Montreal ranked among the worst cities in the world for air quality on Tuesday

The air quality in Montreal on Tuesday morning was ranked the sixth worst in the world for major cities by IQAir.

Environment Canada says that smoke from forest fires in the Canadian Prairies is causing poor air quality, and they recommend that people limit time outdoors and reduce outdoor sports, activities, and events.

The summer day camp for children run by the Town of Mount Royal is adapting to this and has moved their activities indoors.

“Today was too hot, but also the air quality was not good enough for the kids to be outside. So we usually go to the park. We usually always try to keep the kids outside. Today we decided to bring them inside,” said Milo Vallee-Massé, a day camp supervisor in the Town of Mount Royal.

The children were inside the TMR recreation centre to stay active indoors.

“We try to optimize all the equipment that we have, all the different rooms, so that they have a variety of different activities that they can all do during the day,” said Vallee-Massé.

“And every afternoon, we try to rotate who goes to the pool. But since the weather is not good, we’re going to try to send all of the groups we can to the pool.”

One of the parks that the TMR summer camp normally uses to play games and activities for its 200 kids aged four to 12 was mostly empty on Tuesday afternoon. However, despite the poor air quality, there were still some people in the park playing tennis.

“I didn’t know we had bad air quality today. So when I saw the météo, it’s 25 degrees C, I decided to go outside to play tennis,” said Kim Mathi, a resident.

Environment and Climate Change Canada measures air quality in relation to health on a scale from one to 10. On Tuesday, in Montreal, the air quality was measured at seven, representing a high risk.  

“Everybody is susceptible to deteriorating health as a result of these smoke particles. But people who are particularly affected are those with pre-existing health conditions, for example lung conditions, heart conditions, people who are pregnant, elderly people,” said Steven Flisfeder, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

The air quality in Montreal is expected to improve by Wednesday, but before then, people were still outdoors working, getting exercise, and enjoying the scenic view on Mount Royal.  

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“I did notice when I was going up the hill, right. I didn’t notice a little bit more, like I had to breathe a little bit harder,” said Waqar Yousaf, a Toronto resident. “I did notice smoke in the air. And that’s when I realized that there is something going on with air pollution.”

Alexander Bergman, a Montrealer who cycled up Mount Royal, said, “I just got this bike like two days ago. So it’s the middle of summer. I’m not letting it stop me.” Adding, “Yeah, if I knew more about the scientific, like how it affects our health generally, I guess maybe I wouldn’t have gone today.”