Municipal leaders want B.C. to do more to protect citizens from dangerous heat
2 years after deadly heat dome, residents still enduring dangerous heat in their homes
Municipal leaders say action is needed from the province of British Columbia to ensure its citizens aren't exposed to dangerously high temperatures in their homes.
Two years after a deadly heat dome claimed 619 lives in B.C., vulnerable residents are still enduring dangerous temperatures, with few options to escape the heat.
Over the summer, CBC placed temperature and humidity sensors in people's homes across the country, including across Metro Vancouver. Data from the sensors showed dangerous temperatures in people's homes sustained for long periods of time, including at night.
As summers get hotter due to climate change, local politicians have begun to take action to tackle extreme heat. They say stronger measures are needed from the provincial government to minimize the health impacts of dangerous heat.
One of the hardest hit municipalities in the June 2021 heat dome was the City of New Westminster in the Lower Mainland, where 28 people died — the highest death rate in the province.
"They were people who were living in apartments, for the most part," said Mayor Patrick Johnstone. "People who were living alone, who didn't have access to cooling and didn't have access to safe, cool spaces, to rest and to get out of the heat."
Since the 2021 heat dome, Johnstone says the City of New Westminster has made changes to improve residents' access to cooling centres and air conditioning.
In August, city council passed a motion instructing municipal staff to look into a bylaw that would require rental units in the city to provide tenants with at least one room in their unit that would remain below 26 C.
But Johnstone says that's not enough.
"We'd like to see the provincial government come in with new building codes that would make sure that buildings can be maintained below the safe temperature of 26 C," he said.
CBC tracked Metro Vancouver households over 26 C
Experts have found 26 C is the highest indoor temperature bodies can generally sustain and is the basis for public health recommendations in several places across Canada.
Nine households in Metro Vancouver, where CBC News placed heat and humidity sensors, spent entire days without the temperature dropping below 26 C.
One of the participants in the project moved to Vancouver Island before the end of the summer, in part to escape the heat in their second-floor apartment in downtown New Westminster.
"The heat there every summer was really unbearable," said Frey McCrae from their new home in Ucluelet.
The sensor in McCrae's living room registered a maximum temperature of 29 C early in the afternoon on Aug. 16. But the 23-year-old says it felt even hotter in the bedroom.
"I actually had to take some days off work because it was so bad because I was so exhausted from lack of sleep."
A milder climate and slightly more affordable housing market motivated McCrae's move to the island. They say getting an air conditioning unit was out of their budget, and the landlord for their building had warned tenants against putting up cardboard or tin foil to block the heat coming from the windows.
McCrae isn't the only renter to face hurdles coping with the heat.
"I, myself, just signed a lease that says that I'm not allowed to have an air conditioner in my unit," said New Westminster Coun. Nadine Nakagawa.
Nakagawa is one of two councillors who put forward the motion to look into requiring landlords to provide one "cool room" for each unit.
Landlords warning against AC units
CBC News has previously reported on landlords who have warned tenants against getting AC units despite summers getting dangerously hot.
In one Vancouver-area home where a sensor was placed, an 88-year-old man did not survive the summer. It was 29 C in his apartment the day before he died. Doctors told his loved ones they were convinced his condition was worsened by the heat.
Previously, the man had told CBC News he would like to have an AC unit, but he was too afraid to get one because some of his neighbours who have them received letters from their landlord telling them their tenancy agreement prohibits them and they had to be removed.
Some local politicians believe the province should change the Residential Tenancy Act to allow tenants to install their own air conditioners.
"We have a lot of people in the community who their tenancy agreement says are not allowed to have air conditioners," said Johstone. "We would like to see the Residential Tenancy Act changed."
B.C. updating building code
CBC News asked several provincial officials if B.C. should consider changing legislation in response to rising temperatures.
In a statement to CBC News, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said the province is updating its building code to include requirements to prevent overheating in new buildings, similar to the bylaw New Westminster is considering.
"The province is proposing that all new homes in B.C. provide one living space that is designed not to exceed 26 C," Kahlon stated. "Mandatory requirements for new buildings will help address the effects of extreme heat events on building occupants to improve public safety and better prevent fatalities."
Kahlon said that this could be achieved through different means. In some instances, passive cooling methods like architectural design, building materials, insulation, and solar reflectivity could suffice, while elsewhere in the province, a cooling appliance might be required.
Meanwhile, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says there's no one-size-fits-all approach for all buildings.
"Sometimes, it's not possible to retrofit buildings, or [it would] be very expensive and would mean the building would be out of commission, which means people wouldn't have a place to live," said Henry.
Henry supported new guidance issued in July by the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser health authorities encouraging landlords to remove rules against air conditioning and other ways of staying cool.
Cities taking action to tackle heat
But B.C. municipalities aren't waiting for the province to take action.
The City of Vancouver has already approved a plan in 2022 that would require certain new builds to keep temperatures indoors at no more than 26 C with the windows closed, though it doesn't go into effect until January 2025.
However, the City of Vancouver is the only municipality with its own building code.
"I think the province can really step up on establishing some standards and actually maybe some financial support to retrofit some of these buildings where it's necessary," said Vancouver Green Party Coun. Pete Fry.
"We know that heat pump technology, which the province has been very assertive in supporting, can support both heating and cooling."
On Vancouver Island, the town council in View Royal, a suburb of Victoria, B.C., is considering a bylaw that would require landlords to keep rental units under a certain temperature in summer — and over a certain temperature in winter.
Fry says the 2021 heat dome was a "wake up call" about the worsening impacts of climate change.
"It's happening a lot sooner and faster than I think any of us really hoped that it would," explained the long-time Green Party councillor.
"It's only gonna get worse, and we need to sort of anticipate that and get ahead of it before it's really impacting more people in critical health and heat-related incidents."
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With files from Tara Carman, Dexter McMillan and Jon Hernandez