We are pleased to report that this week, the significance of our Sumas Prairie region was recognized by the Government of Canada, and the federal government has now pledged to work alongside the City and the Province of BC on flood mitigation and disaster recovery solutions.
The announcement came following a meeting Mayor Siemens, BC Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister Kelly Greene, and Semá:th First Nation Chief Dalton Silver had with federal Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson and federal Emergency Management and Community Resilience Minister Eleanor Olszewski in Ottawa on Feb. 4.
During the meeting, Mayor Siemens detailed the impacts flooding has on our community, residents, economy and provincial food security and reiterated the national importance of safeguarding Sumas Prairie. Abbotsford is, after all, part of a critical national and international trade corridor, with goods passing through our community every day heading to and from the Port of Vancouver and the United States. Without adequate protection, flooding could leave those ports cut off from the rest of Canada.
The Mayor also emphasized that the transportation and energy corridor infrastructure running through the prairie that we are seeking to protect is not owned by the City, and that the federal government’s own infrastructure remains vulnerable without their support and investment in flood mitigation infrastructure.
Following the meeting, the federal and provincial ministers issued a joint statement on Feb. 5, 2026 acknowledging our region as a “critical corridor for national transportation and energy infrastructure” containing “some of the most productive farmland in the world,” and that protecting this region requires action from all levels of government.
The ministers added that the federal and provincial governments will work together through the updated Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangement, which can now support provincial investments in long-term flood risk mitigation and resilience. They said they will work together to ensure that this program is utilized “to full effect” in support of our community. They also noted that the Provincial-Territorial Stream of the federal Build Communities Strong Fund is an additional funding source that can be tapped to build needed flood mitigation infrastructure.
And significantly, they announced that the federal government will now be participating in the Sumas Prairie Watershed Table, with Minister Olszewski joining Minister Greene at an upcoming meeting later this month in Abbotsford. We look forward to having the federal government at the table as we work with all our partners to put in place a comprehensive, long-term flood mitigation plan to safeguard our region against future devasting floods.
These are promising words and we are hopeful that the commitment to protect the families, farmers and businesses that call Sumas Prairie home will come to fruition in the months and years to come. Regardless, City Council will continue to advocate to senior levels of government until the vital funding we need to keep our community safe is solidly in place.
We are thankful to Chief Silver and Minister Greene for their continued support and partnership on this issue, and we thank Ministers Robertson and Olszewski for hearing us out and agreeing to take action.
Abbotsford City Council