Smoke from wildfires in Quebec has settled over southern Ontario and travelled into the United States, disrupting flights and sending people indoors.
On Wednesday mask supplier United Canada sent out an email with "Wildfire Season Safety Tips" that included an N95 mask.
It's "a little disheartening" to be wearing a mask again, she said, but "that's what you have to do.
Hume-Beardall added she hopes the spectre of smoky air "is a little bit of a wakeup call to people around the environment."
Studies in people have linked wildfire smoke with higher rates of heart attacks, strokes, and cardiac arrests, increases in emergency room visits for respiratory conditions, and weakened immune defenses.
Persons:
Canada Strong, Rivi Hume, Hume, Beardall, Samantha Green, Green, Marietta Haberer, Anna Mehler Paperny, Diane Craft
Organizations:
TORONTO, United Canada, Reuters, Unity Health, Toronto . Studies, Thomson
Locations:
Canada, Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, United States, Toronto