Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack and public health advocates are calling for more open data on deaths and amputations caused by extreme winter weather, arguing that the current lack of publicly available statistics limits the city's ability to respond effectively to the homelessness crisis.
In 2024, four people froze to death in bus shelters, and 110 individuals required limb amputations due to severe frostbite. However, these figures were only revealed after journalists filed freedom of information requests, according to Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare.
Data gaps hinder decision-making
During a May 11 community and public services meeting, Gallaway noted that the data already exists but is not released in a timely manner. "Months later we find out what happened in the previous winter," he said. "But the data already existed, and we could be releasing it throughout the winter to get a sense of what’s happening — is it a worse winter than normal?"
Gallaway added that aggregated health data from hospitals could also be shared proactively, similar to other health statistics. Mayor Knack confirmed that the city has faced difficulties obtaining information from the provincial government. "It’s ultimately provincial data," he said. "We’ve also made requests for more data to make sure we’re being as efficient with our resources as possible and to date it’s still incomplete."
Impact on resource allocation
Knack emphasized that better data would enable more effective distribution of limited resources, especially during severe weather events. "Having better data allows you to make better decisions because you can then better distribute your limited resources to have the best overall outcome, especially in a serious issue like this," he said.
In his first act as mayor, Knack allocated $1 million for warm spaces, which Homeward Trust Edmonton leveraged to secure an additional $311,522 through the federal winter emergency response program. This funding supported four day shelters operating on extended hours. A report on the program's effectiveness is expected in June.
Winter transport numbers surge
Data provided to city council shows that during the 2025-26 winter, there were 21,389 transports made in response to dangerous weather — a more than threefold increase from the previous two years (6,703 in 2024-25 and 5,478 in 2023-24). A fourth transport was added to the fleet in the 2025-26 season.
Over the summer, the city opens recreation centres and air-conditioned public spaces to help people escape the heat, Knack noted.
Need for pre- and post-recovery housing
While acknowledging that the province has substantially increased the number of 24-hour shelter spaces, Knack stressed the need for more day spaces and year-round recovery supports. "The province is doing a lot of work building recovery beds," he said. "I think the biggest gap is the pre-recovery and post-recovery housing units."
He explained that when someone enters a shelter and expresses readiness for recovery, there are often insufficient recovery beds available. "Continuing to build shelters doesn’t solve the problem. Day spaces are an important stop-gap, but we need more units for pre-recovery and post-recovery as well."
Postmedia reached out to Primary Care Alberta for updated numbers on deaths and amputations over the 2025 winter but did not receive a response.
