HEALTH

HEALTH Human Rights Watch blasts government over heat wave

by Charlie Smith

B.C. Emergency Health Services tweeted this photo on the final day of a devastating heat dome that killed hundreds of B.C. residents and created huge hardship for seniors and people with disabilities.

An international human-rights group has condemned the B.C. government’s failure to protect older British Columbians and Edward Macarthur, who lives alone in a camper van with two dogs. He is described as “a spinal cord and traumatic brain injury survivor, and he uses a cane to walk”. people with disabilities during a summer heat wave.

According to Human Rights Watch, the B.C. government did not have a heat-action plan during a blistering “heat dome” from June 25 to July 1. In a report on its website, Human Rights Watch also stated that there was a “lack of access to cooling and targeted support for at-risk populations”. e B.C. Coroners Service concluded that 569 people died of heat-related causes from June 20 to July 29, including 445 fatalities during the heat dome. Human Rights Watch described the late June heat wave as an “extreme and foreseeable” event.

“People with disabilities and older people are at high risk of heat stress, but they were le to cope with dangerous heat on their own,” Human Rights Watch senior disability rights researcher Emina Ćerimović said on the group’s website. “ e Canadian authorities need to listen to and provide much better support for people with disabilities and older people before disaster strikes again.”

Human Rights Watch conducted remote interviews with 31 people in B.C. in advance of publishing the report. is included 13 people with disabilities, seven older people, and two family members of older people.

Five of the seven older people and 12 of those with disabilities stated that the heat dome had a signi cant impact on their physical and mental health.

Fourteen said that they are experiencing “trauma, anxiety, or depression because of their experience and the uncertainty of how they will survive future heatwaves”, the report stated.

Human Rights Watch interviewed a 54-year-old Golden, B.C., resident named In addition, he has post-concussion syndrome and Tourette syndrome. “Unable to nd help or shelter in Golden, Edward decided to evacuate,” wrote Human Rights Watch senior web producer Paul Au ero. “He drove through forest res for 12 hours to reach the coast, thinking the sea breeze might help him and his dogs keep cool. “But authorities use bylaws to stop people from camping in certain areas, like the beach, which prevents unhoused people like Edward from nding safety in coastal towns during a heatwave,” Au ero continued. “Police threatened to ticket and tow his van, throwing him and his dogs on the street. He pleaded and explained his condition, but they still insisted he leave.” As a result, Macarthur returned to Golden, where he was helped by friends. e previous Canadian temperature record—set during the Depression on the Prairies—was shattered in several B.C. communities during the 2021 heat dome. A new record high was set in Lytton at 49.6°C shortly before the Fraser Canyon community burned to the ground in a wild re. Climate scientists who contribute research to the World Weather Attribution website concluded that the heat dome over B.C. “was virtually impossible without human-caused climate change”. “ e observed temperatures were so extreme that they lie far outside the range of historically observed temperatures,” they concluded. “ is makes it hard to quantify with con dence how rare the event was. In the most realistic statistical analysis the event is estimated to be about a 1 in 1000 year event in today’s climate.” g

October 7-14 / 2021

5 COVER

B.C. has come a long way since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there’s still much that could lie ahead.

By Craig Takeuchi Cover photo by Don Craig/Province of B.C.

10 FOOD

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and if you don’t have the energy to cook up a feast, local restaurants will serve up a solution. By Martin Dunphy

12 ARTS

Cheryl Sim, cocurator of the Yoko Ono exhibition GROWING FREEDOM, says that Ono and John Lennon were “unstoppable” in the sixties. By Steve Newton

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