In Canada, the vast majority of visible minorities live in areas that get too hot, and there are over 400 wildfires burning across the country, raising questions about the health impacts people of colour may deal with from inhaling smokey air. Studies from the U.S. show that health impacts from breathing poor quality air are harsher for poor and minority communities, but that data isn’t easy to find in Canada, said Hind Al-Abadleh, chemistry professor at Wilfrid Laurier University and a researcher with a focus on air quality and toxicology. “The funding to do the research on exposure of racialized communities and low socioeconomic status communities to air pollution in particular, almost does not exist,” said Al-Abadleh. “It exists for some people, not all.” Although the data isn’t easily accessible, there is a history of Black, Indigenous and people of colour in Canada struggling with their health due to environmental factors, like the pollution of the land and water in Africville, or Pictou Landing in Nova Scotia as depicted in the documentary, There’s Something in the Water. “A lot of the communities that are affected [by the wildfire smoke], especially in Alberta, Saskatchewan, northern B.C., a lot of them are First Nations communities,” said Robert McLeman, a professor in Laurier’s geography and environmental studies department who focuses on human adaptation to climate change. “Those are the folks who live in or close to the forest margins.” Generally, research shows that inhaling wildfire smoke and the chemicals and gasses it’s composed of is linked to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as some forms of cancer, said Al-Abadleh. When the air quality is poor, both McLeman and Al-Abadleh suggest wearing a well-fitted N95 mask if being outside is unavoidable. Wearing a face mask is useful to stop some of the pollution particles in the smoke from entering the lungs, but it won’t stop the gases, said Al-Abadleh. Staying in a clean, well-ventilated indoor space when possible is best. “You have control over your indoor air by making sure that you have good circulation, good filtration and no activity that will produce smoke,” said Al-Abadleh. But, in reality, not everyone does have full control over the air quality in their space. As Canada is expected to see more bad air quality days in the future, McLeman feels this is part of the larger issue of homelessness and housing inequality in the country. “If [people] are living in low quality accommodation that does not have air conditioning, or proper ventilation; or people who are living in shelters, on the street, couch surfing or living in vehicles…they’re exceptionally exposed to these types of health risks,” he said. “And so, there’s yet another reason why we need to get these folks in the proper accommodation.” Two years after a heat dome killed 619 people in B.C. within a week, the provincial government agreed to provide free air conditioners to some vulnerable residents. Eight thousand air conditioners will be provided over three years, in a program the province says will cost $10 million. Wildfires are a normal part of Canada’s ecosystems, especially in the prairies, B.C., and the northern parts of Ontario and Quebec. They’re usually started by lightning, said McLeman. This year is different though, he said, as 8.8 million hectares of land has already burned across the country this year alone. One of the reasons why fires are burning so intensely this year is because of the unusually hot, dry spring we had, with some areas reaching temperatures between five and ten degrees warmer than the seasonal average, said McLeman. This gave forests little chance to grow leaves on trees, shrubs, undergrowth and wild plants, leaving them dry and flammable. Regions that aren’t typically impacted by Canada’s wildfires, like southern Ontario and parts of the U.S. saw smoke this year due to unseasonal wind patterns, said McLeman. Wildfires are just part of a system of extreme weather events we can expect to see more often due to climate change. “In southern Ontario, usually our winds blow from southwest to northeast,” he said. “But, we’ve had a lot of weeks this year where the winds have been coming from the north to the south and so the smoke is being blown right over the heavily populated areas of Ontario.” In the prairies, cities like Calgary, Edmonton and Lethbridge that need spring snow-melt to keep the rivers they rely on flowing, are at risk of flooding and sewage back-ups from early melting in the winter, and dried up riverbeds from dry, hot springs. This is what McLeman calls “urban drought”, and it’s especially dangerous because those cities dispose of their treated sewage through the rivers, and if water levels get too low, pollution risk rises.