Toronto could get a 'chief resiliency officer' to help deal with its extreme weather response
Idea will be part of larger review of heat relief strategy, council decided on Thursday
Toronto will ask city staff to look at creating a "chief resiliency officer" to help the city navigate extreme weather situations, council decided at its meeting on Thursday night.
"We need operation help, we need coordination," Mayor Olivia Chow said during the meeting.
"Lets ask all our frontline staff, how can we help? If there are gaps, what can we do together to make sure that these gaps will not occur?"
The proposal comes after Toronto dealt with an extreme heat event from Sunday to Tuesday, with temperatures reaching record-breaking levels.
Chow said the city previously had a chief resilience officer who was let go in 2019. The position was funded starting 2017 by a donation from the Rockefeller Foundation.
Coun. Josh Matlow spoke in support of the position during Thursday's meeting.
"We need to make sure that our residents are protected, and also our infrastructure is both protected and more resilient to be able to withstand and survive this changing climate," Matlow said.
Staff to look at cooling centres for unhoused people
Council also decided to ask staff to review the city's heat relief strategy.
As part of the review, city staff are expected to look at whether the city should restore cooling centres for unhoused people, something homelessness advocates have been sounding the alarm about, particularly with the recent stretch of extreme heat.
The cooling centres, which were closed in 2019, used to be activated when the city was under heat warnings issued by Environment Canada.
"We know we have a climate crisis," Chow told council.
Chow said the city, in response to a recent heat event, opened its outdoor swimming pools earlier than scheduled. But she added "there was a gap" because some pools had to close at points on Sunday to enable pool staff to recover from the heat.
As well, council decided its chief financial officer and treasurer should identify up to $50,000 from the city's corporate extreme weather reserve to ensure front-line agencies can distribute at least 500,000 bottles of water in 2025.
Council also decided to direct city staff to work with the Canadian Red Cross to develop a pilot program, where the city would support Red Cross volunteers in going door-to-door in areas with vulnerable populations to check on residents, provide information on relevant services, and collect data to better assist the city in responding to extreme weather events or emergency situations.
Coun. Alejandra Bravo also moved a motion that passed to direct city staff to find more cooling spaces that can be activated for vulnerable people, including unhoused people, during heat warnings and for staff to assess community agency spaces and city owned facilities.
City staff will be expected to report back on the idea of a chief resiliency officer by the fourth quarter of this year and to make recommendations on the heat strategy at that time.
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With files from Rochelle Raveendran