Beating the Record Heat

"Toronto Public Health is warning people to stay cool, so we need cool places for the homeless to go, not just shopping malls, libraries and community centres, which are not open 24-7."
"Heat is hard on peoples' health, especially if they have heart disease, diabetes, or other chronic health conditions, or if they're on psychiatric medication."
Cathy Crowe, street nurse, visiting professor, Ryerson University

"In extreme heat, cooling centres offer respite to many experiencing homelessness or inadequate housing -- and can be a lifesaver."
"More than one 24-hour cooling centre in the city would assist more people suffering in these conditions."
"The city and the province must commit to build housing that is truly affordable so low-income people are not forced to live in unsafe and precarious conditions."
Bahar Shadpour, spokesperson, Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario

"[Toronto Mayor John Tory] has led council in expanding Toronto';s shelter and respite system so that anyone who needs shelter in our city can find it."
"Despite this unprecedented demand for homeless services [with the recent influx of undocumented illegal arrivals], the city has been providing shelter to those who need it, including refugee claimants and asylum seekers who occupy more than 40 percent of the shelter system."
"Mayor Tory has been very clear about the need for the federal and provincial governments to help with the shelter demands of refugee claimants."
Don Peat, spokesperson for Toronto Mayor John Tory

Toronto’s Metro Hall provides an air-conditioned refuge for those looking to escape the heat. ((Timothy Neesam/CBC))

GreaterToronto, Canada's most densely populated and largest city accommodates the presence of 5.5 million people. Over the past forty years the city has grown by leaps and bounds. Not necessarily resulting from a high birth rate, but from the intake of a large immigrant population entering the country of which Toronto absorbs an estimated 150,000 annually. And added to that number is the additional tens of thousands who arrive as refugees, topped by illegal migrant seekers filtering across the border into Canada from the United States.

Canada is comprised of a vast land mass. As such it is the second largest country on the planet, after Russia. It occupies the northern half of North America, above the United States and Mexico to its south, bordered by the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans. With a general population having reached 36 million (fewer people than occupy the U.S. State of California) there is room for an increased population base in a country that has been built on immigration, where people have come to live from all corners of the world.

Its social resources, however, are not infinite. The capacity to shelter, feed, provide medical care and schooling for so many entrants remains a challenge. The economy must grow to accommodate such needs. And the burden of providing all these social resources falls on those already established in the country. And it is a burden that becomes overtaxed when unplanned-for entrants in their tens of thousands flood the country's borders to declare themselves refugees when their true status is often that of economic migrants who choose to enter illegally.

Both Toronto and Montreal are struggling to accommodate the needs of unexpected arrivals as Canada celebrates its 151st birthday as a nation. As it happens a heat wave of record-breaking proportions has been baking Ontario and Quebec for several days with temperatures in the low- to mid-30s and humidity making the heat resemble what would be felt with ten additional degrees of heat. Outreach workers in the city tasked to work with the most vulnerable populations, the homeless, speak of people struggling to adapt to the heat.

Toronto is expected to experience five straight days of heat and humidity, Environment Canada predicts. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)

Daytime highs of 35C, plus high humidity is making life miserable during "the most significant heat event in the past few years", as Environment Canada describes the situation. The city maintains cooling centres to assist people suffering in over-heated conditions; seven such centres, and one open 24 hours a day, along with 180 air-conditioned locations inclusive of libraries and community centres, added to respite centres offering meals, overnight cots and other social programs.

Outreach workers are on the job checking on clients and offering transportation, providing cooling, potable water seven days a week, twenty-four hours daily for the length of the heat wave. According to the mayor's spokesman, 6,534 people are taking advantage of homeless shelters, with an additional 541 being accommodated for greater needs, in respite sites.

Shutterstock