Mr. Chair, and honourable members of the committee,
on behalf of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), I would like to thank you for the invitation to speak with you today, and to share with you how the CIHR and its Institute of Aging can contribute to providing evidence to assist you in your reflection on the health dimension of the aging workforce.
The aging Canadian population is characterized by the fact that Canadians will work later in their life due to a number of factors, including financial necessity and the desire to pursue an active contribution to society. But as you've just heard from Margaret Gillis, my colleague from the Public Health Agency of Canada, this situation poses new challenges as aging, even active aging, is frequently accompanied by chronic health conditions. Although these conditions can be controlled by lifestyle choices, including physical activity and medications, they can still interfere with the ability of older adults to participate fully in the workforce. This results in multiple impacts, including the fact that maintaining a working contribution to society is known to favour active aging, by itself. The challenge of the aging population also means that younger workers are increasingly contributing as caregivers to older relatives living with major and complex health challenges.
Although these challenges are recognized, the evidence from health research is not always available. It is the mission of the CIHR to provide such evidence. The CIHR was established in 2000 by Parliament as recognition that investments in health and the health care system are part of the Canadian vision of being a caring society.
CIHR's objectives are (a) to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge, but also (b) to translate new knowledge into improved health for Canadians and more effective health services and products.
The Government of Canada is currently investing approximately $1 billion in CIHR to provide leadership and support to approximately 14,000 of the best researchers and trainees across the country. CIHR integrates research through a unique interdisciplinary structure made up of 13 virtual institutes. One of these 13 institutes is the Institute of Aging. Its mission is to foster the creation and dissemination of knowledge to ensure active aging, as well as to provide the optimal interventions, services, and health systems needed by older adults facing complex health challenges. Through strategic investments and its investigator-initiated programs, CIHR devoted over $100 million in 2011-12 to research on different aspects of health and aging, ranging from basic biomedical research to patient-oriented research, and from research on health services and systems to social dimensions of aging.
Over the last 12 years, the Institute of Aging has been proactive in ensuring that Canada has the required research capacity to deliver the necessary knowledge related to health and aging. With this research capacity, the Institute of Aging has been engaged in supporting research in priority areas such as cognitive impairment, mobility, and the identification of optimal health services and systems for older persons.
There have been research efforts in the work, aging, and health domains. Researchers such as Professor Lan Gien, from Memorial University in Newfoundland, have been supported by CIHR to help to better understand the strategies that enhance productive and healthy environments for the older workforce. Professor Peter Smith, from the University of Toronto, studies the impact of physical conditions and depression on the labour market participation of older workers in Canada, with a consideration of gender. CIHR has also put in place a research platform that will contribute to these questions in the coming years: the Canadian longitudinal study on aging, or CLSA. This important strategic initiative will provide evidence and an understanding of the internal and external factors determining aging from mid-life to older age. It includes 11 different universities and a national team of more than 160 researchers and collaborators. CLSA will provide information on the changing biological, medical, psychological, social, lifestyle, and economic aspects of 50,000 Canadians aged between 45 and 85, followed for a period of 20 years. To date, more than 25,000 people have signed up.
Participation in the labour force plays an important role in social functioning and has an influence on successful aging through factors such as income and wealth, self-esteem and social standing, stress and occupational exposures. The CLSA will examine how these and other factors influence health outcomes over time.
As the study evolves, the Institute of Aging will explore ways to make sure that Canadian researchers will receive the support needed to take advantage of this large repository of data to inform important questions and provide the necessary evidence through CLSA's directed secondary analyses, for example. We will also ensure that the resulting evidence will be shared in a timely and efficient manner with the public and policy makers.
Such planned actions are consistent with the Institute of Aging's newly introduced 2013-2018 strategic plan. This plan is organized around five priorities. The first two priorities are about understanding the life trajectory of active aging, as well as adding life to the later years. Actions will include work, aging, and health issues. The next two priorities are focused on the interventions and the optimal seamless health services and systems necessary to face the complex health challenges that some older Canadians have to live with. The last priority is about the evidence required to inform all stakeholders on how to empower Canadians regarding their active aging, how to best train the health workforce, and how to optimally adapt knowledge transfer for the aging population.
Along with two other CIHR Institutes—the Institute of Gender and Health and the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis—the Institute of Aging is engaged in exploring a new strategic initiative focused on work and health issues. This initiative would put emphasis on the accommodations required for health-supportive workplaces and work environments. This initiative represents a unique opportunity to include all factors, including social, technological, and management dimensions. This is why we already have had encouraging discussions with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada about this initiative.
CIHR and the Institute of Aging consider that health is an important dimension of the aging workforce challenge. The Institute of Aging will make sure that the necessary evidence will be available for governments, policy makers and the aging Canadian population.
Thank you for your attention.