Call to Action on Climate Change and Health

Health professionals in Canada are calling on federal political parties to treat climate change as a public health emergency. They argue that limiting global warming to 1.5°C is essential to avoid catastrophic health impacts and that climate solutions—such as reducing fossil fuel reliance and promoting active transport—would provide immediate health benefits and reduce healthcare costs.

• Climate change is currently negatively impacting the physical and mental health of Canadians through various channels. These include cardiorespiratory issues from wildfire air pollution, trauma and PTSD from evacuations, food insecurity in the Canadian Arctic due to temperature increases of up to 3°C since the 1950s, the spread of Lyme Disease, and exacerbated asthma and hay fever from prolonged pollen seasons.
• Extreme weather events in Canada have led to significant economic and human costs. Natural disaster claims for floods and wildfires rose from $400 million per year in previous decades to approximately $1 billion per year, while government funding for such disasters increased from $100 million per year two decades ago to $2 billion per year in 2013-14. In the summer of 2018, extreme heat caused more than 90 deaths in Quebec, and Ontario's wildfires doubled from a 10-year average of 716 to 1,312.

APA

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (2019). Call to Action on Climate Change and Health. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Call-to-Action-ENGLISH-Dec-2019.pdf

Chicago

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. Call to Action on Climate Change and Health. 2019. https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Call-to-Action-ENGLISH-Dec-2019.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment |title=Call to Action on Climate Change and Health |date=December 2019 |url=https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Call-to-Action-ENGLISH-Dec-2019.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{canadianassociationofphysiciansfortheenvironment2019call, author = {{Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}}, title = {{Call to Action on Climate Change and Health}}, publisher = {Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment}, year = {2019}, month = dec, url = {https://cape.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Call-to-Action-ENGLISH-Dec-2019.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }