Carter's Project: Protect Kids from Wildfire Smoke
The Issue
On the day Carter died, there were no wildfires burning near our home in 100 Mile House, B.C.
July 11, 2023, was Carter's day to come to the summer camp I was running for children in our town; he was so excited. We had planned to take the kids to the park to enjoy the hot day in the water park. My coworker and I checked the air quality on the weather app on my phone; it showed that the air was safe. We couldn't smell smoke or see smoke, so we thought the information was correct. Unbeknownst to us, this information was coming from 100 km in either direction from 100 Mile House and was not accurate at all.
Thinking it was safe, off to the park we went. Carter was so excited and chatty as we walked. He pointed out cool cars he saw and talked about what he wanted to do when we got there: kick the soccer ball around, run through the water park and have a picnic lunch. And he did all of those things with a giant smile on his face.
It was hot, and he was working hard and did have to take his puffer after running around. That was nothing out of the norm for him, especially when he was running. Carter was diagnosed with asthma around the age of 3 years old.
Around noon, the smoke started to roll in. I knew it would not be safe for Carter to walk back to the rec center, so I called a coworker to come and pick him up and drive him back. When I got back to the rec center, he was so excited about what he had heard on the radio. He came running to me and said, “Mom, Mom! Guess what I heard on the radio?! It’s free slurpee day! We HAVE to go!” We decided we would go after dinner as a family, but unfortunately we never made it to get the free slurpees.
That evening when we got home, I was making dinner, and everyone else was in the living room. I heard Carter start coughing, and he couldn't stop. My husband James gave him his puffer and was trying to calm him down. When he started coughing again, we did everything the doctors always told us to do: his emergency inhaler, water, his steroid inhaler.
At one point he seemed to be coming out of this asthma attack, so we ran him a cool bath. Carter always wanted a cool bath after an attack, because he would get so worked up and sweaty; it always seemed to help him. While in the bath, he started coughing again. I knew that we needed to get him to the hospital, thinking he just needed his oxygen topped up.
We only lived 3 miles out of 100 Mile, but a few days before we had to call an ambulance for our daughter and it took them 12 minutes to get to our house; Carter didn’t have that kind of time.
James picked him up and carried him out to the truck. As they were walked out Carter told his dad, "This isn't good.” Right then, we both knew this wasn't just a normal asthma attack. I called 9-1-1 from the truck and told them I was on my way with him. I knew they needed to be prepared for when we got there! I got him there in less then 5 minutes and the paramedics were waiting outside for us to arrive. They immediately pulled Carter out of the truck and rushed him inside, where there were multiple nurses and doctors waiting for him.
Everything in the hospital was happening so fast and my baby was there in the middle of it all, fighting for his life. At one point I remember them getting ready to start an IV, and I said to the nurse, “He’s not going to like that!” She stuck the needle in, and Carter didn’t even move. I knew then that something terrible was wrong. I remember texting James, who had stayed home with our other 2 kids and saying, “You need to get here now!” I swear it was 2 minutes later and he was standing behind me at Carter's bedside.
The entire time they worked on Carter, we stood there and told him how much we loved him, to keep breathing - just keep breathing. When they started to do CPR on him, there was a line up of nurses and paramedics taking turns, and we had to sit there and watch it all happen. I remember thinking, “It’s ok, Toots, your chest is going to hurt tomorrow, but we will be here to help you! You’re going to be ok, baby, just breathe for us!”
When the doctor told us to come out of the room, I wasn’t prepared for what he was about to say! He told us that there was nothing else they could do for Carter; he was gone. My beautiful 9-year-old baby was gone.
We walked back into that room full of people; everyone was crying, and no one was touching Carter; he just lay in the middle of this room, not moving. I remember running to his bedside, crying and hugging him; how was this possible? This wasn’t our story! We weren’t supposed to leave the hospital that night without our baby. Neither of us ever thought in a million years it would end the way it did.
