In the face of mounting climate change impacts, while it isn't something Squamish needs or wants to employ now, managed retreat may be something district residents could consider in parts of town in the future. That is one of the key takeaways of Emi Kingan’s UBC thesis "De/constructing flood risk: plans and perceptions of managed retreat in Squamish, British Columbia.”
The former Quest University student says what sparked her interest in the topic of managed retreat was the atmospheric river that had such a devastating impact on the Fraser Valley in 2021.
That year, from Nov. 14 to Dec. 2, extreme rainfall caused flooding and mudslides in that region.
"I started my master of arts degree at UBC in geography in 2022, and that was right after the 2021 atmospheric river event,” Kingan recalled.
"And that event brought a managed retreat into the news as communities like Abbotsford and Merritt started to think about this strategy. And so I wondered, is Squamish considering the strategy ... or how do … practitioners and experts, view managed retreat? And so that motivated my study."
But wait, what is managed retreat?
"Managed retreat is the purposeful and co-ordinated movement of people, infrastructure and services away from harm's way," Kingan said.
"That term, harm’s way, is often used because it's not just in response to flooding. It could be in response to wildfires, or even an instance in New Zealand, in Christchurch, after the earthquake there, there was managed retreat. But most often, it's in response to river flooding—coastal flooding and sea level rise,"
Ultimately, her thesis speaks to "how managed retreat both destabilizes and creates opportunities to reimagine the traditions and practices that direct how communities develop and live with water."
What she found
Through research and interviews with 11 practitioners and experts, Kingan found the District was considering retreat between 2014 to 2017 during the drafting of its Integrated Flood Hazard Management Plan.
"What I found was that a lot of managed retreat programs we hear about in the news are about property buyouts ... but the District of Squamish's main approach was to do with their own public infrastructure," Kingan said.
An example of this strategy being employed in Squamish was moving the central fire hall operations from Garibaldi Estates to the new Valleycliffe fire hall and moving the emergency operations centre from the RCMP building on Finch Drive there as well.
"In some ways, that is a managed retreat, because the most important services were moved out of the floodplain."
Other strategies include accommodate, where the facility isn't moved, but rather accommodations are made to make them more flood-resistant, such as building the District works yard up higher.
"Often in these new buildings, the first floor is not for people to live in," she said. "In the Dentville area, and further over there, it's where people park their cars. And so that's accommodate. And then with retreat, that's what I focus on. Then there is the strategy of avoid, which is just to restrict further development in areas prone to flooding," Kingan said.
The municipality has been quite progressive, she added.
"I think the District of Squamish was somewhat ahead of their time in considering managed retreat back in 2014 to 2017, and their approach of moving their public infrastructure out of harm's way is an important one, and one that other communities throughout B.C., I think, can learn from," she said.
Not a new idea
Squamish has had a history of floods, as most locals know.
During her research, what surprised Kingan most was that managed retreat wasn't at all a new idea in town; in fact, it had been talked about long before she was born, though historically, it may not have been called that.
One of the proposals was considered before Squamish was incorporated as a district municipality in 1964.
"The historical research I did showed that past researchers and community members suggested what would today be called a managed retreat. They suggested that this downtown area—back in the late 50s and mid-60s—... should be more industrial as opposed to residential and that the main residential area be moved away from downtown, closer to Brackendale and Cheekye area."
Words like "relocation" were used at that time.
"That shows to me that these ideas of maybe it's not best to build near hazards, and maybe relocation could be involved, have been a part of the community for decades," she said.
Double-edged sword
"I show how settler colonialism and the development patterns within this area increased flood risk because people were settling in the midst of rivers and the sea, and then with the construction of dikes, while that did protect communities to some degree, it also encouraged development that has increased flood risk," Kingan said.
With climate change making for more extreme weather, it also means more people and buildings are in areas that would have been too risky before mitigation.
"So, it's sort of this weird conundrum where dikes have, up until now, made the community safer, but have also increased risk, if, say, the dikes fail, or if they're breached, and especially with climate change projections suggesting that sea levels will rise and floods may become more extreme or weather events," she said.
Kingan also notes that the processes which produce our heightened flood risk aren't purely negative. They have actually defined what Squamish is in terms of its social, cultural, economic, and even political identity, like with incorporation, which occurred in part to deal with flooding.
