Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you this morning.
I'm the president and board chairman of the North Edmonton Seniors Association. The North Edmonton Seniors Association has over 2,300 members. We are the biggest seniors centre in the city, arguably one of the biggest in Canada. Of those 2,300 members, 350 are aged 86 and older. As board chair, I am one of over 300 volunteers who contributed over 50,000 hours of volunteer time to our community last year. The majority of our members live in their own homes, primarily in older, single-family dwellings. A significant number are widowed. This group would be significantly affected by changes to the mail delivery system.
As you are probably aware, Edmonton is one of the most northerly cities in the world, and as such, winter presents challenges to older, more frail citizens. The removal of postal services would present a roadblock to people trying to remain in their own homes. I understand this morning that the federal government is trying to convince the provinces that they should take $4 billion to help keep seniors in their homes. That seems to me to be a bit of a contradiction.
In areas where neighbourhood mailboxes exist, the post office has not taken the responsibility for snow clearing or garbage removal after the fact. Snow and ice on the streets are a hazard to seniors. If the homeowners who have had that responsibility downloaded onto them do not take the option of keeping things clean, it makes it impossible for many seniors to get to their mail safely and get what they need.
Seniors as a group are dependent on home delivery of packages and home delivery of their mail. They are far less likely than other citizens to use electronic means to receive their bills or to pay them, so the mail is extremely important to them.
A stated goal of all levels of government in Canada is that they want to keep seniors in their homes as long as possible, yet here we have an instance where a service that helps that happen is being withdrawn, and I would challenge the wisdom in that. The strategy of keeping people in their homes is good for the happiness and well-being of citizens as well as providing a considerable cost-savings to the health care system.
Part of the mandate of our organization is to provide support for seniors in our area, whether or not they are members of our association. As part of this program we provide a home support service, and that is done with the assistance of the City of Edmonton. The purpose of that is to screen contractors. Many elderly widowed people can afford to have things done but are afraid to contact people. I heard a story of a contractor charging a widow $400 to hang a picture. Having people screened makes seniors feel safe and enables them to stay in their homes.
We also provide an outreach service with social workers to help fill out forms and to help do the things that some seniors can't do on their own. Again, many seniors do not use computers, particularly many of the older ones, and cannot navigate through all of the necessary forms. They don't even receive the benefits that they're entitled to because they have no idea how to apply for them. Our outreach social worker service, which is available to anybody in northeast Edmonton, helps to provide that service.
I've noticed recently that many of the magazines I subscribe to are being home-delivered by contractors. I notice that the advertisements from the Edmonton Journal are being delivered by contractors. I ask myself what's wrong with the management of Canada Post. All that business exists. I see more and more couriers in my neighbourhood delivering parcels. Most businesses that were not able to change would have a board of directors who would change the management and find a way to get things done on time.
I submit to you that part of keeping seniors in their homes is providing the services that they need. Withdrawing even little things presents major barriers to some of the very old people. I would urge you to recommend retaining home delivery services.