The coroner said Carter died from an asthma attack exacerbated by wildfire smoke. What none of us knew that day was that my air quality app was reading from a monitoring station 100 kilometres away. It had no idea what was actually in the air in our area.
Wildfires are Canada's new reality, and the smoke is one of the biggest threats to the more than 4.6 million Canadians living with asthma. Wildfire smoke is now responsible for an average of 1,400 deaths in Canada every year. Canada has only approximately 280 air quality monitoring stations for the whole country, most of them clustered near big cities, which leaves huge gaps for rural, remote and northern communities. The majority of these monitoring stations are not government-controlled or owned; they are monitors that individuals have purchased and installed on their own.
James and I partnered with the BC Lung Foundation to launch Carter's Project. We've since brought real-time outdoor monitors, free indoor monitors and taught people how to make DIY air cleaners to multiple communities across British Columbia, with more added every year. More than 15,000 British Columbians now have real, real-time air quality information because of it.
I always said that once we finished one community, we'd keep going: across B.C., then Alberta, then Saskatchewan, right across the country. Now I'm asking the federal government to help us get there faster. I'm asking the Minister of Health, and the Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature to fund Carter's Project so every province and territory gets it too. Every single person in Canada deserves to have real-time, accurate air quality monitoring! Every person in Canada deserves to have the knowledge and information to make informed and safe choices regarding the safety of the outdoor air.
That means:
● Real-time monitors in rural, remote and northern communities that don't have one today
● Accurate, local air quality information for every Canadian parent, not a reading from a monitor far away
● Building on a model already operating in B.C., instead of starting from zero everywhere else
Carter's life was taken way too soon, but through his memory, he's out there saving lives for other kids and adults. It's kind of a love-hate thing. I want to make a difference for Carter, but I would give it all back in a heartbeat if I could have him back. Please sign this petition and help make sure no other Canadian parent has to learn, the way I did, that the air quality reading on their phone isn't the air their child is actually breathing.
Amber Vigh,
Carter's mom, 100 Mile House, B.C.
994
The Issue
On the day Carter died, there were no wildfires burning near our home in 100 Mile House, B.C.
July 11, 2023, was Carter's day to come to the summer camp I was running for children in our town; he was so excited. We had planned to take the kids to the park to enjoy the hot day in the water park. My coworker and I checked the air quality on the weather app on my phone; it showed that the air was safe. We couldn't smell smoke or see smoke, so we thought the information was correct. Unbeknownst to us, this information was coming from 100 km in either direction from 100 Mile House and was not accurate at all.
Thinking it was safe, off to the park we went. Carter was so excited and chatty as we walked. He pointed out cool cars he saw and talked about what he wanted to do when we got there: kick the soccer ball around, run through the water park and have a picnic lunch. And he did all of those things with a giant smile on his face.
It was hot, and he was working hard and did have to take his puffer after running around. That was nothing out of the norm for him, especially when he was running. Carter was diagnosed with asthma around the age of 3 years old.
Around noon, the smoke started to roll in. I knew it would not be safe for Carter to walk back to the rec center, so I called a coworker to come and pick him up and drive him back. When I got back to the rec center, he was so excited about what he had heard on the radio. He came running to me and said, “Mom, Mom! Guess what I heard on the radio?! It’s free slurpee day! We HAVE to go!” We decided we would go after dinner as a family, but unfortunately we never made it to get the free slurpees.
That evening when we got home, I was making dinner, and everyone else was in the living room. I heard Carter start coughing, and he couldn't stop. My husband James gave him his puffer and was trying to calm him down. When he started coughing again, we did everything the doctors always told us to do: his emergency inhaler, water, his steroid inhaler.
At one point he seemed to be coming out of this asthma attack, so we ran him a cool bath. Carter always wanted a cool bath after an attack, because he would get so worked up and sweaty; it always seemed to help him. While in the bath, he started coughing again. I knew that we needed to get him to the hospital, thinking he just needed his oxygen topped up.
