Vancouver's downtown skyline in July, 2025. Six hundred and nineteen B.C. seniors who lived alone and without air conditioning died as a result of a heat wave in June, 2021.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Six hundred and nineteen British Columbians, mostly low-income seniors who lived alone and without air conditioning, died as a result of an unprecedented heat wave in June, 2021. A blast of early summer arrived on the West Coast last weekend, breaking more than three dozen community heat records, a timely reminder that there is still much to be done to protect vulnerable populations.
Five years after Canada’s deadliest weather event, the progress on prevention is lamentable.
A panel of experts convened by the provincial coroner’s office completed a review of those 619 deaths in 2022. The panel deemed these preventable deaths, and made three recommendations. The first was to establish a coordinated heat alert system, which has been implemented. The other two tasks – identify and support populations most at risk of dying during extreme heat emergencies, and implement prevention and risk mitigation strategies – remain largely incomplete.
High indoor temperature was the primary cause of death during the June, 2021 heat wave. Most of the victims were in homes without adequate cooling systems – typically in low-rise, multi-unit residential buildings built around the province in the construction boom that followed the Second World War. Hot air was trapped indoors and continued to rise through a week of sustained high temperatures without cooling off at night.
In a province where building codes are focused on keeping warmth in, the danger of heat stroke – particularly for vulnerable populations – was not widely understood before 2021. Now we know.
B.C. already offered rebates for the installation of electric heat pumps, which can help lower energy costs and provide both heating and cooling. But the incentives didn’t reach a critical segment, the owners and landlords of these old low-rise apartments whose tenants often can’t afford to pay for costly upgrades.
In response to the coroner’s report, the province looked at issuing cooling devices to those most at risk of dying during an extreme heat event, but found that there was no program that allowed it. Two years ago, the province created a workaround, with a $10-million fund to provide air conditioners to people who are medically vulnerable and have low incomes. About 28,000 air conditioning units have since been installed by the Crown-owned utility, BC Hydro, under the program.
Many of those lucky recipients of an air conditioner quickly discovered that the cost of running that device leaves them with big electrical bills, or that the old buildings where they live were not wired to provide enough electricity to run them.
B.C. has already changed its building code to ensure new construction minimizes the risks of people overheating in their homes. For those living in thousands of older apartments, however, the challenge is more complex.
Landlords are typically unable to access financing. Even those able to afford the upfront costs of cooling systems are constrained in how quickly they can pass on such expenditures. And elderly tenants, especially, aren’t able to bear large increases in rent.
Some government intervention is needed, beginning with a requirement that all low-rise buildings, not just new ones, have modern cooling systems.
A mandate won’t be enough. Urban Climate Leadership, a non-profit organization, said this week that there are between 10,000 and 15,000 low-rise apartments in the province that still need cooling systems. It proposes that the provincial government provide loan guarantees and other financial backing to spur private-sector investment in heat pumps.
There are some elements of its plans that are quibble-worthy, but the essential premise is correct: the private sector has so far moved too slowly to head off future tragedies.
While the 2021 heat dome was unprecedented, the path of climate change tells us that it won’t be the last. Just weeks after the extreme weather event, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published a report that even with significant efforts to reduce global emissions, the climate will continue to warm, and that will result in more frequent heat events.
It is time for urgent action; every summer is another season of peril. Being elderly and poor should not be a death sentence.