Small Change Fund.

Reading time: 2 minutes

Bren McClure/Facebook

More than 26 million Canadians in more than 930 communities, more than 60% of the population, have personally faced the impacts of climate change so far this year, the #ElbowsUp for Climate campaign reports in an analysis released this week.

The latest edition of the campaign’s Climate Impacts Map, with results up to August 12, “documents the ongoing devastation from climate impacts that communities across Canada face,” #ElbowsUp states in its introduction to the map—which carries a warning that the visual itself may be slow to load due to the large number of events it documents.

And that tally “doesn’t include the millions more Canadians struggling with heating and cooling bills, at risk from erosion, or facing reduced municipal services as communities struggle to pay for climate-related damages and infrastructure costs,” the campaign says. “We cannot keep our communities safe, or our economy thriving, without our federal government prioritizing nation-building, not nation-burning projects.”

The map shows 669 communities affected by extreme heat, 320 seeing unsafe air quality, 138 facing flooding, 40 confronting severe storms, and 12 in drought, #ElbowsUp says in a release. So far this year, 68 Canadian communities have declared local states of emergency.

The data-gathering identified wildfires affecting 49 communities, but the release also acknowledges at least 81 First Nations that have seen 9,131 people evacuated due to wildfires since April 1.

The campaign is calling for public investment in a clean electricity grid, high energy efficiency standards for federal investments in affordable housing, funding for a national resilience, response, and recovery strategy, and an excess profits tax on oil and gas companies.

“We’ve almost normalized in many towns and cities across Canada people having to pack a go bag so they can evacuate at a moment’s notice, which is shocking. If you think about that from 10 years ago, it was inconceivable,” #ElbowsUp co-chair and former Toronto mayor David Miller told the Toronto Star.

“Our country is under threat on two fronts—economic bullying from our neighbour and growing climate disasters and harms,” Miller added in the #ElbowsUp release. “Both threats are inextricably linked: their solutions, too, are one and the same. Canada can and must say Elbows Up…for Climate, and invest in nation-building, climate-forward solutions to address trade and climate challenges to our communities.”