We only lived 3 miles out of 100 Mile, but a few days before we had to call an ambulance for our daughter and it took them 12 minutes to get to our house; Carter didn’t have that kind of time.
James picked him up and carried him out to the truck. As they were walked out Carter told his dad, "This isn't good.” Right then, we both knew this wasn't just a normal asthma attack. I called 9-1-1 from the truck and told them I was on my way with him. I knew they needed to be prepared for when we got there! I got him there in less then 5 minutes and the paramedics were waiting outside for us to arrive. They immediately pulled Carter out of the truck and rushed him inside, where there were multiple nurses and doctors waiting for him.
Everything in the hospital was happening so fast and my baby was there in the middle of it all, fighting for his life. At one point I remember them getting ready to start an IV, and I said to the nurse, “He’s not going to like that!” She stuck the needle in, and Carter didn’t even move. I knew then that something terrible was wrong. I remember texting James, who had stayed home with our other 2 kids and saying, “You need to get here now!” I swear it was 2 minutes later and he was standing behind me at Carter's bedside.
The entire time they worked on Carter, we stood there and told him how much we loved him, to keep breathing - just keep breathing. When they started to do CPR on him, there was a line up of nurses and paramedics taking turns, and we had to sit there and watch it all happen. I remember thinking, “It’s ok, Toots, your chest is going to hurt tomorrow, but we will be here to help you! You’re going to be ok, baby, just breathe for us!”
When the doctor told us to come out of the room, I wasn’t prepared for what he was about to say! He told us that there was nothing else they could do for Carter; he was gone. My beautiful 9-year-old baby was gone.
We walked back into that room full of people; everyone was crying, and no one was touching Carter; he just lay in the middle of this room, not moving. I remember running to his bedside, crying and hugging him; how was this possible? This wasn’t our story! We weren’t supposed to leave the hospital that night without our baby. Neither of us ever thought in a million years it would end the way it did.
The coroner said Carter died from an asthma attack exacerbated by wildfire smoke. What none of us knew that day was that my air quality app was reading from a monitoring station 100 kilometres away. It had no idea what was actually in the air in our area.
Wildfires are Canada's new reality, and the smoke is one of the biggest threats to the more than 4.6 million Canadians living with asthma. Wildfire smoke is now responsible for an average of 1,400 deaths in Canada every year. Canada has only approximately 280 air quality monitoring stations for the whole country, most of them clustered near big cities, which leaves huge gaps for rural, remote and northern communities. The majority of these monitoring stations are not government-controlled or owned; they are monitors that individuals have purchased and installed on their own.
James and I partnered with the BC Lung Foundation to launch Carter's Project. We've since brought real-time outdoor monitors, free indoor monitors and taught people how to make DIY air cleaners to multiple communities across British Columbia, with more added every year. More than 15,000 British Columbians now have real, real-time air quality information because of it.
I always said that once we finished one community, we'd keep going: across B.C., then Alberta, then Saskatchewan, right across the country. Now I'm asking the federal government to help us get there faster. I'm asking the Minister of Health, and the Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature to fund Carter's Project so every province and territory gets it too. Every single person in Canada deserves to have real-time, accurate air quality monitoring! Every person in Canada deserves to have the knowledge and information to make informed and safe choices regarding the safety of the outdoor air.
That means:
● Real-time monitors in rural, remote and northern communities that don't have one today
● Accurate, local air quality information for every Canadian parent, not a reading from a monitor far away
● Building on a model already operating in B.C., instead of starting from zero everywhere else
Carter's life was taken way too soon, but through his memory, he's out there saving lives for other kids and adults. It's kind of a love-hate thing. I want to make a difference for Carter, but I would give it all back in a heartbeat if I could have him back. Please sign this petition and help make sure no other Canadian parent has to learn, the way I did, that the air quality reading on their phone isn't the air their child is actually breathing.
Amber Vigh,
Carter's mom, 100 Mile House, B.C.
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Petition created on August 10, 2026