Tillicum Green Infrastructure & Climate Resiliency Project

Background Information – Climate Change and Green Infrastructure

As many of us have experienced, our summers are getting hotter and we are experiencing more extreme weather events, such as heat domes, wildfires, major storms and extreme rainfall or atmospheric rivers. Our latest regional climate projections show that these events will be more frequent and extreme in future.

Green infrastructure such as trees, rain gardens and natural areas, offer many benefits (or ecosystem services), that help us to be resilient to these climate changes. These benefits include shade, stormwater management, air purification, carbon sequestration, water quality and more.

The Tillicum-Burnside area has been identified in our Urban Forest Strategy as a neighbourhood with one of the lowest tree canopy covers in Saanich and highly vulnerable to extreme heat, as shown in the Capital Regional District’s Extreme Heat Information Portal. The site also lies near important natural ecosystems such as Portage Inlet and Cuthbert Holmes Park and is located in a Primary Growth Area of Saanich expected to see community growth in the coming years.

Project Goals

The project supported multiple goals and targets within the Saanich Climate Plan, Official Community Plan, Active Transportation Plan, Urban Forest Strategy, and Biodiversity Conservation Strategy, including:

• Expand the urban forest and increase urban forest canopy cover.
• Increase native and site adaptive planting and connection of natural areas.
• Reduce impervious areas.
• Support the implementation of Indigenous knowledge of natural systems and sustainable practices.
• Capture and treat stormwater run-off from hardscape.
• Increase ecosystems services and support climate adaptation.
• Incorporate metrics to measure & evaluate project outcomes.

Project Design

The Project included work at the following locations:

The residential roads of Albina Street, Maddock Avenue and Orillia Street around Tillicum Elementary School.

• The plantings and rain gardens have been installed on the boulevard and integrated with road and sidewalk improvements.
• Construction was completed in late 2025.
• More information can be found on the Albina-Maddock-Orillia Road Improvements project webpage here.

Tillicum Elementary School, in partnership with the Greater Victoria School District.

• The landscape design for the school site was developed in partnership with School District staff, including the Facilities Department, the Indigenous Education Department, staff at Tillicum Elementary School, and the Elder’s Advisory Council.
• Indigenous led in-classroom learning about native planting and climate change was undertaken throughout 2025 and is ongoing with the new outdoor classroom.
• Click here for a PDF of the School landscape design.

Funding

This project was generously supported by a $396,865 grant from the Disaster Risk Reduction-Climate Adaptation (DRR-CA) funding stream of the Provincial Community Emergency Preparedness Fund (CEPF). This is administered by the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM).

More Information

Please contact sustainability@saanich.ca with any questions or for more information. You can also visit the Greater Victoria School District webpage for more information here.