VICTORY! New West passes Canada’s First-Ever Maximum Heat Bylaw!
Posted April 2, 2026
After years of relentless organizing, ACORN and the City of New Westminster have made history—again!
New Westminster has officially become the first city in Canada to pass a maximum heat bylaw, proving once again that when tenants organize, we WIN!
This week, City Council passed a ground-breaking amendment to its landlord licensing bylaw. The new rules are clear: It is now the landlord’s legal responsibility to ensure that at least one room in every rental unit is kept below 26 degrees Celsius between 8:00 PM and 8:00 AM. For too long, tenants have been left to swelter in dangerously hot apartments, told by landlords that they couldn’t even install their own A/C units (something that the City of New West also banned in 2025). But ACORN members know that extreme heat is a matter of life and death. As New West ACORN Chair Monica Bhandari told New Westminster City Council in 2025: “New Westminster must be bold and do what’s needed to protect their constituents from the substantial dangers of climate change.”
Council listened. In addition to the temperature cap, the city is banning landlords from unreasonably stopping tenants from installing portable A/C units and is adding three full-time staff positions dedicated to tenant-related enforcement and support.
New Westminster has a track record of boldly going where no council has gone before—starting with BC ACORN’s flagship Living Wage bylaw win in 2010 and the renoviction ban in 2019, both of which resulted in massive wins across the province for higher wages and expanded tenant protections. Now, by passing the first maximum heat bylaw in Canada, ACORN is proud to be a part of history once again!
What’s Next? This is a massive win for climate justice and tenant rights, but we aren’t stopping here. No tenant should have to choose between paying rent and staying cool during a heatwave.
ACORN is proud to be part of this historic moment. We are going to take the “New West Model” and use it to demand maximum heat protections for tenants across BC, across Canada, and across the world!
