Transformative change is happening. Let’s talk about it.

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.

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).

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.

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. 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.

In recent decades, communities across Canada have seen alarming trends. Physical activity rates for children and youth have declined. Unsafe road conditions have increased around schools. These trends are health and public safety issues. Researchers and practitioners across Canada are trying to address these issues. But it is challenging to get reliable, comprehensive data on how families choose to travel to school. Join Green Communities Canada and a panel of experts to discuss current evaluation practices, ongoing challenges, and the innovative work that is advancing research in this space.

The feeling that we belong is central to the human experience, and social cohesion is essential to tackling collective problems like climate change and inequity. Yet here we are in the 21st century, living in an increasingly individualistic and unequal society at arguably one of the loneliest times in human history. What happens when we leverage the power of parks and public spaces to build connection and community? What happens when we use proven community-engagement tools and consultation processes to get at-risk youth and equity-denied minorities growing and shaping the greenspaces around them?

We’ve got a problem. Our school zones aren’t what they should be. 9 out of 10 parents witness dangerous driving in school zones. School staff in Ontario spend over 700,000 hours per year dealing with traffic issues! Less than 25% of kids use active modes of transportation and less than 1 in 10 kids are getting their daily recommended physical activity. It’s time to intervene, and that’s what the National Active School Streets Initiative (aka “School Streets”) has been doing across Canada. Hear first-hand how implementations in B.C., Ontario, and Quebec have provided solutions and improved community happiness and health.