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It was June 2021 and the heat dome settling over the normally temperate lower mainland would soon break temperature records and make headlines. The provincial coroner would later find extreme heat contributed to hundreds of deaths. Ninety per cent of the victims were, like McKinlay, 60 years and older. Most also had a chronic health condition and lived alone in old, poorly insulated housing without air conditioning. McKinlay ticked all the boxes.

“We knew the heat dome was pretty nasty,� said Jeanne Hansen, McKinlay’s sister. “We were checking in. That day, she said she’d gone out for her walk, that she was OK, that everything was fine.�

McKinlay hadn’t told her sister that her fan — the only thing keeping her cool — was broken.

The deadly temperatures in June 2021 spurred B.C. to the forefront of Canada’s fight against extreme heat. The province developed an early warning system that sent alerts to cell phones. It said it would spend $30 million on a new program to give 28,000 air conditioners to medically vulnerable and low-income people by 2026. It updated the provincial building code to require cooling in at least one room in new buildings, among other measures.

But four years after the pledges were made, many remain vulnerable. The free air conditioner program struggled to find its footing, and then de-prioritized the low-income people who need it the most. The cooling centres have often sat empty, according to one 2025 study. The B.C. Building Code update doesn’t include buildings constructed before March 2024, which are more likely to be rentals or subsidized housing.

Municipalities put forward a motion to push for a provincial maximum indoor temperature law that would include older buildings, but the motion failed.

Tenants, advocates and frustrated lawmakers are concerned the province is not moving fast enough to protect seniors from the next life-threatening heat wave.

The stakes are high: Without more safeguards to protect people from high temperatures, by 2030 the heat could kill an average of more than 1,300 people, hospitalize 6,000, and cost at least $100 million in hospital expenses every year in B.C. alone, according to a report by the Canadian Climate Institute.

“B.C. has had to play catch-up incredibly fast — they’ve had to go from zero to 100 in a couple of years,� says Ryan Ness, one of the authors of the report. “They’ve got some things in place — especially in terms of how to respond in terms of emergencies, but in terms of adapting and preventing things from getting to a crisis point, there’s still a lot that needs to be done.�

At the Legion Manor, which houses seniors and veterans, a reporter who visited last summer found the province’s push for greater protection appeared to fall short of what residents need. While the Manor had turned the top-floor rec room into a cooling room, it was empty on the hot afternoon the reporter visited. The Manor had acquired heat-blocking rubber curtains, but in early August 2024 the drapes sat in a pile in a storage room. Misters had been installed in the building’s concrete courtyard, but they were turned off. On the ninth floor, a resident waited for an air conditioner he had applied for weeks before.

Just one floor up and down the hall is where, in June 2021, McKinlay sweltered.

Heat is the ‘silent killer’

That summer, it seemed everybody underestimated the heat. They were focused on the fires. As Canada warms twice as fast as the global average thanks in part to fossil fuel pollution, wildfires are becoming more frequent and ferocious. They decimate forests, spark mass evacuations and cost a fortune in damages. The entire town of Lytton, B.C., burned to the ground.

But the fires are nowhere near as lethal. A provincial coroner’s report revealed that McKinlay and at least 618 other people had been killed by extreme temperatures during the 2021 heat dome. Of the 618 people who died, two-thirds were 70 or older; more than half lived alone.

“We often refer to heat as the silent killer for that reason, but it’s becoming less and less silent in Canada,� said Sarah Henderson, a senior environmental health scientist at B.C.’s Centre for Disease Control. “For people in public health, everyone knows that heat is the biggest risk.�

Heat sensitivity is influenced by age more than by any other risk factor. When we age, our bodies become less efficient at regulating body temperature and staying hydrated. Older adults are also more likely to be on medications that impede the body’s temperature regulation. When it’s hot, older people are more susceptible to heat exhaustion, heat stroke, or heart attacks or other cardiovascular issues. Heat can also reduce cognitive function, causing delirium or confusion.

Those with arthritis, depression, high blood pressure, or other chronic health conditions; as well as those who are socially isolated, who live alone; and lower-income people are all more vulnerable to heat-related deaths.

