The message that settled over southeastern Ontario last Wednesday didn’t arrive with dramatic flair. No emergency alerts blared from phones, no lightning split the sky. Instead, it came as a quiet haze—a subtle thickening of the air that gradually draped itself across Kingston, Belleville, and surrounding communities.
“I noticed it first thing in the morning,” said Marisa Wells, a gardener from Napanee who spends most days outdoors. “The horizon looked smudged, like someone had taken an eraser to it. By afternoon, I could taste something metallic when I breathed deeply.”
What Wells experienced was the leading edge of poor air quality conditions that prompted Environment Canada to issue a special air quality statement for the Kingston, Prince Edward, Belleville, Quinte, and Northumberland regions. The culprit: elevated concentrations of fine particulate matter and potentially harmful air pollutants drifting into the region.
Dr. Ethan Moore, environmental health specialist with KFL&A Public Health, explains that these aren’t just aesthetic concerns. “Fine particulate matter—especially PM2.5, which describes particles smaller than 2.5 microns—can penetrate deep into lung tissue and even enter the bloodstream,” he told me during a phone conversation as the advisory was being prepared. “For context, these particles are roughly 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair.”
The timing couldn’t be more concerning. After a summer that saw communities across Canada choking under unprecedented wildfire smoke, this autumn alert represents what many environmental health experts fear may become our “new normal”—a pattern of recurring air quality challenges that extend well beyond traditional wildfire seasons.
While this particular advisory wasn’t connected to active wildfires, the Kingston region has experienced multiple smoke events this year. The region sits in a vulnerable position, potentially receiving pollution from industrial activities in southern Ontario and the American Midwest, as well as wildfire smoke that can travel thousands of kilometers.
At Trillium Public School in Kingston, physical education teacher Devon Williams made the difficult decision to keep students indoors during their normally sacred outdoor time. “The kids were disappointed, but we’ve become much more cautious since the smoke events this summer,” Williams said. “We’re adapting our programs to include more indoor options, which honestly feels like a sad shift.”
The health implications extend beyond just temporary discomfort. The Canadian Institute for Climate Choices released data earlier this year suggesting that air pollution contributes to approximately 15,300 premature deaths annually in Canada, with economic impacts exceeding $120 billion through healthcare costs and lost productivity.
Outside Kingston General Hospital, I met Elaine Thompson, who was taking careful, measured steps while using a portable oxygen concentrator. “I have COPD,” she explained, referring to the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that already restricts her breathing. “On days like this, it feels like breathing through a coffee straw. My respirologist told me to minimize outdoor exposure when the air quality deteriorates.”
Thompson represents one of the vulnerable populations that health officials worry about most during air quality events. KFL&A Public Health specifically advises that children, seniors, pregnant people, and those with existing heart or lung conditions take extra precautions during poor air quality periods.
These precautions include limiting outdoor exertion, keeping windows closed when possible, and using air purifiers if available. For those without commercial air purifiers, some relief can be found by creating DIY versions using box fans and HVAC filters—a solution that has gained popularity as climate-related air quality issues become more common.
“The challenging reality is that these events require both immediate personal adaptation and longer-term systemic change,” noted Dr. Piotr Wilk, environmental epidemiologist at Queen’s University. “We need to simultaneously help vulnerable populations protect themselves today while addressing the root causes of air pollution and climate change.”
The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) remained at moderate risk levels throughout most of the advisory period, though forecasts suggested potential movement into the high-risk category if conditions worsened. Environment Canada advised residents to monitor the AQHI values through their weather app or website.
Local hardware stores reported increased sales of air purifiers and high-quality filters, continuing a trend that began during summer wildfire events. “We’ve restocked our air purifier section four times since May,” said Terry Kwon, manager at a Kingston home improvement store. “People are starting to treat them like essential household items, not luxury purchases.”
For the region’s outdoor workers, the situation presents difficult choices. Construction crews, postal workers, and landscapers must balance economic necessities with health considerations. Some companies have implemented new protocols, including respiratory protection and modified schedules during air quality events.
As dusk fell over Lake Ontario on Thursday, the haze created an eerily beautiful sunset—the kind that photographers rush to capture despite knowing its colors come from concerning particulate matter. This contradiction exemplifies our complicated relationship with environmental change: we simultaneously appreciate its otherworldly beauty while recognizing its troubling implications.
The current advisory is expected to lift as weather patterns shift, bringing cleaner air into the region. But for southeastern Ontario residents, the experience serves as yet another reminder of how climate change and environmental conditions increasingly shape our daily lives, health considerations, and community planning.
As Kingston resident and environmental advocate Susan Greenberg told me while we watched that hazy sunset from the waterfront: “We used to check the forecast just for rain or shine. Now we check for air quality, too. That’s not the world I grew up in, but it’s definitely the one we’re handing to our children.”
