August 2025
At Queens Park Press Conference, For Our Kids Toronto Demands Action on Extreme Heat in Schools
At Queens Park Press Conference, For Our Kids Toronto Demands Action on Extreme Heat in Schools
As part of the Heat Collaborative, For Our Kids Toronto recently joined a press conference at Queens Park to demand immediate action on extreme heat in schools, residential buildings, and hospitals.
The Heat Collaborative is a network of organizations active in Ontario on the growing problem of extreme heat and its impacts on vulnerable communities and individuals. Speakers at the press conference pointed to the fact that Ontario has had an unprecedented seven multi-day heat warnings this summer, along with high humidity and wildfire smoke. Many seniors, children, tenants, workers and people with chronic illnesses are suffering.
"Cooling and clean air are not luxuries. They are basic conditions for safety and learning. We need a real plan now," For Our Kids Toronto team member Farheen Mahmood said at the press conference. "Climate change isn't coming. It's here. And every hot smoky day we delay, kids pay the price."
Heat Collaborative's Calls to Action
The Heat Collaborative demands that the provincial government:
- Implement a comprehensive, province-wide extreme heat awareness program to help Ontario residents be safe
- Track and publicly report heat-related deaths and hospital visits
- Measure heat in schools and childcare centres and implement cooling to provide a safe environment for children on hot days
- Pass maximum temperature regulations for rental properties and farmworker housing to keep temperatures below 26°C
- Provide incentives, financial supports and guidelines for retrofits of rental housing for energy-efficient cooling
- Pass protective heat stress regulations for the safety of workers who labour in hot conditions
- Require municipalities to assess heat islands and implement urban cooling strategies, and provide financial support for them to do so.
Media Coverage
- Ontario needs to track heat-related deaths, ensure AC in schools, say civil society groups | CBC
- ‘We are in a heat crisis’: Province should track deaths, ensure school AC, group says| Toronto Star
Jordan Olmstead's Canadian Press story was also syndicated in outlets such as CTV, CP24, Toronto Sun, Hamilton Spectator, and others. Judging from the media coverage, extreme heat is clearly an issue of widespread concern.
