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When Montreal Public Health officials warned residents to take caution during a heat wave earlier this summer, Runa Leila said her thoughts were with the dozens of families in the Parc-Extension neighbourhood without access to air conditioning.
It’s why she is spending the summer going door to door handing out “freshness kits,” a blue bag containing a small fan, a spray bottle, a thermometer and pamphlets with instructions on how to call for help if residents experience negative health effects from the heat.
A worker with the non-profit Afrique au Féminin, Leila says this information is crucial for newly arrived immigrants who might not know who to call if they need help.
“Some people are new here, so it is very good information for them,” she said. “Some people are very interested and happy [to get the kits].”
Runa Leila hands a kit to a Parc-Extension resident. (Sharon Yonan-Renold/CBC)
According to the Centraide of Greater Montreal, nearly half of Parc-Extension residents are immigrants. The neighbourhood also hosts the second largest population of asylum seekers on the island, after Montréal-Nord, and median household income ranks as the second lowest in Montreal, trailing only Peter-McGill.
Afrique au Féminin general director Rose Ndjel says her team pays close attention to seniors, who are particularly vulnerable to heat-related health issues.
“Some of the elders are too isolated. We want to reach them,” she said.
Ndjel says the initiative is also an opportunity for the organization to do community outreach and ask residents what they need.
That might include regular check-ins, help with taxes or access to a food bank.
WATCH | Workers hand out cooling kits to vulnerable residents:
Montrealers at risk of extreme heat can receive free cooling kits
For the third year, Montreal public health has prepared cooling kits for those vulnerable during extreme heat. Runa Leila, a worker with the community organization Afrique au Féminin, is going door to door in the Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension borough to hand them out.’There’s people that care’
Parc-Extension resident Bryan Thambirajah says that Afrique au Féminin is providing a crucial service.
“When it’s really bright outside, that’s when I feel like it’s very hot and dry in my house,” he said.
“There’s a lot of people that don’t have enough income for [air conditioning]. I feel like this could help, especially in this neighbourhood.”
The project was launched by Montreal Public Health in 2024. In a statement, it says the goal this year is to distribute 2,200 kits in the Côte-des-Neiges and Parc Extension neighbourhoods, with Afrique au Féminin responsible for the latter.
It says it selects the neighbourhoods using a mapping tool that combines heat-related risk factors, reports received in the field, and discussions held with project partners, including the City of Montreal. It says the program is funded until summer 2027 and it hopes that it will be renewed.
Parc-Extension resident Dimitri Minas says the project reminds the community that people are there for them.
“It gives them encouragement that there’s people that care,” he said.