Evidence of meeting #69 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was need.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Yves Robillard Liberal Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Ms. Silas, the nurses you represent are in the best position to see the aging of our population and its consequences. What can you tell us about the needs the people you represent observe? Also, what needs do the nurses you represent observe among seniors?
And, more important still, what do you recommend as a federal solution to help meet these needs, as the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions?
4:35 p.m.
President, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions
Thank you, Mr. Robillard.
The reassessment of clients and their families is probably the greatest need observed by the country's nurses. All of the seniors are medically assessed and sent home, and then they are forgotten for weeks, months, or longer. That is when accidents happen, loss of balance, falls; people forget to take medication or are sent to emergency or readmitted to hospital, and the families scramble constantly.
The nursing profession asks that there be more continuous reassessments and coordinated care, whether we are talking about physical, mental or social health. You have heard it in other presentations; people cannot live in isolation, and even truer for the elderly, as this weakens their physical and mental condition.
As I mentioned several times, care has to centre around the person's safety, and not only on what the system permits, home care.
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
Yves Robillard Liberal Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Our government's 2017 budget simplified and improved the tax credit system for family caregivers. The Canadian caregiver credit now provides better support for those who need it the most, and it applies to family caregivers, whether they live with a family member or not; the eligible income threshold has also been raised.
As president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, can you tell us about the impact of these changes for caregivers and for those in the nursing profession? Do you see more people claiming this tax credit?
4:40 p.m.
President, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions
Yes and no. Caregivers are often those who would naturally help the family or the elderly person. Any support in the form of tax credits helps them personally, but they do not decide to become caregivers in order to benefit from the tax credit.
The key is making sure these caregivers have the training, education and support they need to take care of their family members. That is what is missing, and that is what the caregivers, nurses and social workers ask us for. The would like us to provide them with the training they need to take care of the elderly in their homes.
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
Yves Robillard Liberal Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Do you see a real change thanks to the tax credit we provided?
4:40 p.m.
President, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions
Honestly, I can't tell you. We hear positive stories, but are they representative?
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
Yves Robillard Liberal Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC
Mr. Smith, your organization has set up a telephone information line and helpline for abused seniors.
Can you tell us what you hear, and what solutions you provide to those who use the helpline?
4:40 p.m.
Representative, Seniors First BC
I'm sorry. If I understand your question, it's what have we heard for problems and solutions?
4:40 p.m.
Representative, Seniors First BC
My presentation was based on some of what we hear on our line in terms of people who are isolated, and in rural situations where they lack communication and transportation. We also see abuse and neglect in various forms of seniors accommodation, assisted living, residential care facilities, where the seniors, even though they're in a social setting, are isolated. They feel like they have no social connections and they have been exploited.
We hear, in a number of different places, where people are being exploited. We think, in terms of advancing their inclusion, there needs to be more done in terms of providing opportunities for seniors to get together with other seniors in those situations.
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
Ramesh Sangha Liberal Brampton Centre, ON
Thank you to the team for giving this valuable info today.
I'm giving you a very new scenario. I'm talking about one group of seniors. These seniors are not in my riding. They are living all across Canada. These people are over the age of 65. They are not entitled to CPP, GIS, or OAS. They are not entitled because they do not qualify, so they are living in poverty. They are undergoing financial hardship. Generally, they don't have a good standard of living. They cannot go for employment because of barriers due to age and obligation.
Do any of you know that this type of group exists in our communities? Anybody can answer.
4:45 p.m.
Associate Professor, Gerontology Department, Huntington and Laurentian Universities, As an Individual
Yes, I think it's especially women, older women more than men.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Ramesh Sangha Liberal Brampton Centre, ON
Mostly they are immigrants who were sponsored by their children or grandchildren, but they have not completed any years and are not entitled to these benefits.
Besides those benefits, what else do you suggest to improve their standard of living to get them out of poverty? What are your suggestions for that?
4:45 p.m.
Associate Professor, Gerontology Department, Huntington and Laurentian Universities, As an Individual
Well, it depends on whether they are dependent on their family members or not, from a physical perspective. If they are unhealthy and they have family members who can take care of them, through the tax benefits, they would have an option that the younger generation can take care of them.
If not, I think it's quite difficult, especially as you probably also have problems with language. They might not speak English or French as their first language. I see an opportunity to especially make them feel that they are still needed and are part of the community, that they can be involved in some ways.
Those are my thoughts.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Ramesh Sangha Liberal Brampton Centre, ON
Most of them are taken care of by their families, the people who have sponsored them. Some of them are unlucky, those who are not getting a good response from their families. They deserve some sort of help in the community or by the government.
What type of suggestions can you give?
4:45 p.m.
Associate Professor, Gerontology Department, Huntington and Laurentian Universities, As an Individual
There are volunteers who do home visits and could provide home visits to those older adults.
I think that also an opportunity might be, now I forgot the name, but the centres—I am an immigrant too—when someone can meet with people from their own background, for instance. For me, it would be someone from Germany to speak to. This is especially if language is a problem. It would be to have them volunteer to come and meet with them, because I think the biggest problem probably is for them becoming lonely and isolated at some point.
4:45 p.m.
Senator, National Association of Friendship Centres
At friendship centres we ensure that there's a drop-in or there's a place for them to come. I know from my work that family members would bring them to the friendship centre during the day so that they had a place to socialize, whether it was sitting by the desk and reminding people about their Ojibwa language that they could use for the telephone, or reminding us of our language, that we had a role to play. There's always room for one more in our homes. We know that doesn't work sometimes.
Some of us have outlived our own children, and we do have people who remember who we are because we're an auntie or we come from an extended family. We always add more water to the soup so that people are being fed. We try to have community kitchens and community socials and potlucks so people can get together and share. They would be able to ask for or identify somebody who will help them. They pick someone who they trust will come and help them find a home so they don't have to continue to live on the street.
We also try to ensure that we go past being a volunteer. You will compensate me for my knowledge that I'm sharing with you; then it goes beyond being just a volunteer. We're running and trying to further develop community conversational Ojibwa language programs so that we can be partners in the way that we can design something. We could supplement their incomes.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to the volunteers. I really do appreciate the testimony and expertise that you are providing to our committee.
There's not enough time to ask all the questions and hear all your inputs. Some of you have provided a brief. We would encourage each of you to provide a brief with recommendations on how we can better care for our seniors.
I have highlighted a couple of things here for some questions. Repeatedly, we heard the importance of the human touch. Isolation is a huge problem. Along with isolation comes shortness of life, depression, sickness. It's quality of life and the importance of potlucks. I grew up as a young boy enjoying potlucks, the good food and the pies. It keeps the community together. You get to spend time with your friends, of course, but you get wisdom from the seniors. The human touch is so important.
I also wrote down the suggestion from Linda that the federal government could provide training and standards for senior home care. I thought that was extremely important. Health care is provided by the provinces but where does the federal government step in? Well, it's providing that training. A couple of weeks ago we heard from CARP. CARP said, regarding caregivers, that an estimated $25 billion, or 80%, of care is provided annually by eight million informal, unpaid caregivers.
CARP is urgently calling for action to reduce the devastating emotional impact on caregivers nearly a half of whom have experienced stress and depression. CARP wants a refundable federal tax credit, expandable EI coverage for compassionate care benefits, a caregiver's allowance for low-income caregivers, and a significant expanse of respite care. I think those are all good suggestions.
We'll start with Natalie Sonnen. You said there are fewer caregivers now, and we have a growing population. Did I hear that correctly that there are fewer caregivers?
