Message from the President

“Mastering Disaster” was the theme of this year’s CIAA/CICMA Atlantic Joint Conference held in Nova Scotia the early part of June, which I was fortunate to attend, along with over 100 registrants from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland.

The organizing committee consisting of both CIAA and CICMA members did a fantastic job putting together an education program that was informative and relevant. With June marking the first anniversary of the Calgary storm, now hailed as the largest natural disaster in Canadian history with 1.7 billion dollars in insurable losses, and July marking the first anniversary of the Toronto storm, Ontario’s largest natural disaster with 850 million dollars in insurable losses, the timing couldn’t have been better.

Topics focused on what we can learn from these events, ranging from Maintaining Evidence; Insurers’ Rights/Avoiding Estoppel; Avoiding Bad Faith Claims and a review of Municipal Liability.

I particularly enjoyed the presentation by Jim Abraham, Meteorologist, on “Climate Change and Weather – “Is Weird Weather the New Norm?” (in a nutshell, the answer is yes!). Many of you may recognize Jim as a former meteorologist with Environment Canada, now retired, and part-time meteorologist on CBC Radio. With the use of graphs, statistics and in layman’s terms, Jim explained why we have become more vulnerable to these types of storms and why they have become so costly to us as an industry.

According to Jim, there is no doubt the frequency and severity of the storms we have been seeing in recent past are here to stay, primarily due to changing weather patterns resulting from an increase of heat and moisture in the atmosphere as a result of growth in CO2 emissions. “CO2 lasts for 100 years – once you put it in the atmosphere it stays there” Jim advised.

Factors such as our population growing exponentially, people living longer and people “accumulating more stuff” than previous generations (think of our lavishly finished and furnished basements today in contrast to the ones most of us grew up with) – all these contribute to the resulting costs we are seeing from these severe weather events.

On top of it all, it is not only increased costs we are faced with as a result of severe weather events – it is manpower. With insurers, independent adjusting firms and restoration firms staffed according to the anticipated needs of their respective clients, as we have all experienced, when a severe weather event hits, those adjusters and contractors are each suddenly faced with an influx of hundreds of incoming claims in a very short time period.

When a severe weather event occurs, the urgency of “getting boots on the ground” is of utmost importance. The goal of CIAA’s on-going initiative regarding temporary licensing harmonization for “insurance claims events” is to assist with just that.

In times like these, prioritizing and triaging becomes paramount. And as evidenced by the presentation put on by the Canadian Red Cross on Catastrophe Assistance at the Atlantic Joint Conference, possibly no one does this better than the Red Cross. When the largest flooding disaster in Canada’s history hit southern Alberta last June, over 1000 Canadian Red Cross volunteers were deployed from across Canada to assist.

As a result of revenue raised from various activities at the Joint Conference, including a silent auction that took place during the Lobster Dinner (yes lobster!), the Committee Members were especially proud and excited to present the Canadian Red Cross with a donation of $10,000 on behalf of its members. So impressed was I with the presentation given by the Canadian Red Cross, and having learned so much by it, I have asked them to put together an article for an upcoming issue of Claims Canada similar to the presentation they gave. In the meantime, they were extremely appreciative of the donation and guaranteed the funds would go a long way to help those in need in Atlantic Canada.

I also had the pleasure of attending Ontario Region’s AGM held in Niagara-on-the-Lake in June. As always, either of these events would not be possible without the support of our many sponsors. Thank you!

With the cold of winter and spring behind us and the warmth of summer now upon us, I am sure many are taking the time to enjoy traditional summer activities of golfing, trips to the cottage, boating and family get-togethers. Enjoy it while you can because you just never know what’s around the corner!

For me, I am very much looking forward to our upcoming CIAA National Convention and AGM being held at the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City August 21 – 24. We have a fantastic program arranged and the location just couldn’t be better!

I hope to see many of you there, both returning and new delegates alike, and once again, appreciate all the assistance of the sponsors who will be supporting us this year.

I wish you all a safe and much deserved enjoyable summer.