'It's devastating': Homeless Canadians at risk as Eastern Canada endures extreme cold, advocates say
'It's devastating': Homeless Canadians at risk as Eastern Canada endures extreme cold, advocates say
With a cold snap sending much of Eastern Canada indoors, advocates at homeless shelters are working tirelessly to get unhoused people indoors as temperatures drop dangerously low.
"It's actually been very scary and stressful leading up to what we saw was being forecast in the province," Sheri Lecker, executive director at Halifax's Adsum women and children's centre, told CTV News Channel.
In Halifax, temperatures dropped to -25 C on Friday, breaking a 52-year-old record when the city reported -24.4 C in 1971. Additionally, Brier Island, Kentville, Port Hawkesbury and Yarmouth all broke their own regional cold weather records in the province.
Lecker said community groups have set up shelters for unhoused people in hotel rooms and pop-up shelters as many housing shelters are already packed. However, she says because Nova Scotians may not be used to these frigid temperatures, many people might not realize how dangerous the cold can be and still choose to stay outside in fear of losing their set up outdoors.
"People don't want to give up this space that they've created outside to come inside for one or two nights in a hotel and then maybe go back to their tent and find out that it's collapsed or it's been stolen," she said.
In Toronto, wind chill temperatures neared -30 C as Environment Canada had set an extreme cold weather alert for most of the province on February, 3. Despite the cold, Steve Doherty, executive director at Youth Without Shelter, says volunteers have to turn away people because their shelter still adheres to COVID-19 restrictions and becomes full quickly.
'It's devastating, it's very difficult for my staff every single day to turn people away," Steve Doherty told CTV News.
Advocates have been calling for the city to invest in more accessible, 24/7 warming centres amid the death of a person experiencing homelessness who froze to death on Christmas Day. Extreme cold is known to cause frostbite and hypothermia, according to Environment Canada brisk temperatures can not only be deadly but also cause cold-related symptoms like shortness of breath, chest pain, muscle pain and weakness.
Shelters in Montreal, are also struggling with demand as the city increased service hours and opened up emergency warming centres as the city endured -28 C temperatures on Friday.
Lecker says while she would normally advise not to bother people who are experiencing homelessness, if it's extremely cold out it's okay to ask if they need help or someone that can direct them to somewhere warm.
"If it's super cold, ask them if they're okay or need anything and if they do, make all the calls you need to connect them to what they're looking for," she said.
With files from The Canadian Press, CTV News Toronto and CTV News Montreal.
U.S. President Joe Biden arrived Thursday evening in Ottawa for a whirlwind 27-hour visit expected to focus on both the friendly and thorny aspects of the Canada-U.S. relationship, including protectionism and migration on both sides of the border.
Canada and the United States are negotiating a deal that could see asylum seekers turned back at irregular border crossings across the border, including Roxham Road in Quebec.
As the federal government looks to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S., an eastern Ontario mayor says his city needs more help from Ottawa to deal with the influx of asylum seekers arriving through irregular crossings like Roxham Road.
Amid renewed questions over the pervasiveness of alleged interference by China in Canadian elections and affairs broadly, opposition MPs voted Thursday afternoon to affirm a parliamentary committee's call for the federal government to strike a public inquiry.
A majority of Canadians have seen a mistake on their grocery receipts in the last year, according to a new survey conducted by Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.
An asteroid discovered just last week will pass closer to the Earth than the orbit of the moon this weekend, an occurrence so rare it happens only once in a decade, according to NASA.
The number of Canadians receiving employment insurance benefits are at record lows and down 44 per cent from last year, new figures from Statistics Canada show.
Two Kanien'keha:ka (Mohawk) sisters from Montreal are on a mission that is close to their hearts: to save their ancestors' first language by developing video games young and old can play.
The parents of young Ontario hockey player Ben Teague have been searching for answers since he died while at a team retreat in 2019. The mystery about what happened and the code of silence in hockey culture is explored in CTV W5's 'What Happened to Ben,' on CTVNews.ca and W5's official YouTube channel.
The parents of young Ontario hockey player Ben Teague have been searching for answers since he died while at a team retreat in 2019. The mystery about what happened and the code of silence in hockey culture is explored in 'What Happened to Ben' on CTV W5.
The RCMP knew about a potential cocaine shipment from the Dominican Republic to Toronto aboard a Canadian charter flight but inexplicably allowed the crew that discovered and reported the drugs to be detained for months without intervening, a W5 investigation has revealed.
CTV W5 investigates what authorities knew about plans to smuggle cocaine out of the Dominican Republic on a Toronto-bound Pivot Airlines flight. The airline's crew is demanding justice following their eight-month detention.
A 64-year-old grandmother from Barrie, Ont. faces life in prison in Hong Kong, accused of smuggling drugs, after being duped twice in what her family believes was a sophisticated romance scam.
Anishinaabe podcaster Ryan McMahon sought to uncover the truth behind the deaths of several Indigenous people in Thunder Bay, Ont. in a new Crave Original documentary.
An Ontario man said he was shocked when his truck was stolen not once but twice, and the second time it was taken he was surprised to discover he was no longer covered for theft.
U.S. President Joe Biden arrived Thursday evening in Ottawa for a whirlwind 27-hour visit expected to focus on both the friendly and thorny aspects of the Canada-U.S. relationship, including protectionism and migration on both sides of the border.
Emergency crews responded to a call for a stabbing on Hartsmere Drive, off Stittsville Main Street, at approximately 7:45 p.m. Thursday. Two police cruisers guarded the parking lot of the Trustee M. Curry Park late Thursday evening.
The Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est has announced plans for a four-day school week pilot-project this fall, becoming the first school board in Ontario to offer families a shortened school week schedule.
