Cooler by the water

A few highlights of Toronto heat waves:

before central A.C.

In July 1936, there were nine days when the temperatures stayed above 30 C -- and on three of those days it was 40.6. Spacing magazine has an interesting article telling about the huge numbers of people who camped out by Lake Ontario to cool down.

In August 1948, there were seven days when temperatures ranged between 30 and 38.7 in Toronto.

In July 2011, there were seven days when temperatures were never cooler than 31 C, topping out on July 21 at 38.2. The Globe headline said Blistering heat bakes Ontario with record temperatures.

On Sunday June 22, 2025 it was 34.4 C, going up to 36.5 for the two days that followed. Five outdoor pools were closed for part of Sunday, to protect the lifeguards from the heat. And on June 27, 2025, Mayor Olivia Chow reminded the CBC that "lifeguards are young or new to the job and that out of 85 pools, only 5 were closed." It appears that there was no order by either the Provincial Ministry of Labour, nor by Toronto Public Health, to close those pools.

Was the decision made by the lifeguards who wanted to go home and shelter there because of their fear of the climate?

Maybe.

But summer doesn't have to be fear-inducing.

From my Dufferin Grove Park notes for Sunday June 22, 2003 (it was 29.9 C with a heat wave warning, going up to 33.6 a few days later):

The many joys of water in the park, 2003

water

Today there was water all over the park - not a flood, but a stream of good uses of the water that comes to us from Lake Ontario.

In the sandpit by the playground, the hose was connected to the tap we bought from Lee Valley Tools. All day, between 10 and 30 kids (and some of their parents) were making channels for a river system - with lots of bridges - that wound through the sandpit and out into further "rivers" leading south. The staff set up a sprinkler in the wading pool (which was not yet open), and kids were not only running through the sprinkler but also finding out all the ways in which a hose could be kinked to change the water flow and trick people. Up by the pizza oven, for the people making pizzas there was another sprinkler. Kids ran through that one too, and some of their parents just stood in the spray to get wet, and and so did the performers from Clay and Paper Theatre when they'd finished their parade through City Councillor Silva's annual Summerfest flea market. To the north of the rink house, the Eagles soccer club was running a car wash. They sudsed tow trucks as well as the cars they flagged down at the Dufferin mall light, and at the end they also sudsed each other.

Later, when it was time to wash the dishes from the pizza day, the park cooks sprayed one another with our new kitchen sprayer - it has very strong spray that is excellent for cleaning dishes and for park staff waterfights. The waterfight theme was repeated at most of the birthday parties and barbecues happening throughout the park. One of the parties was partly on stilts, because many of the guests - as well as the host - were stiltwalkers. They danced on stilts, leaned up against the high branches of trees, and the host had an orange and a green water pistol with which he was allowed to squirt anyone he chose, on stilts or on the ground.

At the end of the afternoon the kids at the playground disconnected the sprinkler from the hose and tried to use the hose to fill the pool. There was so much silt left over from the winter that the drains plugged and the pool really did begin to fill - with dark brown opaque mud-water. Kids splashed in this mukky soup and then used their plastic shovels to unplug the drains - with help from some grownups - so that there would be no standing water during the night.

Eventually, everyone went home. All that was left by way of sound late at night was one sprinkler, swishing water back and forth between the roses and the potato plants in the adjoining park flower and vegetable gardens.

What a great thing, a park in a city beside a huge lake full of water to draw on, on a hot day.

The next day it went up to 30, with a forecast of more for days to come.

The politics of water in the park: Harmonization, 2003

On Monday the Dufferin Grove park staff prepared to open the wading pool, a week early. But just before noon the district park manager called and said he had spoken to the general manager of Parks and Recreation, Claire Tucker Reid, and that we would NOT be permitted to have the wading pool open until the regular summer opening date, at the end of the week. The policy of "harmonization" of services mandated keeping all the wading pools closed until they could all be opened at the same time, on a previously established schedule.

The staff were told to turn on the four-foot spurt of water at the centre of the wading pool instead, to act as a "cooling station." So for two sweltering days we were treated to the spectacle of an empty wading pool with people sitting all around this little water spurt. Six or eight kids at a time had some fun versus the 30 or 40 who can dance in and out of pool when it's filled with water.

keeping cool at Dufferin Grove Park. Photo: Wallie Seto

I emailed the general manager, on Monday afternoon, to seek a change of mind, but she did not reply. People contacted their friends across the city, as the temperature continued to rise, and they passed phone numbers and emails back and forth. The park clubhouse phone rang and rang. I put City Councillor Mario Silva's number on the voicemail, and the general manager's email address. People got all sorts of replies from the city management staff they lobbied: that the wading pool couldn't be opened because of security issues (?), lack of training, lack of budget, or because of various risk factors; that we already had a lovely splash pad (the four-foot water spurt), that maybe we'd open in two hours, maybe we'd open in July, maybe they'd put you on hold or give you another number to call -- chaos.

Then on Wednesday morning the staff were allowed to open after all. By noon the word was out and the pool was full of kids, normal for a hot day. That day it went to 33.6 C, and there was watermelon for sale at the playground snack bar.

Success. But so much effort, for something that’s common sense.