February 4, 2025 - All times Eastern Standard
8:00 am
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7:00 pm
Registration Opens
Say hello and pick up your badge at the registration desk.
8:00 am
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8:35 am
Breakfast
Fuel up for a day of catastrophe content!
Session Sponsor
8:35 am
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8:45 am
Welcome Address
8:45 am
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9:15 am
Opening Remarks and 2024 CATs in Review
The conference will begin with an overview of the catastrophes that occurred in 2024. This comprehensive review will include a chronology of events, geographic footprints of impacted areas, related media and insured loss estimates provided by CatIQ.
9:15 am
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10:15 am
Climate Attribution and Canadian Catastrophes
This presentation will introduce the concept of event attribution which is used to quantify how human-driven climate change altered the likelihood of a particular extreme event. It will cover examples of event attribution studies in Canada, highlight the new rapid extreme event attribution system at Environment Canada, and discuss what we can say about 2024 events so far.
Research Scientist, Climate Research Division
Environment and Climate Change Canada
10:15 am
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10:45 am
Networking Break
Session Sponsor
Morning Concurrent Session A
10:45 am
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11:45 am
Severe Convective Storm Trends in Canada
Speaker
Julian Brimelow
Director, Northern Hail Project
Western University
Morning Concurrent Session B
10:45 am
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11:45 am
Equity-Driven Community Resilience
Not everyone is reached or served in the same way – nor should they be. What does ‘community resilience’ mean for different populations and risk profiles? This session explores the role of the insurance industry and government-led initiatives in helping more people face increasingly frequent and severe hazard events — with their specific needs and circumstances in mind. Learn how to assess for whom and where to prioritize efforts, and what has been learned through partnership projects.
11:45 am
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1:15 pm
Buffet Lunch
12:15 pm
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1:15 pm
Keynote Address
Fireside Chat: Redefining the Fire Challenge & Aligning Insurance with Mitigations that Matter
The Fireside chat will unpack the weather conditions in wind-driven fires that exceed firefighters’ ability to control and are the dominate forces in home and community loss. The chat will unpack challenges of scale, cost and the low probabilities of success of attempting to control fire behavior through forest management and contrast those with the parcel and community level mitigations that matter to prevent conflagration. The speakers will highlight efforts by insurance companies to align the risk transfer markets and policies to reward owners and communities who take action to bend down the risk curve.
Keynote Speaker
Ralph Bloemers
Director of Fire Safe Communities
Green Oregon
Session Sponsor
Early Afternoon Concurrent Session A
1:30 pm
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2:15 pm
Canadian Climate & Data 101
Test your Canadian climate knowledge, and learn about the latest data resources, at the 3rd Annual CatIQ Connect After Lunch Quiz Show!
Speaker
Pouriya Jafarpur
Climate scientist, Canadian Centre for Climate Services
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Early Afternoon Concurrent Session B
1:30 pm
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2:15 pm
Fire Prevention
The changes we need to make now. Join a panel of experts to discuss what is working in the wildfire world when it comes to mitigation and what isn’t. The shifts that need to occur to prevent Canada from experiencing the catastrophic wildfire events happening across the globe.
Late Afternoon Concurrent Session A
2:20 pm
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3:20 pm
Is Climate-Proofing Canada a Roll of the Dice? An Interactive Game
Operational and financial resilience against natural disasters and extreme weather events is best achieved through the holistic approach combining latest innovations in modeling impacts, providing resilience financing through public private partnerships, parametric insurance and anticipatory action solutions.
This interactive session will simplify a more nuanced reality on the ground to bring home the combined value of a few fundamental innovative steps needed in order to achieve (or, at least move towards) that elusive resilience.
Speaker
Janot Mendler de Suarez
Visiting Research Fellow
Boston University Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future
Late Afternoon Concurrent Session B
2:20 pm
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3:20 pm
Inundated with CATs: A Claims Perspective
3:20 pm
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3:50 pm
Networking Break
Session Sponsor
3:50 pm
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4:50 pm
Navigating the Jasper Fires: Perspectives on Planning, Communications and the Role of NGOs
The Town of Jasper Alberta is nestled in the picturesque Rocky Mountains and visited by thousands of tourists every year. Jasper is located within a National Park and when Canada’s second costliest insured fire impacted the area, the result was the destruction of about a third of the Town. All three levels of government responded to this event, which created unique challenges. Hear from a panel of experts in planning, communications and NGO’s for their perspective on how they navigated this fire.
