My name is Monique I reside in Hamilton, Ontario.

  I am calling upon the Ontario government or even better the Canadian government to provide emergency window escape ladders and fire extinguishers free of charge to low income families as-well as provide financial assistance to anyone who may need  it.
   What the system considers not eligible for low income support is not acceptable, with the rise in cost for everything these days, even middle class Canadians are struggling financially and they should be provided assistance for things that can save there family’s life if it’s required

what made me decide to start this petition?

…..Well the past couple months I have noticed an increase in the number of house fires across Ontario.  In a recent press conference for a Hamilton east mountain townhome fire that took the lives of 2 children and 2 Adults it was stated in 2022  there were 133 fire-related deaths in Ontario.

    This prompted me to start looking into ways I can help my family and other families better prepare incase of a fire. While doing some safety plans and checklists I started to look up  emergency escape ladders that I was interested in purchasing for my kids bedrooms. I was surprised to see the cost of these life saving items. The cheapest ladder was $80 and it was only for 1 Time use. After doing some research and just regular observations I realized that a standard townhome with garage has the master bedroom above the garage, which makes it easier for escape out of that window. in most peoples homes the parents bedroom is the master bedroom  and childrens are in the smaller rooms, these smaller bedrooms are normally in the back of the unit and have nothing under the window to climb on to… this is usually 2 stories high in some cases 3 stories high. it is terrifying to me to think of a child trying to choose to jump or be stuck in a fire.

   I decided to start recommending that all tenants of 2-3 story townhomes or even single homes invest in some emergency escape ladders. I was surprised at some of the replies I got “ I have already been looking, I’m not going to get to eat this month but i don’t care” or “ I need to save up, I can’t get one for a while” or “ my budget is barley enough to pay rent and heat, there’s no way I could buy them,  these reply’s broke my heart.

   I started looking for any kind of programs that would cover the cost or at lease assist with the cost of these items for these people…. I couldn’t find a single thing. I’m hoping I missed one but even if I did it is clearly not easy to find which I’m sure many people don’t know it’s there.

  I am asking for is that the government provides people with somewhere to go to assist them with getting these live saving items. I cannot believe that it’s about $400 to provide 2 bedrooms a safe way to escape incase of a fire 

    thank you for everyone who will sign this petition and if someone knows of a program I may not be familiar with please contact me by email at mrouse1984@gmail.com 

please send and share to as many people as possible…. This is something that we shouldn’t need to pay for! Why is it that only people who have the extra money can provide this kind of security to their families! It’s just wrong!!