Our Timeline
TRI was born from the passion of a small group of social and natural scientists who felt that there was a huge disconnect between climate science, communication, and action on climate change. That passion provided the impetus to create a registered charity that today is focused on climate change and sustainability through education and research.
Registered as a not-for-profit in Alberta, Canada under the name The Rockies Institute with a budget of $0. All efforts are volunteer based.
- Public launch at the Whyte Museum in Banff National Park with an impressive lineup of scientific presenters from across North America and introductions from the Consulate General of the United States.
- Became members of the Crown Managers Partnership (CMP) to collaborate on shared environmental issues in the Crown of the Continent – an ecosystem that spans many agency jurisdictions.
- Achieved Observer Status as a non-state actor with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and a focal point for the Nairobi Work Programme enabling pathways for Global-to-Local, Local-to-Global knowledge sharing.
- First major initiatives were launched with rural, mountain, and Indigenous communities, thanks to seed funding from government, industry, and community supporters.
- Convened a panel for the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP22) in Marrakech, Morocco on emerging good practices in bringing scientific and Indigenous knowledges together to advance climate action.
2014 – 2016
Became a registered charity in Canada. Grows to a few part-time roles. Annual budget is $58,000.*
- Became a member of the Food and Agriculture Association of the United Nation (FAO) Mountain Partnership.
- Formal submission to the UNFCC on the Purpose, Content, and Structure of the Forming Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform under the Paris Agreement.
- Invited by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to organize a half-day session with international scientists, together with Indigenous knowledge holders, government, and academics on climate adaptation as part of the IPCC Cities Conference.
- Partnered with South African National Parks (SANParks), the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa (ARC), and University of Western Cape to strengthen the climate capacity of the Nama Indigenous peoples in Kuboes near the Richtersveld World Heritage Site. This project inspired our “learning while doing” education model and strengthened our community-based research approach.
- Piloted a process for engaging different knowledge holders in co-creating the content for climate change education workshops.
- Invited by the Piikani Nation to collaborate on climate resilience building.
- The Band Council Resolution (BCR) paved the way for a long-term, trusted partnership of co-learning on climate-related goals.
2017
Our name is changed to The Resilience Institute to better reflect the scope of our work. Annual budget is $270,000*
- The Kainai Art of Climate Change and the Mountain Senior’s Fire & Ice program are selected for exhibition at the Cave and Basin National Historical Site in Banff National Park.. The exhibitions were visited by an estimated 100,000 people/year from around the world.
- TRI’s President is an invited speaker at the UNFCCC COP 24 Resilient Lab in Madrid to present to an international audience on The Future We Envision.
- Selected to partner on the cross-Canada Building Regional Adaptation Capacity and Expertise (BRACE) program funded by Natural Resources Canada with a $500,000 Federal investment and equal match by Alberta’s Indigenous Climate Change Observation Network (ICCON).
- MOU signed with the Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative (PARC) to explore synergies and further climate adaptation in the prairie provinces.
2018 – 2019
The Resilience Institute becomes national in scope and is registered under the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act. Annual budget is $300,000*
- Background research prepared for the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) on Weaving Indigenous & Scientific Knowledges for Climate Services in the Canadian Prairie Provinces.
- Became a partner on TRANSECTS: The TRANSdisciplinary Education Collaboration for Transformations in Sustainability initiative led by the University of Saskatchewan, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
- Actively engaged in climate and sustainability education initiatives with dozens of communities and partners across western Canada and in South Africa
2020 – 2021
MOU signed with the Canadian Red Cross for a national, multi-year program on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation programming. Annual budget is $680,000*
- Collaborative work on adaptation to climate impacts through healthy ecosystems and traditional plants with the Piikani Nation is selected as one of a few projects from across North America for over $100K of funding from the Commission for Environmental Cooperation’s (CEC) Environmental Justice and Climate Resilience program.
- Delivered the Fundamentals of Collaborative Research Micro-Credential in partnership with the University of Saskatchewan to an international cohort of students and practitioners.
- Became a regional partner on the Regenerative Alberta Living Lab, part of Canada’s Living Lab program funded by the Agricultural Climate Solutions Program of Agricultural and Agri-food Canada.
- MOU signed with the University of Calgary’s Biogeoscience Institute to explore synergies and further climate education and research initiatives.
2022
Today, the TRI core team includes over a dozen professionals and a global network of subject matter experts. Annual budget is $1.4 million*
Our steady approach and managed growth have established a strong foundation to advance efforts in a manner that is proportionate to the urgency of the global climate emergency.
Present
* Annual budget amounts are approximate based on actuals.