Toronto needs to do more for vulnerable residents during air quality alerts: advocate

Air quality alerts have become more frequent in Ontario as the country deals with widespread forest fires. At one point on Wednesday, Toronto had the worst air quality of any city in the world.

Its expected to remain a concern throughout the summer and Toronto Public Health has warned spending time outdoors could pose various health risks if conditions are bad.

But outreach worker Lorraine Lam tells CityNews the city has failed to accommodate vulnerable and unhoused populations when issuing alerts.

“The reality is there are no options for people to go, and once again, we’re seeing the city is really inadequately prepared for this.”

Lam said the city should be providing 24/7 low-barrier respite spaces for people who are vulnerable.

“For a lot of people I work with, they also have underlying conditions around cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses as well that we know are exacerbated in these air quality conditions,” said Lam.

This will lead to more people ending up in hospital or chronically ill, according to Lam.

“We know the city has a pattern of displacing people and asking people to move on when there are no actual options so we are playing this game of displacement whack-a-mole with people’s lives which I think is really inhumane,” she explained.

The city tells CityNews there are 9,000 shelter spaces across Toronto. Staff have been reminded to follow directions related to extreme weather which includes temporarily suspending all service restrictions and relaxing admission eligibility requirements.

Councillor Alejandra Bravo who sits on the Board of Health said they need help from the provincial and federal government urgently to provide more shelter spaces in the city, acknowledging there aren’t enough right now or enough funding for more.

“This is something that’s a huge concern and I think it comes at a time when the shelter system has never been under more pressure, the housing crisis has never been more dire,” added Bravo. “The problem is the shelter system is $414 million short just this year.”

“We’ve put in calls to ask whether we can repurpose schools that aren’t being used or other public buildings because I think we need an all level government response to something that has hit the city like a storm,” she explained.

And it’s not only affecting those who are unhoused. Lam told CityNews that there are a lot of people who don’t live in spaces with air conditioning. When these air quality alerts are issued, some would have to choose between keeping their windows closed in the heat or being exposed to the air.

The city also tells CityNews that the City’s Heat Relief Network consists of more than 550 accessible cool spaces that are available for people to use throughout the summer, but many of those spaces are splash pads and outdoor pools.

“I don’t know what jumping into a pool is going to do in terms of air quality,” said Lam.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked Wednesday about helping address Toronto’s $1.5 billion budget shortfall, but he said the province needs to step up.

However, the Ford government has also been reluctant to provide extra funding to the city.