Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'll be making my presentation in French, although you do have copies of my presentation in English and French as well as the full briefing.
Members of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development, and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, hello.
I am honoured to represent the Réseau FADOQ today as part of these special consultations which we sincerely hope will lead to the development of a national strategy on aging in Canada.
Allow me first to introduce you to our organization. Founded 47 years ago, the Réseau FADOQ is the largest seniors’ organization in the country, with nearly 500,000 active members aged 50 and over.
The Réseau FADOQ is the undisputed leader among organizations defending the rights of seniors in Québec, seizing any opportunity to speak out and advance our main cause: to obtain an adequate quality of life for all seniors. The Réseau is also a strong advocate for active aging, as we offer a wide range of sports, recreational and cultural activities that get more than 70,000 seniors a week moving. In addition, there are nearly 1,500 discounts and privileges available with a FADOQ membership card, which help seniors maximize their purchasing power at a time when many of them are increasingly impoverished.
The Réseau FADOQ doesn’t hesitate to use the enormous power of influence conferred by our impressive number of members in the service of critical issues. The gains obtained by the Réseau in recent years are significant. Whether working alone or in collaboration with partners, they include: the abolition of accessory health care fees, automatic enrolment in the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and the reinstatement at age 65 of eligibility for the provincial age amount tax credit, to name just a few.
For some years now, the Réseau has been calling for the development of an aging policy in Québec, because we believe that coordination and the introduction of a holistic vision of aging are the cornerstones of real improvements in the quality of seniors’ lives. In addition, for the past five years, the Réseau has represented Canadian seniors' organizations at the UN in the Open-Ended Working Group on Aging, which is striving to create a comprehensive and integrated international, global instrument for the promotion and protection of the rights and dignity of the elderly.
It is therefore only natural for the Réseau FADOQ to applaud the consultations that are taking place now, which will lay the foundations of a strategy on aging for the entire country. The policy that will emerge for seniors’ quality of life is crucial, not only for seniors, but for the future of the country. We firmly believe that such an instrument is the only way to adequately address the demographic challenges that are already underway, and increasing at record speed.
It goes without saying that we offer our full collaboration in this essential process, for which we have high hopes, because it will provide a common and unique direction and be conducive to action. Indeed, what is the purpose of cooperating and sharing our different expertise, if at the end of the day we do not follow up with concrete action? We must put knowledge into action; otherwise, the exercise will be in vain and seniors will pay a high price.
I come now to the main recommendations contained in this brief, resulting from nearly five decades of work entirely devoted to all facets of seniors’ quality of life.
First, the Réseau FADOQ recommends the creation of a seniors’ secretariat under the Federal Executive Council. We also suggest that all current and future public policies be looked at through a “seniors’ lens.” And we would welcome an upgrade of the National Seniors Council, so that it might become a locus of collaboration for organizations such as ours.
In terms of income, it is clear that the management and administration of the GIS must be reviewed and that this benefit must be improved. As for employers, the government must commit to raising awareness of their role in intergenerational equity and the financial health of future retirees, and encourage them to offer supplemental pension plans.
With regard to housing, the Réseau FADOQ believes that the Canadian government must showcase innovation and be a strong proponent of universal accessibility standards for all new construction financed with public funds, so that communities can evolve according to demographic needs. In addition, the Canadian government must lead by example in encouraging businesses to maintain local services.
Moving on to the central theme of health, I should mention the urgent shift towards better home care. The federal government needs to provide leadership on this issue and mobilize the provinces. To this end, one essential route is to provide better health transfers exclusively dedicated to home care and services.
In addition, we believe that the Canadian government should enshrine, in the Canada Health Act, a plan to provide minimum and equitable access to home care and services for all Canadians.
With respect to the Canadian health care system, it is essential to ensure its universality. With regard to measures directly related to health, the Réseau FADOQ suggests that the federal government be inspired by the National Health Plan presented by the Canadian Medical Association, including the framework specific to the rise of dementia currently faced by society.
Another request is the establishment of a national drug program, which would ensure equity among Canadians. In the same spirit of equity, as well as to better support seniors experiencing loss of autonomy, we hope that health transfers will take population aging into account and be paid out according to the proportion of seniors in the populations of each province and territory.
We can’t talk about the health of seniors without addressing the almost inhuman experiences of some family caregivers, whose numbers are expected to grow rapidly. On their behalf, we demand more substantial compensatory measures and a guarantee of employment for family caregivers in urgent situations.
Finally, we would like to remind you that adequate intervention is based on a situational analysis that is as accurate as possible. In this regard, it is important that future censuses allow seniors living in private seniors' residences to complete their own questionnaires, rather than making it the responsibility of the residence’s management.
In conclusion, let me assure you of the Réseau FADOQ’s full collaboration in the development of a national strategy on aging in Canada. Our expertise is at your service and we will closely monitor what is most essential to this process: the deployment of real actions that will improve seniors’ quality of life, today and tomorrow, throughout the country.