La Cité Franco et la résilience climatique was a bilingual project which responds directly to the City of Edmonton’s direction on climate resiliency, reaching beyond risk assessment to imagine the possibilities and opportunities for our communities in challenging times.

The Energy Transition Strategy and the Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan outline Edmonton’s future as an energy literate population with locally-produced electricity, solar power, and energy efficient buildings. Building on the community spirit and diversity of the Francophone community in Edmonton, La Cité francophone résiliente empowered Francophone participants and Anglophone Bonnie Doon neighbourhood residents of different ages, ethnic and cultural backgrounds to make localized energy infrastructure modifications to the world-renowned La Cité building — home to 38 separate community organizations and the organizing institution behind the popular Flying Canoe/Canoë Volant winter festival.

As participants learned the necessary steps to transform the building for climate resilience, they learned what it meant to make infrastructure adaptations to meet a changing world and to address the shifting needs of their vibrant community. The project was undertaken with the understanding that energy transition should be informed by Equity, Diversity and Inclusion measures informed by the work of Just Powers. Just Powers is led by Dr. Sheena Wilson, one of the leaders of La Cité Franco et la résilience climatique — it is a research project on the social aspects of energy, which stresses the importance of women’s voices and the voices of people of colour, relations to land and decolonization, particularly as they intersect with the material infrastructural reality of energy transition projects.

The project was documented using film and audio recording so that it could be shared with other communities, and participants will be encouraged to take an active role in the documentation process to further encourage skill development and skill sharing.