NB ACORN demands ‘A/C for all’ as Moncton activist hospitalized for heat exhaustion [video]

An anti-poverty activist in Moncton was hospitalized for heat exhaustion on Tuesday, just before NB ACORN launched a campaign demanding “A/C for all.” 

Peter Jongeneelen, co-chair of NB ACORN –  a grassroots association of low-to-moderate income people – was recovering at home by Wednesday after being released from hospital. 

He told the NB Media Co-op that a clause in his lease prohibits window A/C units. 

Temperatures in Moncton reached 34 C with a humidex of 44 C on Tuesday, part of a major heat wave that affected millions of people in North America. 

Amid the heat wave, NB ACORN, called for “all levels of government to create programs that ensure low-income families have affordable access to cooling their homes,” with rallies in Moncton and Fredericton.

Jongeneelen urged people to watch out for the warning signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke. “This can come on quick,” he cautioned in a Facebook message. “The smartest thing I did was calling Tele-Care 811 when I did.” 

NB ACORN chair Nichola Taylor said that Jongeneelen and his partner have been monitoring temperatures in their apartment for weeks, and high temperatures aren’t out of the ordinary.

“They’ve been tracking their temperatures since the beginning of June,” she said. “And even when it was 17 degrees out, they were tracking 27-degree temperatures” inside the apartment.

Sawyer MacNaughton, a member of NB ACORN who lives in Moncton, said that people who work from home may have to choose between their livelihood and their health due to the heat. 

“Not having air conditioning in the place where you work can be actively dangerous,” he said.

MacNaughton also emphasized the vulnerability of himself and others who take SSRIs, a type of medication commonly prescribed to treat depression.“When a person is on SSRIs, they become much more intolerant to heat,” he said. 

Taylor said that people from vulnerable demographics face disproportionate risks.

“Low income families, Indigenous people, people with disabilities, seniors and newcomers to Canada all are vulnerable to this,” she said. 

She emphasized that this issue is likely to get worse amid the ongoing climate crisis. 

“If we don’t do something about it now, the summers are only going to get hotter and hotter,” she said, warning about a possible repeat of the 2021 western heat dome.

What about the risk of A/C usage contributing to the climate crisis as energy consumption increases? Taylor called for the provincial and federal governments to lead a green transition. 

“This is where we have to ask our governments to turn to green energy and also to have these kinds of [green] retrofit programs where they are cutting emissions down,” she said. “We will all benefit from these kinds of things.”

MacNaughton echoed the sentiment. “While I think that everybody should strive to reduce their own emissions, there’s also only so much that one can do when they are poor and struggling,” he said.

NB ACORN wants the New Brunswick government to follow the lead of B.C., where free A/C units are available for some low-income and heat vulnerable residents. 

The group is also demanding a cooling subsidy for low-income households; changes to the Residential Tenancies Act allowing tenants to install air conditioners; deep retrofits in affordable housing units; and full funding for ACORN’s own affordable energy platform, including a moratorium on rate hikes

NB ACORN is asking interested members of the public to sign their petition and share their stories if they are in a building dealing with hot temperatures. 

Lucas Reynolds is a student at Mount Allison University and a summer intern at the NB Media Co-op. David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op.

This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Stations and Users (CACTUS).