4:50 pm
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5:15 pm
Student Delegate Presentations
See up-and-coming research from the Canadian CAT community as our 2025 Student Delegate Program winners share short presentations on their work. Also join us for the poster session, taking place immediately following these presentations during the cocktail hour.
Session Sponsor
5:15 pm
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6:15 pm
Cocktail Reception
Mingle with your peers, view posters and chat with our student delegates, and try out this year’s signature cocktail as we wind down from a full day of catastrophe content.
Session Sponsor
February 5, 2025 - All times Eastern Standard
8:00 am
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4:45 pm
Registration Opens
8:00 am
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9:00 am
Breakfast
9:00 am
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10:00 am
Climate Change Risk Analysis
1. Strengthening Financial Stability through Climate Risk Stress Testing:
Explore how Canadian regulators are utilizing stress testing to assess and mitigate the financial impacts of climate change. Learn how these methodologies help ensure financial stability and guide proactive regulatory measures to safeguard the financial system against evolving climate risks.
2. Empowering Financial Institutions and Clients with Data-Driven Insights:
Discover how financial institutions are integrating climate risk stress testing into their business strategies to drive better decision-making, not only managing their own climate risks but also guiding clients on adapting to climate-related challenges.
3. Practical Solutions for Individuals and SMEs:
Explore the real-world benefits of stress testing for local communities, individuals, and small businesses. Learn how this process is enabling targeted resilience strategies, offering insights on how physical climate risks can be reduced and what tangible support is available to those on the ground to help them adapt and thrive in a changing climate.
Moderator
Kathryn Bakos
Managing Director, Finance and Resilience
Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation
Speaker
Stéphane Tardif
Managing Director, Climate Risk Division
Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada
10:00 am
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10:30 am
Networking Break
Session Sponsor
Morning Concurrent Session A
10:30 am
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11:30 am
What’s New in Flood Models
Flood modelling continues to improve and evolve as events impact Canadian insurers. This session will delve into the latest advancements in flood modelling, focusing on the critical tools and methodologies available for effective risk quantification.
Morning Concurrent Session B
10:30 am
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11:30 am
Building Resilience with Building Codes?
Multiple stakeholders are involved in the process of updating Canada’s National Building Code to prepare new housing for a changing climate. The process involves active debate about whether these efforts add unacceptable cost to an expensive consumer product. This panel will offer nuance on the benefits, limitations and alternatives for building resilience with the Building Code.
Speaker
Marianne Armstrong
Director, Climate Resilient Built Environment Initiative
National Research Council Canada
11:35 am
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12:35 pm
Communicating Flood Risk
Speaker
Matthew Godsoe
Director of the Resilience and Economics Integration Division
Public Safety Canada
12:30 pm
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1:50 pm
Buffet Lunch
1:10 pm
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1:50 pm
Keynote Address
State of the Industry 2025
Afternoon Concurrent Session A
2:10 pm
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3:00 pm
2024 Flood Events
An in-depth look at 2024’s major flooding events and their impacts at a local level, including modelling, response, and lessons learned from the remnants of Hurricane Debby, and the repeated flash-flooding events in southern Ontario.
Speaker
Emma Haug-Kindellan
Engineer, Watershed and Climate Change Risk Science
Credit Valley Conservation
Afternoon Concurrent Session B
2:10 pm
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3:00 pm
Nature-Based Solutions: When and How Can They Be Insured?
Speaker
Joanna Eyquem
Managing Director, Climate-Resilient Infrastructure
Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation
3:05 pm
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4:05 pm
Earthquake: Managing Capacity for “The Big One”
4:05 pm
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4:30 pm
2025 CATs: The Forecast Says?
After back-to-back challenging years for Canadian catastrophes, does 2025 have more of the same in store? This session will give a quick overview on clues as to what Mother Nature could bring for the rest of the year, including a look at current ENSO conditions.
4:30 pm
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4:45 pm
Closing Remarks
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