Extreme cold triggers Niagara’s cold weather response plan

With Friday morning’s temperature at -20 C and the wind chill making it feel like -30 C, Environment Canada has issued a cold warning for southern Ontario, including in Niagara where the region’s extreme cold weather response plan is in effect.

The region’s community services commissioner clarified Thursday that the cold weather emergency protocol means an additional 98 units are available for those who are unhoused. This is typically set up in communal spaces in existing facilities across the region, such as The Salvation Army in St. Catharines.

CHCH News spoke to a few of the residents who say they are grateful they were able to find shelter during the recent cold days, but that there is work to be done to ensure lives are not lost needlessly.

Advocacy groups like Niagara Advocates for Lived and Living Experiences and regional councillors say providing safe spaces for the unhoused in the extreme cold not only helps them, but it also helps alleviate pressures from other urgent care spaces.

St. Catharines Coun. Haley Bateman had put forward a motion calling for increased community vigilance and for the region to lower the threshold under which its emergency protocol is invoked. That motion was deferred until Feb. 10 at the council meeting Thursday.

The region did reiterate its commitment to keeping everyone safe in cold weather.

For a list of emergency shelters available in the Niagara region, click here.

READ MORE: Environment Canada issues cold warnings for southern Ontario amid frigid wind chills