AVALANCHE Canada is receiving a $10-million contribution from the B.C. government to support its vital work in developing and delivering avalanche safety and awareness for the province’s mountainous regions.

“Avalanche Canada has been advocating for funding certainty for a number of years, and this grant responds to that need,” said Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, on Monday. “The work Avalanche Canada does is vital to our public safety, particularly as interest in winter recreation grows and as the frequency of extreme weather increases due to climate change. I’m pleased we are able to work with this organization to support its important work.”

About 75% of all Canadian avalanche fatalities occur in B.C., and about 90% of Avalanche Canada’s services are delivered in this province. This grant will allow Avalanche Canada to expand its regional forecasts to underserved regions in B.C., increase its delivery of avalanche safety training for youth and provide more programs for winter recreationists of all types.

This investment will also allow Avalanche Canada to leverage the federal funding provided in 2019 to implement the National Avalanche Strategy.

“We are very grateful to the Government of B.C. for this funding,” said Gilles Valade, Executive Director, Avalanche Canada. “This ensures long-term sustainability for all our programs and allows us to expand our services to underserved regions of the province.”

Avalanche Canada is a non-government, not-for-profit organization dedicated to public avalanche safety. It issues free daily avalanche forecasts throughout the winter for much of the mountainous regions of western Canada, co-ordinates and delivers avalanche awareness and education programs, provides curriculum and support to instructors of the Avalanche Canada Training programs, acts as a central point of contact for avalanche information and works closely with many different avalanche research projects, at home and abroad.

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For more information on Avalanche Canada and avalanche safety, visit: https://www.avalanche.ca