Image: Flickr/Gustavo Oliveira

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To say this summer has made people hot under the collar is an understatement.

Toronto has been getting quite a blast. And it’s been difficult to cope.

Our four-legged friends included. I mention this because we just adopted a little kitten from a rescue, named Snowball (or Snow, Queen of the North!). Of course when she finally dared to venture out beyond the pet carrier, she darted around like a shot, and unfortunately ran right into a bookshelf (she was unfazed) before making her way into the bedroom where she made Under the Bed her new Headquarters.

At first I was bummed we would not be best buds just yet, but as the day turned into night turned into day we became very concerned.

While we knew she was eating, drinking and using the litter box at night, we were concerned that she might overheat under there during the day.

After a whole frustrating hour spent trying to find a fan we could reposition so it blew under the bed, and countless different brands of cat treats hoping we could lure her out of her HQ, we finally bit the bullet, and David and I moved the bed and I went to swoop her up and out of the bedroom completely.

The difficulty of herding cats aside, when I grabbed her by the scruff she quickly jumped up, bit my boob (from one girl to another, not cool!), dug her claws into my partner’s neck, but we managed to get her into the living room where Under the Couch became the new Headquarters, but at least we could fit a dish of water under there.

Our relationship has improved tremendously since then, I can finally wear my lacy bras again (again, not cool, pussy!), but I still worry since she can’t exactly just reach around and unzip that fur coat she is stuck wearing.

It’s not just the hot and humid days. It’s the fact that one, it doesn’t cool down at night giving us no natural reprieve from the heat; two: I’m Indigenous to the Arctic so I’m not bred to tolerate this type of weather; and three, thunderstorms don’t seem to be working to clear away the hot air. It’s all working against me.

It’s times like these that I shake my fist at those Albertan, right-wing climate change deniers.

That said, even the left-leaning Toronto Star wanted to remind us hot, stinky whiners that Torontonians have had it worse: back in…1936 

This most recent blazing hot weather is being described as a “heat dome.” And as noted by the Star in Toronto — as it also holds true today — the wealthy among us can head on up to the cottage, which leaves the city to the rest of us.

Ironically, the same wealth flight occurred during the G20 riots in Toronto back in the summer of 2010.

I mention this because the story of Toronto — Love in the time of Humidex — is a story of poor and marginalized Torontonians who survive through open windows and wet cloths dangling in front of electric fans.

Environment Canada’s Heat Advisory Alerts don’t come out and say so, with the whole “written and published by the government” bit, but it’s traditionally poor communities that risk the more serious of heat related complications; doubled by the fact they are less likely to have air conditioning, since it is the very young, the very old, and those among us who are medically fragile and taking numerous medications who are most at risk for heatstroke.

The government opens and maintains emergency cooling shelters as they would open and maintain emergency shelter beds for when we are plunged into a period of freezing cold weather.

Just in case you we wondering, you can find a list of cooling shelter locations here.

Street patrols, both day and night, are making sure to hand out water to those in need. But it’s also important that each of us think about anyone we could check in on if we feel they are at risk during this heatwave.

Also, be vigilant if you see a dog or a child locked in a car that appears to be suffering from heat stroke and notify the appropriate authorities.

2003 may be more than a decade ago, but that summer happened to be one of the most deadliest in regards to heat wave deaths across countries such as France.

I know, I was there in the summer of 2003, and we went swimming in the fountain outside the Louvre because we were just so hot. Did Sécurité chase us out? Of course! But once they left, everyone just went back in.

It also didn’t help that in France, a liter of wine cost less than a bottle of pop, juice or fancy water — and alcohol badly dehydrates the body.

That’s not the only reason so many died in France, and in other places across Europe, it was prime travelling season, so just like Torontonians with their cottages, the wealthier Europeans were travelling on vacation, leaving the cities full of the poor and the elderly, who fare worse in bad weather.

Essentially in many cases, the family went on vacation while their aging parents stayed behind, and with no one to check on them, they literally died from the heat and neglect.

According to the French National Institute of Health, 14,802 heat-related deaths (mostly among the elderly) occurred during the heat wave.

I know that this next thought is often misquoted, so let’s literally take what Hubert H. Humphrey said, “The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped. “

This said, community members are encouraged to check in on one another, in cases of a single mom who could use an extra hand with the kids so she can rest a bit; anyone living in a rooming house or in an apartment building where the elevator has broken; or a cramped basement apartment without much air circulation. It just takes a second, but this is what community members do for one another.

Cree Elder, Pauline Shirt, was asked about the environment and possible emergency situations that may crop up as a result.

“We have to learn to be independent, in Toronto ALL FOUR COLOURS are forgetting their original ways. A few years ago, I spoke to a few chiefs and asked ‘If a natural disaster happened on your reserve. How would your people survive?’ They said ‘Ah we have this funding etc.’ I told them ‘Never Mind that, if those things were taken away, how would your people survive?’ – None of these chiefs had an answer. And if I asked our Mayor the same thing, he wouldn’t have an answer either.”

 

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Image: Flickr/Gustavo Oliveira

Krystalline Kraus

krystalline kraus is an intrepid explorer and reporter from Toronto, Canada. A veteran activist and journalist for rabble.ca, she needs no aviator goggles, gas mask or red cape but proceeds fearlessly...