Name
Concurrent Workshops
Date & Time
Wednesday, October 7, 2026, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Speakers
Description
- Comfort, climate, and equity: tenant voices in building performance
As building performance standards and thermal comfort bylaws gain momentum, it is critical to ensure that tenants are meaningfully engaged in policy and implementation discussions. This workshop will explore the connections between tenant engagement, energy poverty, building performance standards, and minimum/maximum heat requirements. Participants will discuss how policies and retrofit programs can simultaneously advance climate goals, affordability, health, and safety while minimizing unintended impacts on tenants. Through case studies and discussion, the session will identify practical strategies for creating more equitable, comfortable, and resilient housing.
Stephanie Pineau, FCM
- A national strategy to end energy poverty
The Energy Poverty Coalition emerged from a CHEJ 2025 session focused on advancing a national framework to end energy poverty in Canada. The Coalition brings together organizations committed to reducing and ultimately eliminating energy poverty in Canada through collaboration, shared learning, and coordinated action. This session, led by Efficiency Canada Campaign Manager Emilie Grenier, will focus on the Coalition’s work and strategic planning around ongoing advocacy.
Emilie Grenier, Efficiency Canada
- Disability justice and energy poverty
As extreme heat events become more frequent and severe, indoor cooling is emerging as both a climate adaptation and disability justice issue. This workshop explores how a Disability Justice lens can help bridge climate mitigation and adaptation efforts in buildings, areas that are often treated separately despite significant overlap. Drawing on preliminary findings from interviews with climate, energy, disability, and accessibility stakeholders, participants will discuss opportunities to align building decarbonization, thermal resilience, and accessibility goals through technology, policy, and program design, creating healthier and more equitable outcomes for building occupants.
Alyssa Scanga, Trent University