June 3, 2024
WHAT:
Toronto Heat Safety, a coalition of tenant advocacy and environmental organizations, have come together to demand that the City of Toronto protect residents from extreme heat by, among other actions, implementing a maximum temperature bylaw that will ensure that all residential rental units in the city have a temperature of no greater than 26ºC.
Climate and weather modeling in Toronto has shown that extreme heat days, where temperatures reach 30ºC or greater, are expected to more than triple by 2040-2050 to 66 days a year.
Toronto Heat Safety will be holding a press conference to present its full list of demands to protect Toronto tenants from extreme heat events.
WHO:
Tenants from East York and St. James Town will speak about their experiences with extreme heat, and Dr. Edward Xie, an emergency room physician, will speak about the link between extreme heat and health impacts.
Christena Abbott, Senior, tenant, and member of East York ACORN
Alejandra Ruiz Vargas, Tenant and Chair of East York ACORN
Anushen Selvasegar, Tenant and Resident of St. James Town
Jacqueline Wilson, Counsel, Canadian Environmental Law Association
Dr. Edward Xie, Emergency room physician at University Health Network and Associate Professor at University of Toronto
Organizational Endorsers: ACORN, Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE), Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO), ARCH Disability Law Centre (ARCH), Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), Climate Justice Toronto, CREW (Community Resilience to Extreme Weather), Low-Income Energy Network, Seniors for Climate Action Now! – Toronto (SCAN!), and Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA)
WHEN: Tuesday, June 4, 2024, 10:00am
WHERE: Toronto City Hall – in front of main entrance
For more information, or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Jessica Gordon, Communications Manager, Toronto Environmental Alliance
(647) 986-6894
Jacqueline Wilson, Counsel, Canadian Environmental Law Association
(416) 960-2284, ex 7213
jacqueline@cela.ca
