Toronto has launched its 2026 Heat Relief Strategy ahead of another potentially record-breaking summer, adding air conditioning units to residential common spaces, boosting aquatic staffing at city pools by 25 per cent and expanding cooling resources across the city.
City officials have said lessons from last year’s extreme heat have strengthened preparedness, but some advocates argue major gaps remain for the unhoused. Family physician and president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) Samantha Green has said the city’s lone 24-hour cooling centre is “insufficient.”
Health and climate researcher Mauriene Tolentino welcomed the improvements listed in the 2026 strategy, but stressed that long-term investments in housing, climate resilience, and equitable access are needed as heat events become more common.