Home insurance: Are you covered for wildfires, floods and other climate-related disasters? Sep 5th

Canada is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, according to a report by the federal government in 2019. The highest temperature increases are in the North, the Prairies and northern B.C. Over time, we’ll see more precipitation, snowstorms, wind, hail, floods, droughts, smog, wildfires and “extreme heat events,” like the heat dome that scorched Lytton B.C., in 2021. That means more weather damage to infrastructure, businesses and homes—and a corresponding rise in insurance claims.

Between 2009 and 2020, Canadian insurers spent an average of $2 billion annually on losses related to natural catastrophic events (those resulting in insured losses of $25 million or more)—more than four times the average of $422 million paid out annually from 1983 to 2008, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). Claims have continued to rise. In 2022, insured damage for severe weather events reached $3…