Natural disasters and adverse weather conditions in 2023 caused insured losses amounting to $3.13 billion in Canada. This is the second consecutive year that losses of this kind have exceeded the $3 billion threshold, having reached $3.4 billion in 2022.

Wildfires in the Okanagan and Shuswap regions of British Columbia in western Canada top the annual report of the Canadian Insurance Bureau (BAC / IBC), causing insured losses valued at $720 million.

The Canadian Insurance Bureau is the national association representing property insurance companies in Canada.

Other notable climate events in 2023 include severe summer storms in Ontario, causing insured damages worth $340 million, and the spring ice storm in April in Ontario and its eastern neighbor Quebec, which caused power outages for more than 1.2 million subscribers, resulted in two fatalities, and insured damages worth $330 million.

Summer hail storms caused insured damages exceeding $250 million in Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba in the west-central part of the country, and Calgary, the largest city in Alberta in the west.

Among the notable events on the east coasts, a wildfire swept through a suburb of Halifax, the largest city of the Atlantic provinces, in May and June causing insured damages of $165 million, and floods in late July caused insured damages worth $170 million.

These natural disasters and adverse weather conditions also place 2023 fourth on the Canadian Insurance Bureau's list of the costliest climate years. At the top of the list remains 2016, when widespread wildfires destroyed a large part of Fort McMurray in northeastern Alberta.

In a comment on the damage toll in 2023, the Canadian Insurance Bureau stated that “this grim statistic highlights the financial costs of climate change for insurance companies, governments, and taxpayers.”

“The increasing frequency and severity of climate-related disasters should concern all Canadians, even if they have not yet been directly affected,” said Craig Stewart, Vice President of Climate Change and Federal Issues at the Canadian Insurance Bureau.