Overview
- The heat dome that struck British Columbia from June 25 to July 1, 2021 produced record temperatures including 46.6 C in Lytton and caused at least 619 confirmed deaths across the province.
- A B.C. coroner’s death review found most victims lived alone, could not cool their homes at night, and often faced poverty or mobility and cognitive limits that made reaching cooling areas difficult.
- The province has created a heat alert response system and an extreme heat preparedness guide and health officials say emergency services were overwhelmed in 2021 and have since added staff and new response plans.
- Some cities have moved faster than the province to protect renters and seniors by passing bylaws, distributing cooling kits, and funding building retrofits, but older, poorly ventilated housing remains a major vulnerability for isolated residents.
- Researchers at the University of Victoria are pressing WorkSafeBC to adopt a clear, trigger-temperature rule to protect outdoor and low-wage workers, and advocates say action or inaction will directly affect worker safety in future extreme-heat events.