McKinlay was 61. She lived alone on a fixed income. She had schizophrenia and was taking antipsychotic medications, which can make it harder for the body to regulate its temperature.

Her two sisters checked up on her by phone, as they often did. Neighbours and the building managers had been trying to look out for one another, too. On June 29, a day after temperatures soared to 42 C, a neighbour repeatedly knocked on McKinlay’s door but got no response. When the police came, they found McKinlay in her chair, wearing her sweatshirt and jeans. McKinlay had died overnight, the coroner later said, from “effects of heat.� She had put on extra layers when she started to feel shivery, a common symptom of hyperthermia.

Housing in materially deprived neighbourhoods like the New Westminster community McKinlay lived in is more likely to be older, poorly insulated and of a lower quality, which means the living space heats up faster and stays hot for longer than in better insulated homes. Ninety-eight per cent of the heat dome deaths happened indoors.

Air conditioning program had cold start

In temperate B.C., where average monthly temperatures fluctuate between zero and 20 C year-round, households have had the lowest rate of air conditioning in the country, with only three in 10 residents having access to cooling, according to a 2023 study.

In June 2023 — two years after the heat dome — the province and BC Hydro invested $10 million to launch a free air conditioner program. After the first year, the program installed just over 7,000 units, not yet enough to meet demand. Then the province put $20 million more into the program, bringing the total investment to $30 million. B.C.’s Ministry of Health said more than 27,500 air conditioning units had been distributed. A 2024 BC Hydro survey found that access to cooling in B.C. homes had increased to five in 10 residents — though it’s hard to pinpoint whether that rise is due to the air conditioner program or people buying more air conditioners as it gets hotter.

The application process for the air conditioner program was inaccessible for some. When the program launched, applications were only available online, which meant that people with low computer literacy — older adults among them — struggled to access the form. An applicant also needed a BC Hydro account, but renters in social housing don’t have one.

Just one resident in the Legion Manor applied for an air conditioner the summer the program launched, according to Sharon Ennis, the building manager. She started making the air conditioner applications a priority. Once paper applications were allowed, she lent a hand to tenants who wanted to apply. Ten residents had applied by the end of last summer.

Don Brookes, who on a hot afternoon in August 2024 showed a reporter his small apartment where it felt even hotter, said he had applied a few weeks before and was waiting to see if he had been approved. The average wait time for an air conditioner, said BC Hydro, is four weeks from application to installation. But in the summer of 2024, Ennis said at the time, residents at the Legion manor waited 8 to 12 weeks or longer.

“It gets really hot in my apartment in the summer,� Brookes said. “When it heats up, I’ll usually go downstairs, and I sit in the cool, shaded corner of the patio.�

The 65-year-old lives one floor below where McKinlay died.

A year later, Brookes says he still hasn’t received an air conditioner and that he has not heard from BC Hydro about if and why his application was rejected. BC Hydro said it couldn’t offer particulars on Brookes’ case, but said, in general, that delayed installation most commonly occurs “when we have incomplete applications, or if customers are not readily available for installation.�

There were other hoops for applicants to jump through: The application required either a recommendation letter from the regional health authority or proof that an applicant’s income didn’t exceed a certain threshold. Obtaining proof of income was challenging for those who were previously unhoused or had never set up an account with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Renters needed to provide a signed consent form from their landlord, though landlords could refuse to allow air conditioner installation.

Nadine Nakagawa, New Westminster councillor and a renter, said her tenancy agreement prohibited air conditioners. She suspected it had something to do with the esthetics of the building. “Even if I took one of those free air conditioners, I’m not allowed to have it,â€� Nakagawa said. Judith Peuvergne, a representative of Arpeg Group, the developer that owns and manages Nakagawa’s building, said while window-mounted air conditioning units are prohibited due to “both design and safety concerns due to the current window configuration,â€� portable interior air conditioning units are permitted. Building management also keeps a dozen portable AC units that it offers for a $100 refundable deposit, Peuvergne added.

