In face of extreme weather, Canadians increasingly turn to crowdfunding for help

A couple in their 70s left homeless after their trailer home burned to the ground in last summer's Nova Scotia wildfires; an artist in Charlevoix, Que., whose studio was destroyed in floods after a powerful rainstorm; a general store in Tatamagouche, N.S., struggling to pay the bills after post-tropical storm Fiona.

Families and small businesses in Canada like these are increasingly turning to crowdfunding for financial help as they struggle to recover from the damage wrought by floods, wildfires and storms.

Sharon Campbell's sister raised money on her behalf after heavy rain led to flooding in her Edson, Alta., home last June. Her basement was submerged in almost two metres of water, requiring major repairs that still aren't finished nearly a year later.

"It was overwhelming," said Campbell, who works as a school bus driver. "Your home is your safe place, and when something like this happens, it does really shake you to the core."

Between 2019 and 2023, nearly 10,000 GoFundMe campaigns such as Campbell's were created to support Canadians in the aftermath of severe weather, raising more than $24 million, according to data provided by the crowdfunding platform.

The data, reviewed by CBC News, shows a 34 per cent year-over-year average increase in the number of such campaigns over a five-year period.

Extreme weather events such as storms, wildfires and floods are becoming more frequent and intense as the climate changes, scientists say.

Ved Khan, a senior manager with GoFundMe, described the platform as a way to get people in need "additional support right on the ground."

"It's more of a grassroots approach, and it's more of a people-person approach as well," Khan said.

GoFundMe, a California-based company with international reach, also recoups a three per cent transaction fee on every donation.

The rise in this type of crowdfunding highlights the gaps in how governments and individuals prepare for extreme weather-related events and how people are assisted in their recovery, said Anabela Bonada, a research associate at the University of Waterloo's Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, in Waterloo, Ont.

"I think we're playing catch-up in a way," Bonada said. "We've known for a long time that climate change is happening, but we weren't seeing the effects of climate change in the way that we have in the past five years."

Last year, severe weather in Canada led to $3.1 billion in insured damage, marking the fourth-worst year on record, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

The record-setting wildfire season, a spring ice storm in Quebec and Ontario, and flooding in Nova Scotia all contributed to that total.