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Canada’s Air Quality Monitoring Faces Scrutiny Amid Rising Wildfire Smoke Risks
- On July 15, 2026, smoke from 185 wildfires in northern Ontario obscured the sun over Toronto, causing health problems and breathing difficulties due to fine particulate matter called PM 2.5 in the smoke.
- Ontario's traditional Air Quality Health Index system inadequately reflected high PM 2.5 risks, leading to the adoption of the improved AQHI-Plus system by 2024, which focuses more on PM 2.5 levels to better inform the public.
- Canada has about 200 air-quality-monitoring stations mostly near cities, resulting in gaps and inaccurate regional air quality data in rural and northern communities during wildfires.
- Smaller, portable PM 2.5 sensors and new models like CanOSSEM are being piloted to improve monitoring, but challenges remain, especially for vulnerable and remote populations lacking infrastructure.
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17 Articles
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Total News Sources17
Leaning Left17Leaning Right0Center0Last UpdatedBias Distribution100% Left
Bias Distribution
- 100% of the sources lean Left
100% Left
L 100%
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