A Kamloops city councillor is calling for a change to the temperature threshold for opening emergency response shelters.
Coun. Dale Bass told Castanet Kamloops she will introduce a notice of motion next Tuesday calling for council to lobby the province to change the threshold for opening extreme weather response shelters in town from -10 C to 0 C.
Bass said the motion would then be up for consideration Feb. 6.
The impetus for bringing forward the motion was the death of a woman on the streets of North Kamloops last week, as well as the pain her own dog experienced recently while outdoors.
It is not clear yet whether the cause of the woman’s death last week was related to exposure. The BC Coroner’s Service is investigating the death.
Bass wants the temperature threshold to be in line with what is outlined in a recent BC Centre for Disease Control report citing the BC Health Effects of Anomalous Temperatures Coordinating Committee (BC Heat Committee).
She also noted that, according to a 2018 extreme weather response program resource guide from the Homelessness Services Association of BC, for Lower Mainland cities, the threshold for opening extreme weather response facilities range from 0 C to 2 C.
Bass said she questions why the threshold is different for Kamloops, noting cold weather can be more extreme in the Interior.
Asked if the municipality could open up extreme weather shelters Bass said the city does not have the money to do so and it would be another example of downloading of costs from the province.
She also noted that would require asking social agencies to provide more services than what they are currently able to accommodate.
“We have to start this lobbying process,” Bass said.
“The provincial government doesn't act overnight. And this is just one motion that if it's passed, it's just one little community in B.C. going, ‘Hey, this isn't fair.’ So it's not like it's an immediate issue of cost.”
The BC Heat Committee recommends cold weather response plans for people experiencing homelessness be enacted when daily low temperatures are forecast to be 0 C or colder, and at higher thresholds when cold weather forecasts includes wet, snowy, and/or windy conditions.
Kamloops has one emergency response weather shelter, which the Mustard Seed operates with funding via BC Housing. The 30-bed shelter is open at the Kamloops Alliance Church when the mercury dips to -10 C and below or if there’s accumulation of at five centimetres of snow.
