Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to thank the members of the committee for inviting me and CALTC to appear before you today.
We're here to discuss seniors living in long-term care and the support needed to ensure that residents can participate fully in our democratic process during the COVID-19 pandemic.
My name is Jason Lee and I'm here today as the treasurer of the Canadian Association for Long Term Care, also known as CALTC. As the leading voice for quality long-term care in Canada, CALTC members advocate on behalf of our residents at the federal level to ensure that seniors can age and live with dignity.
I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that yesterday was Remembrance Day and that this conversation aimed at ensuring accessible and safe voting for our seniors, who built this nation, could not be more appropriate or important.
During a federal election, Elections Canada has the responsibility to ensure that all eligible voters are able to exercise the right to vote, and it is our collective responsibility to accommodate them to do so. Many of the normal voting procedures used to assist residents in long-term care have significant health risks in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, some of which I will outline.
Outside visitors to long-term care homes must continue to be restricted to essential caregivers and workers, for the continued health and safety of residents and staff. While election workers could fall into the category of essential workers, it is not safe at this time to have an election worker go into a home, facilitate a mobile voting station and then move from home to home. This is especially true as we continue to see more homes go into outbreak or suspected outbreak across the country.
Additionally, any procedures in place that support seniors in leaving their long-term care homes to go to a polling station are simply not feasible, as COVID-19 continues to increase rapidly in communities across the nation. Any staff members who might normally assist seniors in going to a voting station are hindered not just by the risk of transmission, but by the increased staffing pressures in care homes as they continue to carry out new and ongoing infection prevention and control measures on a daily basis. There is simply not enough staff or personal protective equipment to ensure a safe trip outside a home to vote or to have an election worker enter multiple homes.
In my home province of Prince Edward Island, we normally use our long-term care homes as polling stations. I've already been in contact with the election officials for the riding where some of our homes are located, and it has been communicated to me that the polling stations will be moved to other sites. This is completely understandable and necessary, but it also further isolates our seniors from the community. While our seniors would normally be able to walk down to the lobby and vote with others from their riding, they will not be able to do so in the current environment.
However, we must not let this virus interfere with seniors having their voices heard or ensuring that seniors living in long-term care are appropriately engaged in the voting process.
As you know, three provinces have been through provincial elections during the COVID-19 outbreak, including New Brunswick. There are some lessons learned and considerations that I would like to share with you today, and they may help inform the committee and Elections Canada in addressing the challenges and circumstances of the current moment.
In New Brunswick, an alternative voting method was put in place that included the returning officer sending a letter to long-term care homes that outlined the instructions for a modified vote-by-mail process. This was a time-consuming process that required two weeks to coordinate and carry out the actual voting, along with many weeks of consultation beforehand. In this instance, administrators or other staff in the homes were deputized and trained to collect and return the mail-in ballots.
Any process put in place for a federal election will need to be cognizant of the time frame, effort and resources needed to assist residents in voting.
In closing, staff not being able to accompany residents outside the home to vote, given COVID—19, the dangers of having a mobile election worker going from home to home and the inability to hold voting stations in long-term care homes mean that seniors living in long-term care will be very disconnected from this process and homes will require support and guidance to ensure they can appropriately engage residents in the democratic process.
I thank you for your time. Obviously, I'm happy to answer any questions.