Resilience Planning is an award-winning planning firm collaborating with clients to define progressive policies while building partnerships to address community needs.

Our Clients

Local Governments

City of Castlegar (repeat client)

City of Powell River (repeat client)

City of Surrey

City of Vancouver (repeat client)

City of Victoria

Metro Vancouver

qathet Regional District

ɬaʔamɩn Treaty First Nation

Town of Okotoks (repeat client)

Non-Profit Organizations

Aboriginal Housing Management Association

Britannia Childcare Hub

Greater Victoria Housing Society

Kootenay Society for Community Living

Pathways Abilities Society

Powell River Community Foundation

Westwinds Communities (repeat client)

YWCA (Vancouver)

Other Organizations

Local Government Management Association

Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (repeat client)

Vancouver Coastal Health

Our Experience

We’re pleased to announce the Municipal Equity Kickstart Guide won a gold award from the Planning Institute of British Columbia for Excellence in Policy Planning City + Urban Areas at the 2024 conference. Thank you YWCA for choosing Resilience Planning to collaborate with on this valuable resource!

”The jury found this to be an exemplary guide, daylighting issues that have been identified for a long time but not taken seriously. It is a true quick-start guide which is highly transferrable, as evidenced through adoption by several municipalities.”

Featured Projects

BC-wide research framework for collecting the lived experiences of homelessness in Indigenous communities

The BC Indigenous Homelessness Strategy Steering Committee (the steering committee) engaged Resilience Planning to co-develop an Indigenized data collection framework. The goals for this project were two-fold: 

• A replicable data collection framework with documentation of its implementation, shared with tools, resources, and recommendations based in lessons learned; and 

• To provide to the steering committee, recommendations to help address, alleviate and eradicate experiences of homelessness and housing insecurity in BC Indigenous communities.

This process to collect evidence (data, stories, knowledges) was rooted in multiple Indigenous values and wise practices, engaged directly with Indigenous Community co-researchers, and trusted in the wisdom of Indigenous Peoples With Lived Experience (PWLE). The Indigenous lived experience co-research process centred Indigenous Peoples’ past (lived) and present-day (living) experiences of homelessness and housing insecurity in BC. Our guiding principle was to deliver this work "by, for, and with Indigenous communities." 

Our practices to Indigenize and embed equity in the process included:

• Hiring in-community, co-researchers with lived and living experience (and paying them more than a living wage);

• Listening early in the project to the needs of the community members and urban Indigenous members to ensure we are co-creating processes that protect and enhance the cultural values and traditions through respect, equality, and harmony for all;

• Acknowledging the power over decisions Indigenous Peoples have on the project process and outcomes;

• Respecting community needs by being flexible and willing to pivot to accommodate them;

• Honouring time and wisdom with reciprocity through an honorarium payment;

• Listening with humility and flexibility;

• Being responsive and supportive for co-researchers and participants;

• Designing engagement activities and materials “by, with and for” Indigenous communities; and

• Opening and closing discussion circles in a good way with culturally responsive blessings, songs and prayers.

You can read our 2022 engagement summary here.

Possible Name Change Process

In 2022, Lisa Moffatt co-led (with another local facilitator) a possible name change process for the City of Powell River based on a request from ɬəʔamɛn First Nation Hegus. The City is named after former Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Israel Powell (1872-1889) who was instrumental in bringing residential schools to BC, banning the potlatch, and stealing and selling commemorative cultural and ceremonial artifacts, leading to ongoing intergenerational trauma for the ɬəʔamɛn People. This project is the first of its kind in Canada.

The objectives for the project were to:

• Foster positive conversations between residents about the values we share in a way that builds unity and pride.

• Develop a shared understanding amongst residents of the harms and negative effects of colonialism, past and present.

• Deepen understanding, commitment and pride amongst residents about truth, justice, and reconciliation in action.

• Develop greater community consensus and understanding about the role of place naming in building a more welcoming and inclusive community.

• Communicate to residents why consideration of a name change is important for our shared commitment to reconciliation.

The project was emergent and involved directly responding to engagement outcomes with new avenues for people to learn about the time immemorial and settler history of the area, the ongoing impacts of settler colonialism, how places are named, and to share their thoughts, ideas and articulate shared values in a way that builds unity and pride.

A report from the co-leads on the project was endorsed by ɬəʔamɛn Nation and was referred to incoming council by Powell River City Council. 

You can learn more about the project and find the final reports here.

Equity Framework

Lisa led a team to work with the City of Victoria to develop an Equity Framework to help guide embedding equity in the municipalities work across departments and in relationship with the residents the municipality serves. The project included:

• A community profile where we selected 19 equity data indicators and mapped them across the city to see where inequities existed;

• Workshops with Senior Leadership Team to raise their awareness and build capacity to embed equity in work;

• Staff interactive training and information sessions about: equity, intersectionality, positionality, explanation for how to use and employ the outcomes of the community profile, overview of Targeted Universalism;

• An audit of the budgeting process and training for staff to embed and name equity in their budget packages to Council; and

• Based on “Community Conversations” with non-profit community-serving organizations, we made recommendations for improvements to the City’s Participatory Budgeting Process.

