Quebec give seniors' homes 2nd deadline extension to install automatic sprinklers

Quebec has once again extended the deadline for private seniors' residences to install automatic sprinkler systems.

In 2014, a fire ripped through a private seniors' home in L'Isle-Verte, Que., killing 32 people.

Following a coroner's report, the province passed legislation in 2015 requiring private seniors' residences, known as RPAs, to install the automatic sprinkler systems by December 2020. 

The province later  pushed back that deadline to Dec. 2, 2024.

But, in a news release on Thursday, Sonia Bélanger, the minister responsible for seniors, announced that they would now have until Dec. 2, 2027. 

The minister said the three-year extension was necessary because many smaller RPAs had not yet installed the sprinklers, and, if the requirement would have come into effect, those facilities would have had to close.

"I'm sensitive to the reality of small RPAs," Bélanger said in a statement. "Closures must be avoided at all costs, as they have a major and direct impact on the housing supply."

The minister said Quebec will increase the subsidy available to help RPA owners pay for the sprinklers, which are expensive to install.

The requirement for automatic sprinkler systems does not apply for facilities with fewer than 10 people.

There are currently 363 RPAs that lack sprinklers in Quebec — just under 30 per cent of all RPAs, but 271 of those are currently in the process of installing them, according to the minister's office. 

The RPAs that lack sprinklers are disproportionately small, however. They comprise less than five per cent of existing seniors' residence units.