Some Toronto city councillors say the city put residents “in harm’s way” by lifting an extreme cold weather alert on Friday, closing down shelters and warming centres despite ongoing frigid temperatures and strong winds.
The extreme cold weather alert -- issued when temperatures dip below -15 degrees Celsius overnight -- caused about 26 shelters across the city to close overnight, along with the warming centre at Metro Hall.
The alert had been in effect for most of the week, but was lifted around 11 a.m. Friday.
Temperatures across the city then dipped down to -20 degrees Celsius Friday night, leaving many residents without access to extreme weather services.
The decision also meant that outreach workers, who patrol the city streets during extreme cold weather alerts looking to help the homeless off the street, were also unavailable.
Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam voiced her frustration on Twitter early Saturday morning, noting that procedures surrounding extreme weather alerts in the city must change to fit the needs of residents.
Finally home from the freezing cold. Sick to my stomach that Metro Hall warming centre was closed due to "existing protocol. #homeless
— Kristyn Wong-Tam 黃慧文 (@kristynwongtam) January 25, 2014
Coun. Adam Vaughan agreed with Wong-Tam, telling CP24 that the criteria for issuing weather alerts need to be re-evaluated.
“Maybe we should have a grace period and maybe we should factor in wind as an issue,” Vaughan said. “We need to make sure we are taking care of people who can’t take care of themselves.
“It is easy to see things bureaucratically and just go by the numbers, but yesterday was an extreme weather event and I think we made a huge mistake and put people in harm’s way,” he added.
Residents in Toronto also took to Twitter to voice their concern.
#Toronto #homeless #WarmingCentre will reopen today at 3.00 PM. Shameful that they closed the doors in such weather but it's back #TOpoli
— John Clarke (@JohnOCAP) January 25, 2014
"Toronto closed the warming centre at Metro Hall for the homeless last night BECAUSE IT WASN'T COLD ENOUGH OUTSIDE!!?!?!" -M. Erickson
— Canadian, eh? ⚢ (@iiHeartPolitics) January 25, 2014
The warming centre at Toronto’s Metro Hall started as a pilot project earlier this month, opening its doors to residents in need of food and shelter in the event of an extreme cold weather alert.
As of Saturday morning, the city had re-issued the extreme cold weather alert, ensuring that both the warming centre at Metro Hall and shelters across the city would remain open.
Environment Canada has warned of frigid temperatures and winds as strong as 60 kilometres per hour throughout the day for Toronto.
The weather agency says temperatures are expected to dip down to -19 C later tonight, feeling more like -27 C with the wind chill.
