Catherine Hallmich taps her ID card authorizing access to a secured federal office tower in downtown Montreal. She is on her way to the department of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada. This is where long-term climate resilience strategies are quietly shaped, far from the public eye, but central to the country’s future. It is here that Hallmich and her colleagues are helping steer Canada’s infrastructure toward a more sustainable and climate resilient future.
As a policy analyst Hallmich works within the Environment and Infrastructure Policy Directorate. Her team’s mission is to ensure federal housing and infrastructure investments are climate smart. That means advising governments on how to build infrastructure that can withstand the impacts of climate change, whether it’s flooding in Montreal or hailstorms in Calgary.
“We want to make sure that infrastructure services are not only strengthened for today, but that they’re adapted for the climate 100 years from now,” Hallmich said. “Adaptation is one big side, and mitigation is the other.”
Her work involves collaborating with scientists, academics and non-governmental organizations (NGO), to incorporate the latest climate adaptation data into federal policy. Hallmich’s team oversees research into climate-resilient infrastructure and the development of new national standards and supports embedding climate considerations into national codes.
Some of this work has become a Canada and global first. An upcoming release of Canada’s 2025 National Building Code, which will include future climate design values is proving to be innovative.
“Up until now, buildings were designed using historical data from the 1970s and ’80s,” Hallmich said. “Now, we’re using projections based on the RCP 8.5 scenario, which anticipates a 2.5°C rise in global temperatures over the next fifty years.”
Canada is the first country in the world to embed future climate values into its national building code, a milestone Hallmich says, that took over a decade of research and collaboration.
Her journey to federal policy began with a passion for water sanitation and international development. After graduating from the BSE in 2005 and completing a master’s in environmental engineering, also at McGill, she interned with the United Nations Environment Programme in Washington, D.C., then worked in soil remediation before joining the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), the environmental arm of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.
At the CEC, Hallmich coordinated large-scale sustainability projects across North America, bringing together governments and stakeholders to tackle environmental challenges. Later, at the David Suzuki Foundation, she led scientific projects focused on natural infrastructure, using trees and green spaces to enhance urban resilience.
“Natural infrastructure can reduce overheating in cities, absorb stormwater and provide co-benefits like equity and access to green space,” she said.
Her diverse experience across NGOs, academia and government has given her a unique perspective on environmental policy. She credits her time at McGill’s Bieler School of Environment for laying a strong foundation.
“It was like being exposed to an entirely new worldview,” Hallmich said. “The curriculum was very complete and gave me a lot of exposure to all kinds of domains.”
That interdisciplinary approach continues to guide her work. Hallmich sees herself as a bridge between science and policy, helping translate complex data into actionable government decisions. She also emphasized the importance of networks, maintaining relationships across sectors to ensure complementary efforts.
“We’re allies,” she said. “We take ideas developed by academia and NGOs and bring them into government.”
Despite the progress, Hallmich acknowledges the challenges. Climate adaptation can be costly at the onset but the long term benefits outweighs the costs by up to 15 to 1. At the project level, however evidence to support the business case of specific resilience measures is still emerging. “We’re often challenged to find more data,” she said. “But we’re funding research and building that evidence base.”
While the government is known to move slowly, Hallmich asserts it is deliberate as such large-scale decisions demand accuracy. “It’s like steering a massive ship. One degree of change can have huge impacts.”
For students who worry about the state of our world and governmental actions, Hallmich offers reassurance and advice. “You’re not alone in your concern,” she said. “Focus on being competent in your field and carry forward the vision of sustainability. There’s a role for everyone.”
According to Hallmich climate resilience isn’t just a technical challenge, it’s a collective effort that transcends borders, governments and companies. “It affects all of us.”