The Equity Framework is guided by the principles of decolonization, anti-racism, disability justice, gender diversity, and dignity; and articulates pillars to embed equity that include: capacity building; relationship building; evidence-based decision making; and dismantle system inequities. Included for staff was a toolkit to help with approach as well as worksheets with step-by-step resources and questions to consider for each stage of a project. The work encourages the City to build a community of practice to implement the work.

The Framework was endorsed by Council in June 2022.

Embedding Equity in Clean Air Plan

Metro Vancouver recently adopted the Clean Air Plan, its fourth regional air quality and greenhouse gas (GHG) management plan. The Plan outlines over 100 actions, including six guiding equity actions, for Metro Vancouver and its partners to reduce GHG emissions and health impacts from emissions of health-harming air contaminants within the Metro Vancouver region.

Resilience Planning Ltd. was hired to: 

• Conduct extensive case study and document research of social equity related materials in the clean air and climate action policy space including frameworks, metrics, tools, evaluation criteria, plans, and other resources, and apply learnings from that research to the six equity actions in the Clean Air Plan

• Review and provide input on Metro Vancouver’s draft Operationalizing Social Equity: A Guidebook for Metro Vancouver Staff

• Apply the draft Guidebook to the six Clean Air Plan equity actions to support implementation

• Make recommendations for implementing the Clean Air Plan’s equity actions

project experience

Housing

• BC-wide research framework for collecting the lived experiences of homelessness in Indigenous communities (2021 - 2022)

• Housing Needs Assessment for the City of Castlegar, including a Homelessness Population Estimate (2022 - current)

• Writing housing needs assessments for the Towns of High River and Black Diamond, AB (2021 - 2022)

• Working with staff to create a housing implementation plan for the City of Powell River (2022)

• Working with the City of Castlegar and collaborating with their Housing Advisory Committee on a Housing Strategy to meet the needs of all residents (2020 - 2021)

• Collaborating with an affordable housing task force to create an affordable housing strategy, 5-year action plan and implementation for affordable housing for the Town of Okotoks (2021)

Equity

• Creation of a local government resource guide for YWCA, to help embed equity in the community-facing work of local governments (2022 - 2023)

• Updating the Vital Signs report for the qathet regional district for the Powell River Community Foundation (2022 - 2023)

• Delivering an equity workshop for a staff of Vancouver Coastal Health and the Greater Victoria Housing Society (2022)

• Working with Britannia Childcare Services on an Equity Policy (2021-2022)

• Working with the City of Surrey’s Sustainability group on an Equity and Climate Action Toolkit (2020 - 2021)

• Working with the City of Vancouver to define social and cultural impacts and assets in the Broadway Plan area (2019 - 2021)

• Working with the City of Vancouver to embed equity in their Plaza Stewardship Strategy (2019)

• Collaborating with accessibility groups on an assessment for the Evergreen Rapid Transit Line* (2008)

• Completing a health and social services needs assessment for the Regional Municipality of Niagara* (2009)

Climate Action

• Working with the City of Surrey’s Sustainability group on an Equity and Climate Action Toolkit (2020 - 2021)

• Working with staff and board of Pathways Abilities Society to create a new 3-year strategic plan (2022)

• Managing delivery of Canada’s first Whole Systems Infrastructure Plan for UBC’s Okanagan Campus* (2015)

• Building stakeholder partnerships to prevent pollution in the Metro Vancouver liquid waste stream* (2018)

• Creating a new regional Water Shortage Response Plan for Metro Vancouver* (2015)

Strategic + Long-Term Planning

• Working with the Board of Pathways Abilities Society of Kelowna to update their strategic plan (2022)

• Engaging with the community, stakeholders and key staff, collaborating with Council and writing the Municipal Development plan for the Town of Okotoks (2018 - 2021)

• Working with the Board of the Kootenay Society for Community Living to update their strategic plan (2021)

Other Project Experience

• Creating a communication and engagement policy for the qathet Regional District (2021 - 2022)

• Using a coach-approach with Okotoks’ Council to step into their leadership role on a 60-year, municipal-wide plan (2019 - 2021)

• Leading the rezoning of the Coquitlam Shopping Centre and relationship building with the City of Coquitlam, key community interests, the public, and the Kwitwetlam First Nation on the largest rezoning project in Metro Vancouver (2018 - 2022)

• Designing public engagement materials and facilitating stakeholder conversations on the City of Vancouver’s Budget (2020 and 2022)

• Facilitating a newly formed relationship between the City of Surrey and the City of Vancouver to successfully win the $250,000 short-list prize for the Industry Canada’s Smart Cities Challenge* (2018)

• Informing Strategic Transportation Plans in cities across British Columbia including: Prince George, Coquitlam, Port Moody, Abbotsford* (various dates)

• Leading major head office facility programs for TransLink’s new head office and the City of Surrey’s new City Hall and redesign of the Edmonton Federal Building* (various dates)

• Creation of a facility program for a family crisis shelter and transition multi-unit building in Fort McMurray, AB* (2009-2010)

*Lisa Moffatt’s career work completed prior to founding Resilience Planning

Resilience Planning is a proud member of Women Transforming Cities and financial supporter of the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre and the David Suzuki Foundation.