How Toronto and Montreal (Canada) Respond to Heat

Summary

It is only during the last five years that Canadian cities have begun to develop formal programs to protect the public’s health from the effects of summertime heat. Toronto’s (Ontario) Hot Weather Response Plan followed recommendations from advisory committees for seniors and for the homeless. The public health department was confronted with a rain-storm on the first day, in 1999, that it issued a heat alert. Toronto has since instituted a two-level alert and emergency response with action levels based on the estimation of mortality impacts through a synoptic model developed at the University of Delaware. Key to the program is media alerts and community partnerships to aid vulnerable people. Montreal’s (Quebec) approach has been to issue public advisories based on real and apparent temperature thresholds elaborated in collaboration with the Canadian Meteorological Service. Montreal has instituted a program of research and action designed to inform the population and to identify and mitigate population vulnerabilities in order to make residents more resistant to the effects on health of heat. Priority areas for health protection include hospitals and nursing homes, few of which are now air-conditioned; rather than retrofit air conditioning, relative air-cooling and air dehumidification have been proposed where feasible. In the community, local health centers target their vulnerable elderly clients requiring follow-up during heat waves based on the identification of factors such as dehydrating medications, social isolation, and lack of access to a nearby cooling room. A heat wave emergency response plan, based on the mobilization and updating of existing programs, is coordinated by civil defense authorities, advised by the city’s public health department.