Same heat, different experiences
Why last week's heat wave wasn't the same experience for everyone in Middlesex-London
Heat feels like the one thing that hits everyone equally. It doesn't.
Picture someone who arrived in London this spring, living through their first Canadian heat wave. Mid-July brought a heat warning, then wildfire smoke drifting down from the north, air quality bad enough to cancel outdoor events two nights running. They don't know London has a warning system built for exactly this moment (Middlesex-London Health Unit issues a heat warning once it passes 31°C by day and 20°C by night, two days in a row). They don't know the city opened cooling centres and kept spray pads running until 9 p.m. every night.
Where you live changes how hot "hot" really gets. Researchers at Western University, led by geography professor James Voogt, have spent several summers mapping London's temperature block by block. "Heat is a hazard and cool is a resource," as Voogt puts it. Downtown, with its highrises, parking lots and pavement, runs several degrees hotter than the rest of the city, day and night. The coolest spots sit along the Thames and in leafy, well-off neighbourhoods like Old North and Oakridge. Money and shelter decide how much of that heat actually reaches a person: a family in an air-conditioned home has a far easier time than someone with no shelter at all.
Renters (49.8%) and low-income households (54.5%) own air conditioners at well below the national average of 61.1%. Statistics Canada itself lists new immigrants and cultural minorities among the groups more exposed to climate-related heat, alongside seniors, Indigenous peoples and people with disabilities. Newcomers here are more likely to rent than to own.
There's real, current news on this front too. As of July 1, 2026, Ontario tenants gained the right to install their own window or portable air conditioner, even when a landlord doesn't provide one, as long as it's installed safely and the landlord is told first. A landlord can charge for the extra electricity, but not for anyone who already installed a unit before that date. Cooling still isn't classified as a "vital service" the way heat is, so a landlord still isn't required to provide it or keep it running. The Ontario Human Rights Commission has been asking for that to change since 2022.
Where to start: call 211 (free, day or night, in more than 150 languages) for help finding a cooling centre or a service near you. Renting without air conditioning? You now have the right to install your own. And if someone you know is living through their first Canadian summer, tell them the number.