Ontario to require home CO alarms

‘Legacy’ for family who died of carbon monoxide poisoning

TORONTO A family whose personal tragedy sparked a five-year battle to make carbon monoxide detectors mandatory in all Ontario homes hopes other provinces will soon follow suit.

The Hawkins Gignac Act — named after members of a Woodstock family who died from carbon monoxide poisoning in 2008 — passed Wednesday in the legislature, paving the way for CO alarms, like smoke detectors, to be used in all homes.

John Gignac, whose niece died along with her husband and two children, said his family will never be able to fully recover from their deaths. But the legislation allows their memory to live on.

“It creates a legacy and it makes Laurie’s memory live on and not in vain,” he said.

“The family didn’t die for no reason. It’s helping to educate Canadians on the dangers of carbon monoxide.”

Former provincial police officer Laurie Hawkins, her husband, Richard, their 14-yearold daughter, Cassandra, and 12-year-old son, Jordan, all died after a blocked chimney allowed carbon monoxide to seep into their home, which didn’t have a CO detector.

Carbon monoxide is colourless, odourless and tasteless, making it very difficult to detect.

The new law will allow the fire code to be changed so that all homes are required to have CO detectors, said Progressive Conservative MPP Ernie Hardeman, who pushed for the changes for five years.

Right now, only residences built after Aug. 6, 2001 are required to have CO detectors installed.

Yukon was the first jurisdiction to make it mandatory, Hardeman said. Now that Ontario is on board, other provinces could join in.

“I don’t think there’s any province immune from carbon monoxide poisoning,” he said.

“It’s not a unique problem to one little area in the province or one unique area even in the country of Canada. It’s all over.”

Community Safety Minister Madeleine Meilleur said she hopes other provinces will realize the importance of CO detectors.

“Provinces always look at what their neighbours are doing,” she said before the final vote.

“So we take examples from elsewhere, and I hope that the action of the Ontario government today will convince other provinces to follow us.”

In a rare show of solidarity, all three parties in Ontario’s minority legislature agreed Wednesday to pass his bill without a recorded vote. Premier

‘It makes Laurie’s memory live on ... helping to educate Canadians on the dangers of carbon monoxide.’

JOHN GIGNAC Uncle of woman whose family died from CO poisoning

Kathleen Wynne even attended to add her voice to the all-party chorus.

Ontario’s new legislation expands the scope of the Fire Prevention and Protection Act to include unsafe levels of carbon monoxide, paving the way for a regulation change to require CO detectors in all homes.

It also allows fire departments to enforce the rules, just as they do with smoke detectors, Hardeman said.