Five years have now passed since 619 people lost their lives in Canada’s deadliest weather event, yet survivors, researchers and seniors’ advocates are still coming to terms with its fallout and pushing for stronger prevention measures. A coalition of non-profits and universities hosted “Remembering the Heat Dome” on Sunday, an opportunity for discussion, brainstorming, and even artwork that’s earmarked for a future public memorial. Rachel Stern co-organized the event after researching housing and seniors’ access, realizing there’s no landmark or other remembrance feature for the 2021 heat dome that killed hundreds, mostly seniors who lived alone and died in their homes. “Older folks being forgotten about or those deaths being treated as ‘not as big a deal,” I think, are a major reason why the heat dome hasn’t been commemorated as much as it should have,” said Stern, a UBC PhD student. “For me, memory is about accountability. It’s about, people remembering what happened to themselves and to others in order to prevent similar deaths in the future and really keep our community safe.” Many of the attendees at the Creekside Community Centre were elderly and some shared their stories of survival and losing friends. University researchers included SFU’s Andy Yan, who updated them on his research into the locations of the deaths and related infrastructure and policies. Carole Christopher was there on behalf of the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC) and was glad so many seniors have been involved in learning from the heat dome tragedy and advocating in its wake. “When it comes to life and death situations, elders more than other populations—except very young children—need to be aware for themselves and other need to be conscious of their vulnerabilities of elders to help them,” she said. The University of Victoria’s Wayne Crookes Professor in Environmental and Climate Journalism gave a presentation including snippets of a theatrical interpretation of first responders’ experiences that’ll be presented to attendees at next month’s Union of B.C. Municipalities annual convention in Vancouver. “These disasters that we are experience seeing are only accelerating and we need to figure out what that means for us as a society, what that means for us as a community, and how we can protect ourselves,” said Sean Holman. In the days and weeks after the ambulance service was inundated with 911 calls, and emergency agencies of all stripes were overwhelmed by those sick and dying of hyperthermia, a cascade of inadequacies in planning and communication led to considerable changes in how municipal and provincial bodies respond to extreme heat events. Advocates hope that the work continues with unpredictable weather events increasing in frequency and intensity.
