SCALE-LeSAUT has released its 2026 federal pre-budget submission calling on the Government of Canada to recognize arts and culture as essential climate infrastructure – not peripheral programming.
The submission argues that Canada cannot build climate resilience through engineering, extraction policy, and emergency response systems alone. Climate disruption is also reshaping social cohesion, mental health, public trust, community participation, and people’s ability to navigate profound change.
Recommendations include a new national Climate, Culture and Community Resilience Fund, formal integration of arts and culture into federal climate policy and disaster preparedness planning, interdepartmental coordination across climate and public safety portfolios, and targeted support for communities already experiencing disproportionate climate disruption and economic transition.
At a moment when governments are investing heavily in physical and industrial infrastructure, SCALE is calling for investment in the civic and cultural infrastructure communities also need to adapt, recover, and respond.