Nakagawa has heard similar concerns from her constituents. “I hear a lot from people saying that doesn’t work for me, for any number of reasons — mostly because landlords will not allow it, or it doesn’t work with their housing situation.â€�

The air conditioning program distributed more than 27,500 units but the $30 million has been exhausted. There are 660,000 rental households in the province, and seniors make up 20 per cent of total renters.

Disability and housing advocate Gabrielle Peters, who suffered a heat stroke during the heat dome, said there shouldn’t be a cap on the number of air conditioners the province will supply for people in need. “It shouldn’t be based on a Black Friday sale logic,� she said, where there’s a limited supply and only “the first 500 people through the door get an air conditioner,� she said. BC Hydro said it’s never had to turn away customers due to a limited number of AC units being available.

In September 2024, BC Hydro and the province narrowed the eligibility requirements, shutting the program down to applications on an income basis. Now, only people who are getting home care through provincial programs can access free air conditioners with a referral from their health authority. This means that low-income people, and people whose health issues don’t meet the threshold for home care — like some with chronic illnesses — can’t access the program.

BC Hydro told the Star it has among the lowest electricity rates in North America and pointed to programs like its rebates — including $50 off eligible portable air conditioners and $30 off air purifiers — as well as free energy assessments and energy saving kits. It said it has funding to renew the air conditioner program and will continue to make units available to medically vulnerable customers through health care authority referrals, until March 2028.

This year at the Legion Manor, nobody has applied for an air conditioner because of the change in policy, building manager Ennis said. The building bought a “loaner� air conditioner, free for residents to borrow, and now has extra fans, too, she added.

Critics say a program designed to help the vulnerable should not throw up barriers to them. This May, advocates in B.C. called on BC Hydro to cut the red tape around the air conditioner program and make it more accessible to low-income people.

Cooling centres hard to access for those who need them most

Cooling centres are a cornerstone of B.C.’s extreme heat strategy. In 2024, more than 60 communities, including First Nations, opened cooling centres, according to B.C.’s Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness. Since 2022, the province has put $689,000 towards cooling centres in 190 local governments and First Nations. Experts emphasized that their effectiveness has been limited and least accessible for the people who really need them.

When it’s the middle of a heat wave and someone is mobility-challenged, without a car, low-income and vulnerable to high temperatures, it’s tough to get to a cooling centre. In municipalities in Metro Vancouver, unpredictable bus schedules, inaccessible stops and buses, and long travel times with multiple transfers can make it even tougher, said Liv Yoon, a researcher with the UBC Centre for Climate Justice. Yoon conducted a study on the usefulness of cooling centres and found the barriers often outweighed the benefits for older adults.

Locals Yoon talked to were unsure where the cooling centres were, when they were open, or even what they were. Many of the 60 metro Vancouver residents Yoon interviewed “thought we meant shelters, that are only meant for unhoused people.� “There is a lack of clarity about what these are, especially if you’re a senior and you’re not digitally plugged in,� she said.

“Cooling centres are kind of moot. People just want to be comfortable where they live,� said Yoon.

On a hot weekday morning in early August 2024, volunteers served coffee, smoothies and pastries in the lobby of Veterans’ Manor in Vancouver’s downtown east side. The volunteers worked with Whole Way House, a non-profit that runs community programming across the city.

Resident Robert Busch sipped a cup of coffee and chatted with his neighbours. Busch, 70, has lived in an apartment in a low-income B.C. Housing building for veterans and older men at risk of homelessness, since 2017. He’s had five heart attacks in as many years, and suffers from cirrhosis of the liver, as well as lung disease, which makes it hard for him to breathe. Busch is on end-of-life care, but he’s able to stay at home with the support of his doctors and support workers.

“I have a tough time dealing with the heat, and my room is like an oven,� he said. “I’m so sick I can barely do anything. I’m stuck in my room because I usually don’t have the energy to get down here, and I can’t breathe at all. It’s terrible.�

Whole Way House has turned the building’s lobby into a cooling centre, where it hosts these coffee hours three mornings a week as a way to draw residents out of their overheated rooms. Later that same morning, Robert Busch attended a workshop with a CRA representative, organized by the non-profit, to help residents who hadn’t filed their taxes in a while get their proof of income in order to apply for an air conditioner. (Last summer, when the Star visited Whole Way House, the program eligibility criteria had not yet changed.)