"The fact that flooding was such a major problem brought together Squamish, Brackendale and Mamquam to form this political entity, to manage the situation better and to secure funding from the province."
Even today, with recreation and adventure, Squamish's calling card is because it is in the midst of the rivers and the sea, she noted.
"So there's this double-edged sword in a way," she said.
"Flooding caused lots of damage and harm, but the reasons why people continue to live through it are because of the beauty and ... more recently, the recreational opportunities Squamish provides."
Managed retreat challenged
Opposition to the idea of managed retreat is also not new.
"It's very easy to understand the cons," she said.
"It's very clear that the idea of government telling people to move in for their own good, supposedly because of climate change, is disruptive and is viewed as limiting people's freedom. I think the word is disruptive, and that comes up a lot in newspapers," Kingan said.
"But there is also an important value to considering managed retreat in that unlike building flood control infrastructures higher, which could fail, as was the case in Abbotsford, managed retreat promises to reduce that risk more significantly, especially for homes or people that are highly exposed. It can also reduce continual harm that they may go through if flooding occurs year after year or every few years."
Conclusions
Through her research, Kingan, particularly speaking to the 11 professionals and experts, found managed retreat to be seen as tricky and complicated.
"We have inherited past development that defines where buildings are today. But we also have to consider the future with climate change projections on top of present-day changes in community population and changes in council every four years," she said, adding that there are also complex jurisdictional issues for planners and local governments to consider.
But ultimately, these complexities also create opportunities, according to Kingan.
"I, along with other researchers, suggest that this complexity presents an opportunity ... maybe managed retreat can be used as a way to address other connected problems beyond climate change," she said, referencing issues such as affordable housing.
She stressed that managed retreat doesn't have to look like the government swooping in and moving people. It can be grassroots.
"Within managed retreat literature, there are discussions as to how coercive it can be and how it can be voluntary and really empowering for communities. There's definitely a spectrum, and any community that considers managed retreat, involving people in their homes, needs to really account for this spectrum and engage with the public, or, even better, have the public lead the process," she said. "If communities realize .. now or well into the future, that they don't want to experience repeated flood events, and yet they don't have the money to move. Let's come together. Let's have community organizations support us and work with the government."
‘Useful insights to consider’
District of Squamish staff participated in interviews for Kingan’s project and reviewed the final thesis paper.
“The thesis included a comprehensive review of historic community flooding impacts as well as many useful insights to consider as part of future mitigation approaches. As well, the thesis laid out both the opportunities and challenges associated with managed retreat,” said District spokesperson Rachel Boguski in an email to The Squamish Chief.
Asked about the role of retreat in current or future plans, Boguski said the current Integrated Flood Hazard Management Plan (IFHMP) includes mitigation measures within the categories of:
- Protect, meaning improving flood protection;
- Accommodate, meaning ensuring new development is built safely in consideration of flooding’
- Avoid, meaning restricting development in high-risk areas, and
- Retreat, meaning removing development from flood-prone areas.
“The District plans to review and update the IFHMP beginning in 2027. A full consideration of mitigation approaches, including managed retreat, will be considered holistically along with other mitigation approaches as part of the update,” added Boguski.
In terms of involving the community in plans around this discussion, Boguski said the District completed significant community engagement as part of the IFHMP between 2014 and 2017, including community open houses, stakeholder meetings, open council meetings and public surveys.
“The District also engages with the community through the implementation of the IFHMP’s recommendations—[for example] Floodplain Bylaw adoption, incorporating flood policy in the Official Community Plan, ongoing dike upgrade projects, etc.—The District will engage with the community as part of the forthcoming IFHMP update,” she said.
Prepare
Kingan said doing her study made her think about her individual role in her own safety.
"While governments play some role in reducing flood risk and other natural hazard risk, individuals and communities also play a role," she said. "And so this project has helped me learn more about what I need to do to prepare and, perhaps even people in Squamish, too, can also learn more."
The thesis was primarily funded through a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada Graduate Scholarship and the Larry Bell Urban Research Award.
Kigan recently graduated from UBC with her master of arts. She is next looking to work with either local governments or nonprofits to help with disaster resilience, or with researching and developing flood policy or affordable housing.
"Looking at climate change action and adaptation and connecting that with all the other issues that people in B.C. are experiencing today," she said.
