On Air Now

Heart FM Mornings

5:30am - 10:00am

  • 519-537-1047

Now Playing

Listen Live Listen Live HD2

CO Awareness Week Underway

Wednesday, 4 November 2026 at 06:29

By Marcie Culbert X @marcieculbert

Photo provided by Pixabay.com

Carbon monoxide is a colourless and odourless gas that could be deadly if its found inside the home.

OXFORD - It's Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week in Oxford County.

It's always held on November 1st to the November 7th, to shine a light on the colourless, odourless gas that could be deadly if its found inside the home.

John Gignac founded the Hawkins-Gignac Foundation after his niece Laurie Hawkins and her family died of carbon monoxide poinsoning in their Woodstock home back in 2008. Gignac worked very closely with Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman to pass the Hawkins-Gignac Act in 2014 and it became law in Ontario in 2015.

However, Gignac says the law was updated earlier this year.

"When we first started out, you had to have carbon monoxide alarms outside your sleeping quarters. The new law as of January 1st, 2026 states that you must have a carbon monoxide alarm on every of the home, no matter where you sleeping quarters are. We asked for this a long time ago, but we started with the bare minimum and now we've worked up to the max."

Carbon monoxide alarms also have to be replaced after 10 years and you have to replace them with what you had before, whether it was battery powered or hardwired.

Gignac is encouraging every to talk to their friends, family, neighbours, and coworkers about carbon monoxide awareness.

"If everybody talks to just one person, then we're going to get a lot of people in the community putting new carbon monoxide detectors in and everyone is going to be protected. So lets develop our team and work together to help each other because you never know when it's going to help save a life."

You can find more information about the Hawkins-Gignac Foundation online here.

John Gignac stopped by the Heart FM studio to chat with Dan Henry on Monday, November 2nd. You can listen to the full interview below:

Share

More from Local News

Comments

Add a comment

Log in to the club or enter your details below.
Rating *

Weather

Recently Played

© Copyright 2026 104.7 Heart FM (CIHR-FM) is owned and operated by Byrnes Communications Inc.. Powered by Aiir.