Support CAPE: Ask for a Kamloops bylaw to ensure heat safety for renters
During the 2021 heat dome, 17 Kamloops residents died from complications from overheating. The BC Coroner’s report* highlighted that many victims were isolated folks living in marginal housing with poor building envelopes and/or without access to air conditioning. During this summer’s long stretches of record-breaking heat, how is our city’s population of renters faring? According to the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), no city in Canada has adopted maximum temperature rules that apply to all rental units.
According to CAPE, BC’s heat dome in 2021 was “the deadliest climate-fueled disaster in Canadian history. 619 people died [including 17 in Kamloops] and 98% of them died indoors.
Many were renters, seniors, and people with chronic illnesses. Most lacked access to cooling. Without action, this will happen again and again.” (CAPE, Extreme heat is already hitting people in Canada. Cities must act now.)
Here in Kamloops, the City stepped up this summer to provide cooling amenities–misting stations, drinking fountains, and water-refill stations–on the North Shore and MacArthur Island Park; however, more needs to be done to address the severe, heat-related stress on people at risk in their homes.
The City’s Extreme Heat Response Plan, released in May 2024, defines its primary role during extreme heat events as: “expanding the use of existing City-run cool spaces, convening partners, and coordinating heat response with various community partner organizations.” (5.1, p. 21). These measures are admirable in themselves, but rely mostly on communications and, for at-risk individuals in rented apartments, volunteer boots on the ground and knocking on doors. There are no regulatory strategies for ensuring that older apartment buildings meet maximum temperature requirements in each unit. That’s not to say building owners and landlords in Kamloops aren’t providing air conditioning, but some may not, and, without requirements, there is also no way to ensure equipment maintenance and replacement.
According to the physicians at CAPE, our bodies can regulate internal temperatures to about 37 degrees Celsius through sweat production and evaporation, but as air temperature rises they become less and less able to cool themselves and need additional help. In August 2025, Kamloops consistently rated extreme heat warnings from Environment Canada, noting the dangers especially for seniors and those with existing health conditions. CAPE refers to a regulatory requirement for maximum temperatures in rental homes as “heat safety” and recommends, among other measures, that municipal governments adopt capping in-home temperatures at 26 degrees Celsius. The Kamloops Extreme Heat Response Plan is well-considered and wide ranging, but in-home heat safety is not included.
You can help change this. CAPE is promoting awareness of this issue across Canada, asking residents to send a letter to local municipal councils to adopt or support legislation and bylaws of 26 degrees Celsius for all rental units, expand local cooling strategies (which Kamloops does have) BUT including device distribution services (with an emphasis on heat pumps, if possible), and improve tracking and reporting of heat-related deaths and hospital visits.
Please see CAPE’s proposed letter and further discussion here. When you fill out the letter form, you may choose all or selected members of Kamloops City Council as recipients, as well as BC’s provincial ministers of health and education and childcare. You may also revise the letter text to emphasize or include your own message.
Thank you for your support.
* Extreme Heat and Human Mortality: A Review of Heat-Related Deaths in B.C. in Summer 2021
Photo credit: CAPE
Transition Kamloops
Transition Kamloops is a volunteer-driven, registered not-for-profit society focused on increasing local resilience and self-sufficiency in food, water, energy, culture and wellness. We emphasize a local economy, healthy ecosystems, and grassroots community building, while reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. We believe in a better way: a community that sustains life in all its diversity, strives for equality and justice and invests in the future.
Transition Kamloops recognizes that we are living on Secwépemcul’ecw—land that was never ceded to settlers, and continues to be home to vibrant Indigenous cultures, languages, and traditions. We acknowledge the impact of colonization, forced displacement, and ongoing struggles faced by Indigenous peoples. We commit to listening, learning, and building positive relationships with Indigenous communities as we work towards reconciliation.
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