Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
As Canada experiences a devastating wildfire season, researchers are warning that they’re projected to increase in size and frequency in coming years – raising the risk of adverse health effects for Canadians, including those living in cities.
According to a recent report, conducted by the Global Climate and Health Alliance, an organization comprised of health NGOs, health professional organizations, and health and environment alliances, Canada could see a 75 per cent increase in wildfire occurrence by the year 2100 if greenhouse emissions continue at a mid-range.
Because of this, the researchers said the country needs to be prepared to address the long-term impacts of wildfire smoke exposure.
“The smoke contains a range of pollutants including particulate matter, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. Wildfire particulate matter may be more harmful to health than urban particulate air pollution,” the report states.
In one recent study of exposure to particulate pollution during wildfire seasons in British Columbia, the impacts on respiratory and cardiovascular health were observable within one hour of exposure to fine particulate matter.
In another Canadian study on the fires in Yellowknife in 2014, cases of asthma doubled and salbutamol (used to prevent and treat wheezing and shortness of breath) prescriptions dispensations went up by about 50 per cent in community pharmacies in areas impacted by the fires, compared to surrounding areas.
Rebecca Saari, an environmental engineering professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario who was not involved in the studies, says that smoke and poor air quality could cause symptoms such as irritation, burning eyes, and coughing.
For those with underlying health conditions, such as respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, asthma, or they’ve had a heart attack before, Saari said the risk of having an adverse health outcome is even higher.
“When we have really poor air quality days like this, including due to wildfire smoke exposure, we'll expect to see more emergency room visits, more hospitalizations associated with acute bronchitis, or acute episodes associated with these underlying illnesses,” she told CTV’s Your Morning on Thursday.
“So if you have reason to be vulnerable already, then poor air days are not great news for your health.”
The report states that the risk of wildfires is projected to increase around the world as climate change intensifies, which will bring more frequent heat waves of longer duration and changes in rainfall patterns that will affect vegetation growth.
“Larger populations, including urban populations far from the forests, are being exposed to harmful and prolonged levels of wildfire smoke,” the report said.
For Canada specifically, the researchers said polar regions are projected to warm faster due to climate change than areas located closer to the equator.
“Canada is warming faster than many other parts of the world,” the study said.
Saari said this is a public health threat that Canada needs to prepare for in the coming years.
“In terms of the public health readiness, we need to boost systems that let people know what they can do to help avoid exposure during events like this,” she said.
While Saari said they already have online systems that show where the wildfires are and the air quality health index that shows how bad the levels are, Canada should expect to see more respiratory-related and cardiovascular-related illness in the future.
“Anything we can do to reduce those underlying risks,” she said. “So that means reducing the sources of air pollution that we can control more easily, things like fossil fuel in our power production or in industrial use or in transportation. If we can reduce the other sources of dirty air that are going to affect our health that would be a big help.”
Although it may sound dire, Saari urged Canadians to stay hopeful in the fight against climate change.
“We shouldn’t give up in trying to avoid making this worse. We can prevent future harm still,” she said. “To meet the climate change agreement targets, we have about a decade left to make some serious emissions reductions to prevent the worst effects of climate change.”
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.