Canadians need a right to clean air

I have been exposed to wood burning smoke in every place I lived: Corner Brook, Newfoundland for 23 years; Toronto, Ontario for 40 years; St. Catharine's, Ontario for one year; and Oakville, Ontario for almost one year now. Neither urban nor rural settings are free from it. In fact, I was surprised and dismayed to discover that rural settings such as those surrounding St. Catharine's in the Niagara region, famous for its wineries, engage in open air burning on farms.

Now where I live, there are so many residents who burn wood both indoor and outdoor, as well as barbecues (they even have community groups coming to the building and setting up regular barbecues for residents!). This ubiquitous exposure frequently prevented me from walking outdoors, whether inner city or on the trails (where barbecue smoke often prevailed).

The worst period of exposure was as a school crossing guard for 7 years, where the smoke from several chimneys in the residential area was so thick it reduced visibility. During that period, this smoke would burn my throat to to point of hoarseness, my nose (my nasal passages are chronically extremely dry), brain fog, confusion, trouble breathing, dizziness and weakness. My clothes and hair stank of woodsmoke, which exacerbated my reaction to this toxic substance indoors.

I am now seeing a clinical and sub-clinical impact of toxic woodmoke…

I have written to MPs, city counsellors, heath organizations like the lung association, public health, environmental protection agencies and my words fall on deaf ears.

Meanwhile, the environmental illness, of which wood burning smoke is one component, makes me sicker and precludes many activities and social opportunities that most people take for granted. I know firsthand how stressful, demoralizing, depressing and helpless/hopeless it can be, but then I look at other countries where there are groups that have mobilized and became vocal and continue to fight for this cause. It makes me wonder why Canada is so far behind, and what could motivate us to unite and take action.

Individually, we can't make a difference, but collectively there is the potential for political efficacy—and make no mistake, in this case, the personal is definitely political. This is an invitation for Canadians to come together and fight for our right to clean air. I would be willing to help make that happen.

[This is an update to an earlier story.]