Transformative change is happening. Let’s talk about it.
Urban communities need to change. Across Canada and around the world, concrete jungles must incorporate purposeful greenspaces. Nature-based solutions can help reduce flooding, heat island effects, and poor air quality, while also boosting health and happiness.
All residents should have equitable access to good quality greenspaces in their communities. Nature Canada’s 2022 report on Tree Equity recommends at least 30 per cent greenspace coverage for each neighbourhood.
But maintenance matters when it comes to the long-term services and benefits that these greenspaces provide. As we race to create more greenspace in the communities that need it most, we must re-think how we value, plan, and prioritize maintenance.
When we build new greenspaces, who is responsible for maintaining those spaces? What happens if they don’t? How are we supporting the monitoring and measuring the benefits of those greenspaces over time? What are the cost-benefit realities of maintaining greenspaces compared to costs for maintaining “grey” infrastructure solutions like stormwater drains?
Join us on April 9 for a panel discussion about how maintenance matters as an often overlooked and under-valued aspects of greenspaces and community planning.
Recordings and Resources
Growing the Mini Forest Movement in Canada
In January, 2025, Green Communities Canada celebrated the release of our 2024 Living Cities Canada Fund Impact report by hosting a Voices for Action webinar featuring Green Communities Canada’s own Tianna Mighty (Program Coordinator, Green Infrastructure), as well as Professor Tahia Devisscher (Assistant Professor, UBC Faculty of Forestry), Kristen Bill (Project Manager, Forest Health, City of Hamilton), and Sharon MacGougan (President, Garden City Conservation Society), with host Brianna Salmon, Executive Director of GCC.
Recap and More Here
Retrofitting Canada’s Homes
The Canada Greener Homes Grant program triggered an explosion in home retrofitting action that supported more than 600,000 home retrofits over a three-year period before it was abruptly cancelled in early 2024. Green Communities Canada is thrilled to release our 2025 National Progress Report on Retrofitting Canada’s Homes and host an in-depth discussion on the future of Canada’s home retrofit industry with special guest panelists Sharon Coward (Executive Director, EnviroCentre), Brendan Haley (Senior Director of Policy Strategy, Efficiency Canada), and Ralph Torrie (Director of Research, Corporate Knights).
Recap, Report, and More Here
The Many Mini Solutions Urban Communities Need
Green Communities Canada hosted a panel with the people who have been making solutions work on the front lines for Canada’s most populous city, Toronto. Our panelists have been dealing with the impacts of climate change, population growth, public health, biodiversity loss, and the climate crisis. Together, we explored the potential to “elevate expectations” for nature-based solutions and green infrastructure right where it matters most for the majority of Canadians – in our urban communities.
Watch the Recording
What is Voices for Action?
Voices for Action is a series of events hosted by Green Communities Canada. Voices for Action brings together people with lived experiences and professional expertise advancing transformative, equitable, and sustainable change in Canadian communities.
The goal of these events is to share knowledge, resources, ideas, and to connect community-based climate action across Canada, creating a national network of innovation and collaboration that elevates our collective impact.
Canada is a country of different regions, cultures, ethnicities, and needs. Voices for Action celebrates the work we do at Green Communities Canada. We honour, mobilize, and build on the knowledge and capacity rooted in our communities, rooted in environmental justice, and rooted in demonstrating that we have all the solutions we need to address the climate emergency – what we need is dialogue, connection, and collective action from communities across Canada.
Upcoming Events
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