Calgary will receive federal funding for its tree canopy, and one city councillor hopes that means more green for equity-deserving communities.

The City of Calgary announced Thursday that the Government of Canada, through its 2 billion trees program, will provide $61 million in funding for the expansion of Calgary’s tree canopy. That means roughly 930,000 more trees for the City.

Right now, based on 2022 measurements, the City of Calgary has tree canopy covering roughly 8.25 per cent of the city. The goal is to reach 16 per cent coverage by 2060. Over the past two years, more than 200,000 new trees and seedlings have been planted on public land, and 7,500 trees have been put on private property, according to the city.

“This partnership with the federal government marks a significant step forward to enhancing Calgary’s tree canopy,” said Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek, in a prepared news release.

“By planting 930,000 new trees, we will provide more shade to cool our streets, increase our biodiversity, more effectively manage stormwater and enhance our collective social and mental wellbeing.”

The federal cash will be used to build up the City of Calgary’s tree canopy to meet the climate goals set out by Calgary city council, the city said.

“Healthy trees and a thriving urban canopy are invaluable to Calgarians. Not only do they offer climate and environmental benefits, but they also improve our mental wellness and create opportunities for community connection in our parks and outdoors,” said Kyle Ripley, Director of Parks & Open Spaces for the City of Calgary.  

“We are incredibly excited to have this opportunity to partner with the Government of Canada through the 2BT program as we continue to work toward achieving our urban canopy growth goals.”

Calgary tree canopy isn’t distributed equally

Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal said he hopes that more effort is made to place trees in the northeast, where there is a significant tree canopy deficiency. Dhaliwal said that the city’s own equity index mapping shows the stark difference between the northeast and the rest of the city.

While the city average is 8.25 per cent coverage, Dhaliwal said most areas in his ward are closer to 1.86 per cent canopy coverage. The City of Calgary has said that the eastern parts of the City present soil and topographical challenges that the western part of Calgary doesn’t have. Dhaliwal acknowledged that but said that it’s 2024 and there are likely trees they can find survive in different areas.

“It’s clear if you look at my ward, especially the east side of Deerfoot, we are not even meeting the benchmark,” Dhaliwal said.

“So, I’m hoping that this time around, we give equity to equity-deserving areas, especially Ward 5.”

A 2022 Nature Canada report (included at the end of the story) took the tree canopy in several cities and matched it up against both race and household income. The Calgary portion of the report shows clearly that there are more trees where there are higher incomes and fewer people of colour.

“Some people call it environmental injustice, racism. I don’t know. I’m not gonna, but I think more could be done,” Dhaliwal said.

The Calgary Climate Hub also has an interactive tree equity map that shows the dispersion of tree canopy around the City of Calgary. It, too, shows a distinct difference between the west and the east parts of the city. They took into consideration several factors to come up with a community’s tree equity score.

Last May, LWC talked with the Calgary Climate Hub’s Saadiq Mohiuddin about the work they were doing to track Calgary’s tree canopy for their equity map.

“We wanted to kind of take that a step further and kind of really look at the demographic aspects as well,” he said.

“The tool goes into details about which areas of higher visible minority populations or more seniors and children.”

Mohiuddin said they wanted people to be more aware of the distribution of trees around the city, and the demographics that were attached to that disparity.

“It really is for people to just understand their neighbourhood, what the canopy is looking like and how it’s changing over time,” he said.

Coun. Dhaliwal said he’d be pushing to close the gap around tree inequity in Calgary, likely with a Notice of Motion coming in December.

“We’re going to look at other municipalities to see how they are doing it, and I’m going to fight for it,” he said.

“Now it’s an opportunity to fix the problem.”