Hundreds died because they couldn't escape B.C.'s extreme heat. Alerts wouldn't have saved them, advocates say
CBC
Jeanne Hansen's sister Tracey McKinlay died as a result of extreme heat on June 28, 2021.
"It's hard not to feel guilty," Hansen said.
"We should have done a little bit more, you know, phoning Tracey wasn't enough."
She wishes she'd gone to her sister's apartment in New Westminster, B.C., to check on her.
Hansen says according to the coroner, McKinlay's kidneys were weakened by medication she took for mental illness. And as temperatures soared, she died alone in her apartment.
According to a new report from the B.C. Coroner's Service, 619 people died from extreme heat last summer — one of whom was McKinlay, who was 61.
The report released Tuesday calls on the provincial government to offer more support for vulnerable British Columbians the next time extreme heat blankets the province.
This month B.C. is introducing a heat alert and response system to help residents when temperatures climb. Alerts will be issued through the national Alert Ready system, which is already being used for Amber Alerts, tsunami and wildfire warnings.
The province has also created the Prepared B.C. Extreme Heat Guide, which offers advice on how to get ready for extreme heat and how to identify safety risks when it comes to hot weather.
But some say those efforts aren't enough.
Hansen says an alert wouldn't have helped her sister, who suffered from mental illness; she didn't have a phone and didn't pay attention to the news.
"A lot of these folks don't have the wherewithal to go on the Internet or call anyone," she said. "They don't want to leave their buildings."
Gabrielle Peters, a disabled writer and policy analyst said there is not enough urgency behind the report or the provincial response, arguing the issue was not a lack of knowledge about the risk of heat, but the inability of poor, disabled and elderly people to escape it.
"People did not die because they didn't have enough communications materials. People died because they were unable to escape the heat."
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