“I like it here, it’s like its own little community,� Busch said of Veterans’ Manor. By summer 2025, Busch had received his free air conditioner from BC Hydro. 

A study by the National Institute on Ageing found that four in 10 adults age 50 and over in Canada are socially isolated. The isolation makes heat waves deadlier. Older people who live alone and don’t have regular contact with others are more vulnerable to high temperatures. During the 2021 heat dome, more than half of those who died had lived alone, and were found during a wellness check by family or friends, a health-care support worker, or police.

Drawing older residents out of their rooms and ushering them into social interactions is one of the best ways to protect them from the heat.

“Having that person who calls you or emails you to say how are you doing today is really key to making sure that people are OK,� says Jennifer Baumbusch, a gerontological researcher at UBC and nurse practitioner. “Because (heat) sneaks up on you.�

The Legion Manor, where McKinlay lived, now hosts biweekly barbecues in the top floor cooling room. The building also launched a pilot community care program where care aides conduct daily checks on residents. “So that nobody slips through the cracks, and for making sure we don’t lose anyone to the heat,� Ennis said.

Wellness checks from landlords or health-care workers are a good start, but Jenny Konkin, president and co-founder of Whole Way House, has found that to build community, people “want an opportunity to contribute.�

“So, whether that’s volunteering to help make coffee or set up the tables or doing an art program or learning something new, it helps us as humans, I think, to feel like we’re part of something bigger than ourselves,â€� she said.

Push for bylaws on max indoor temperature

Social connections alone aren’t enough to safeguard against the heat. McKinlay knew many in her community, but those connections could not protect her from her unsafe apartment.

After the heat dome, B.C. changed its building code to require new buildings have one cool space under 26 degrees. The regulation doesn’t apply to apartments and residences that have already been built, like McKinlay’s former apartment in the Legion Manor.

There has been a growing push by tenants’ rights and environmental advocacy groups for maximum indoor temperature bylaws in existing buildings. These laws would cap indoor temperatures at 26 C in at least one room in each residence during heat events, just as municipalities have minimum indoor temperature laws regulating how cold a residence can get in the winter.

Some B.C. municipalities are now trying to write their own new rules so that a maximum indoor temperature law applies to all types of buildings.

New Westminster councillors Nakagawa and Tasha Henderson are pushing for legislation that ensures each unit has at least one cool room, not including the bathroom. The council is now examining how to implement the potential bylaw. In May 2025, it passed a law that would ban buildings in the city from prohibiting air conditioners. In fall 2024, Port Moody, another city in the metro Vancouver area, amended its standards of building bylaw to require that landlords can’t prohibit air conditioners, and that they must be kept in good working order.

A representative from the B.C. Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs said the province is working to develop requirements for existing buildings by 2030.

A Pembina Institute study found that retrofitting low income residences experiencing energy poverty across Canada could cost $2.8 billion annually from 2025 to 2050 in public investment, raising questions about how it will be funded and whether most landlords will absorb the cost.

‘Like opening an oven door’

Nearly four years after Hansen and Armstrong lost their sister to the heat, Hansen struggles as she revisits that summer. “I have a lot of guilt associated with Tracey’s death. It’s my biggest regret,� she said.

As soon as she and her sister entered McKinlay’s apartment the day after she died, “It was like opening an oven door. … Had I known, we would’ve picked her up and taken her somewhere safe,� Hansen said.

Hansen wanted to do something to raise awareness about the dangers of extreme heat but struggled a bit to figure out how.

She doubted whether giving everyone an air conditioner would be effective. “More than likely a lot of the elderly wouldn’t use it, because they would be afraid of running their electricity bill up, and many of them have to choose between food and medication,� she said.

In the weeks after McKinlay’s death, the sisters launched Tracey’s Legacy and collected 80 fans for McKinlay’s neighbours. No other solutions seemed feasible, simple and low-cost.

On the day they donated the fans, residents came out to say thank you and share stories about her.

”(I) blame myself,â€� Hansen said. “I didn’t physically go and check on her.â€