The quick thinking and immediate actions of two people are credited with possibly saving the life of a Midland councillor after he collapsed at a meeting Wednesday evening.
Investigators with York Regional Police issued Canada-wide warrants for two men who they say are involved in the Richmond Hill attack on Ontario woman Elnaz Hajtamiri weeks before she was allegedly abducted.
The ‘Catch the Ace’ jackpot is still up for grabs in Hagersville. There was no winner Thursday night so the total prize money is now an estimated $1,526,067.
The resurrection of Zellers is officially underway with the Cambridge location opening its doors to eager shoppers who lined up ahead of the store's official reopening.
The new provincial budget features items specific to southwestern Ontario, including a new English public elementary school in London, Ont. that will serve 556 students and include 88 licensed childcare spaces.
A young Strathroy, Ont. man believes there's a promising way forward in the effort to fight his disease. But, he's being told, right now, that path isn't open to him. Friends and family are stepping up to try and make a case for Kyle McPhee to receive immunotherapy treatments.
After a year-and-a-half without, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) says it’s narrowing in on hiring a permanent chief medical officer of health.
When the permit to construct a replacement span for the Ambassador Bridge expired in the summer of 2022, many thought that would bring an end to a 20-year saga of boarded up homes in the city’s west end.
For the first time, the owner of a building in Old Montreal has responded to questions about the fire — through his lawyer — addressing allegations that the building was unsafe.
The political class at the National Assembly has condemned the 'violent' and 'hateful' remarks that columnist Gilles Proulx allegedly made about Quebec solidaire MNAs during Richard Martineau's show on Qub radio in recent weeks.
The Tim Houston PC government remains firm in their promise they'll fix the health-care system by spending more taxpayer money on health than any previous government before.
Potato farmers on Prince Edward Island are taking the federal government to court due to the decision to restrict the movement of P.E.I. seed potatoes.
Manitoba First Nation police have arrested a man connected with a shooting on March 19 on Long Plain First Nation that resulted in the community going on lockdown.
Manitoba’s labour force is growing at a rate to supply enough workers for available positions into 2026, according to the province’s labour market outlook.
The Alberta Energy Regulator has cited an energy company for causing a series of earthquakes, including the largest recorded tremblor in the province's history.
The Alberta Energy Regulator has cited an energy company for causing a series of earthquakes, including the largest recorded tremblor in the province's history.
Following a court appearance Thursday, a B.C. woman facing more than 20 charges – including manslaughter – in connection with alleged druggings of men who used escort services was remanded into custody.
The man killed in West Vancouver earlier this week was a retired urologist who was involved in several legal disputes over valuable real estate, CTV News has learned.
U.S. President Joe Biden has arrived in Canada, kicking off his short but long-awaited overnight official visit to Canada. The official itinerary has just been released; here's everything you need to know about what will be on the agenda, and what key players are saying about the upcoming visit.
Amid renewed questions over the pervasiveness of alleged interference by China in Canadian elections and affairs broadly, opposition MPs voted Thursday afternoon to affirm a parliamentary committee's call for the federal government to strike a public inquiry.
The Prime Minister's Office says Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, stayed in a $6,000 per night hotel suite while attending the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II.
A Victoria man’s life of crime has turned into one of survival, hope and advocacy amid ongoing conversations in the community about how best to tackle public safety matters.
For the first time, autism is being diagnosed more frequently in Black and Hispanic children than in white kids in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
Canada's race to procure ventilators for COVID-19 patients in the early days of the pandemic had researchers, scientists, industry and a notable astrophysicist working 'night and day' to design machines that could be quickly manufactured domestically.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump getting gang-tackled by riot-gear-clad New York City police officers. Russian President Vladimir Putin in prison greys behind the bars of a dimly lit concrete cell.
U.S. lawmakers grilled the CEO of TikTok over data security and harmful content Thursday, responding skeptically during a tense committee hearing to his assurances that the hugely popular video-sharing app prioritizes user safety and should not be banned.
An asteroid discovered just last week will pass closer to the Earth than the orbit of the moon this weekend, an occurrence so rare it happens only once in a decade, according to NASA.
Gwyneth Paltrow's attorneys asked the daughter of a man suing the actor-turned-lifestyle influencer over a 2016 ski collision about missing GoPro camera footage that they called 'the most important piece of evidence' at trial Thursday.
Proponents of a British Columbia liquefied natural gas export facility have unveiled plans to achieve net-zero emissions commitments in the construction phase and for its future operations.
A majority of Canadians have seen a mistake on their grocery receipts in the last year, according to a new survey conducted by Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.
Neurodivergent education expert Mary Klovance says there are several approaches educators can take to help students with such conditions as ADHD and autism to flourish in the classroom.
Nancy Rose is the creator behind the "The Secret Life of Squirrels" – a series of children’s books and calendars capturing real-life squirrels engaging in human activities.
World Athletics has banned transgender women from competing in elite female competitions if they have gone through male puberty, the sport's governing body said on Thursday.
More than 50 current and former Canadian fencers have joined a growing call for a Canadian judicial inquiry on maltreatment in sport, saying the fear of retribution has kept them silent for nearly 20 years on fencing's toxic culture and abusive practices.
California lawmakers on Thursday will vote on whether to allow penalties on oil companies for price gouging at the pump, a first-in-the-country proposal aimed at stopping the kind of spikes last summer that caused some drivers pay up to US$8 per gallon as the industry reaped super-sized profits.
The Chevrolet Camaro, for decades the dream car of many teenage American males, is going out of production. General Motors, which sells the brawny muscle car, said Wednesday it will stop making the current generation early next year.
U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating complaints from Honda Civic drivers that their steering can stick, causing a momentary increase in effort and increasing the risk of a crash.
