by Berra Yilmaz, Law Student, CELA
Wildfires are a regular and escalating part of summers in Canada. We are told to escape wildfire smoke by staying inside, but for many, the indoors can have its own dangers.
When forests and grasslands burn, the smoke can travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometres away from the fire. Even when you cannot see the smoke, it carries harmful gases and particles.
The usual public health advice during wildfire smoke events is to stay inside, keep windows closed, and use good air filters. These are essential. However, this advice assumes that everyone has a safe indoor space to go to. Many, especially low-income tenants, do not.
For low-income tenants, staying indoors with the windows closed may not be viable. Many live in rental units without air conditioning, heat pumps, or adequate ventilation. Unlike homeowners, tenants often cannot make major upgrades themselves, and many cannot afford portable cooling. If their home does not have adequate cooling, closing the windows during extreme heat will make an already hot unit unbearably, and even lethally, hot.
People may be forced into an impossible choice: dangerous outdoor air or dangerous indoor heat.
This climate housing crisis extends beyond urban areas. For example, migrant agricultural workers are exposed to similar, if not greater, risks. During wildfire events, they endure extreme heat and poor air quality exacerbated by heavy smoke throughout long work hours outdoors, only to return to overheated and poorly ventilated employer-provided housing. For these workers, the same danger and intensity exists around the clock.
During the summer months, we face a climate emergency both inside and outside our homes, and governments have the authority to mitigate this health crisis. When people are told to close windows during wildfire smoke events, indoor spaces must be safe and breathable. This systemic issue requires municipal by-laws across the province which set a maximum indoor temperature standard of 26°C and protections for on-farm migrant worker housing.
CELA has been advocating for a maximum indoor temperature standard for years, whether it be through policy recommendation reports, campaign briefs, or public awareness advocacy. The upcoming wildfire season marks another point of urgency at CELA’s years of advocacy.
Low-income renters, seniors, children, people with disabilities, migrant workers, and others living in inadequate housing should not have to choose between breathing the toxic smoke outside or enduring deadly heat inside.
We need stronger housing standards to make homes livable in a world increasingly shaped by concurrent climate extremes.
Blog: No Safe Haven – Wildfire Smoke and Extreme Heat are Trapping Tenants
by Berra Yilmaz, Law Student, CELA
Wildfires are a regular and escalating part of summers in Canada. We are told to escape wildfire smoke by staying inside, but for many, the indoors can have its own dangers.
When forests and grasslands burn, the smoke can travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometres away from the fire. Even when you cannot see the smoke, it carries harmful gases and particles.
The usual public health advice during wildfire smoke events is to stay inside, keep windows closed, and use good air filters. These are essential. However, this advice assumes that everyone has a safe indoor space to go to. Many, especially low-income tenants, do not.
For low-income tenants, staying indoors with the windows closed may not be viable. Many live in rental units without air conditioning, heat pumps, or adequate ventilation. Unlike homeowners, tenants often cannot make major upgrades themselves, and many cannot afford portable cooling. If their home does not have adequate cooling, closing the windows during extreme heat will make an already hot unit unbearably, and even lethally, hot.
People may be forced into an impossible choice: dangerous outdoor air or dangerous indoor heat.
This climate housing crisis extends beyond urban areas. For example, migrant agricultural workers are exposed to similar, if not greater, risks. During wildfire events, they endure extreme heat and poor air quality exacerbated by heavy smoke throughout long work hours outdoors, only to return to overheated and poorly ventilated employer-provided housing. For these workers, the same danger and intensity exists around the clock.
During the summer months, we face a climate emergency both inside and outside our homes, and governments have the authority to mitigate this health crisis. When people are told to close windows during wildfire smoke events, indoor spaces must be safe and breathable. This systemic issue requires municipal by-laws across the province which set a maximum indoor temperature standard of 26°C and protections for on-farm migrant worker housing.
CELA has been advocating for a maximum indoor temperature standard for years, whether it be through policy recommendation reports, campaign briefs, or public awareness advocacy. The upcoming wildfire season marks another point of urgency at CELA’s years of advocacy.
Low-income renters, seniors, children, people with disabilities, migrant workers, and others living in inadequate housing should not have to choose between breathing the toxic smoke outside or enduring deadly heat inside.
We need stronger housing standards to make homes livable in a world increasingly shaped by concurrent climate extremes.
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