Environment Canada adopts B.C. model to warn of smoke hazards

Last year’s record-breaking wildfire season forced Canadians to become familiar with the scale of air pollution as hazardous smoke drifted across the country.

Environment Canada’s colour-coded Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), designed to help people understand health risks associated with contaminated air, was closely watched under hazy, orange skies that stretched beyond the Canada-U.S. border.

But the AQHI, measured on a scale from one to 10+, was not calculated the same way in all provinces and some people were unsure how index values applied to their daily activities.