Toronto opening fifth warming centre Tuesday due to extreme cold

The City of Toronto is opening up a fifth warming centre at 5 p.m. Tuesday due to the extremely cold temperatures expected overnight.

Cecil Community Centre at 58 Cecil St. will be opening its doors alongside the warming centres already open at 136 Spadina Road, 75 Elizabeth Street, the North York Warming Centre at 12 Holmes Avenue and 885 Scarborough Golf Club Road.

Warming centres are activated when temperatures reach -5 C and the one surge site, with a 30-person capacity, can be opened when the temperatures fall to -15 C or during extreme weather events such as freezing rain, snow squall, winter storm, snowfall, or blizzard warnings.

Toronto’s forecast for Tuesday night has an expected low of -15 and expected wind chill of -23.

Warming centres are walk-in and those who wish to use them do not need to contact Central Intake to access them. If there isn’t room when someone arrives, the City will help with transportation to a warming centre that has space.

Because of the extremely cold temperatures, Toronto has also dispatched additional Streets to Homes and partner outreach teams to connect with people living outside and will hand out blankets, sleeping bags and warm clothing.

City of Toronto Chief Communications Officer Lindsay Broadhead said they acknowledge an extra 30 spaces is not enough but they are working to try and free up space.

“We have a system that is incredibly tight and that’s why you have heard it for months now … not only have we been flagging that we are full we are flagging it’s going to be tight and put too much pressure on the people who need the services,” said Broadhead. “That’s why Mayor Chow and the City have been calling on the federal government so they can pay for the refugee claimants who make up half of the shelter system.”

Rafi Aaron with the Interfaith Coalition to Fight Homelessness said in this kind of cold, it’s no longer just dangerous, it is deadly.

It’s not if people will die, if they will have frostbite, if digits and limbs will be amputated. It’s just how many. That’s what we’re looking at,” said Aaron.

Aaron does outreach, bringing hot meals to those living on the streets or in encampments and said right now, it’s a complete emergency and it’s not being treated that way.

“Last night, one of the outreach volunteers said to me that they’re haunted by what they’re seeing.” Aaron said the city must being doing more to help those who are unhoused and it can no longer be affected by the cost.

This is about saving lives at this point. So there can’t be a cost consideration. Every politician has told you, I’m certain, that they got into politics to help people and to improve their lives. What about saving lives? There really has to be a dramatic action taken for the type of emergency.”

Aaron would like to the see the Office for Emergency Management being used and hundreds of beds opened up.