Human Resources Committee on Nov. 7th, 2017

[Michèle Osborne]

I keep saying that all Canadians should have the right to stay in their own homes for as long as possible and receive the services they need to do so. If seniors want to age in their own village, infrastructures must be created to support them instead of taking them away from the community where they have lived for 75 or 80 years and moving them to the city. That completely uproots those people. Infrastructures have to be created in each village so people can age at home. That is the option that must be given priority.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Thank you very much.

Now we move to MP Rachel Blaney, please.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you for being with us today.

I'm going to start with a simple question, and I would ask each one of you to answer “yes“, “no“, or “abstain”.

Do you believe the government should implement a national seniors strategy?

I'll start with you, Melissa.

[Melissa De Boer]

Yes.

[Andrea Dresselhuis]

Implicitly, yes.

[Leighton McDonald]

Definitely, yes.

[Michèle Osborne]

Yes.

[Julie Mercier]

Yes.

[Ron Pike]

Yes.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Everybody said yes. Thank you.

Mr. McDonald, I would like to start with you.

I really like the Canadian Home Care Association's proposal that Employment and Social Development Canada improve access to education and training for rural, remote, indigenous, interprovincial, and territorial populations for care aides.

Could you tell us how that would work?

[Leighton McDonald]

There needs to be a focus, first of all, on making it an attractive option for people, because that's one of the big issues we have. People are not attracted to it. It's not a glamourous role, and it doesn't pay well. It's a matter of making sure that people can sustain themselves. That's the first side of it.

Then it's making sure that we have the curricula at the colleges in order to do this and that quality standards are in place. It's a matter of putting that structure in place.

The overarching one is making sure that people want to do it. We are continually battling with people. We work, for example, in some rural areas. During the summer, our personal support workers become servers at restaurants because it pays better. We battle getting capacity in summer because people go work in restaurants.

I think the way in which we recognize and remunerate these very important parts of the health care system needs to be looked at.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you.

The need for a national principle-based home care standard seems to be growing and is really evident.

Can you give us a few examples of standards that are needed in the home care industry right now?

[Leighton McDonald]

The Canadian Home Care Association is busy working on this.

I think one has to ask, first of all, what people can expect. I really think getting expectations is critical. People must know what is going to be the government's responsibility and what is going to be their responsibility. I think that's really where the departure point is.

Once those services are being delivered, it's identifying what people can expect from a point of view of the match to their needs against what is being delivered.

Then, it's clinical standards and various professional standards, depending on what profession is in there, whether it's personal support work, nursing, or one of the therapies. It's overall, and then by profession.

I hope that helps.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

That does help.

We know that unregulated workers provide the majority of home care services, between 70% and 80%.

How can the government support the development of continuing education standards for unregulated workers and develop proficiency through education and practice standards?

[Leighton McDonald]

Again, we must make sure we have those curricula in place. We've seen a drop-off in that, so it needs to be looked at from a college point of view. Then we need to recognize people by way of increasing remuneration for various training. What we're seeing is people come on to the workforce at a certain rate, and despite any additional education, their rate doesn't necessarily go up. That's something that I.... We've done it in our workforce, but they are very, very small increments. There needs to be more to recognize ongoing professional development.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

I've also heard that it would be great to start to introduce some of these opportunities in high school to encourage young people to see that there are professions that are right in their community. I agree completely with remuneration.

Do you feel that high school should be included, not just college?

[Leighton McDonald]

Very definitely, because you want to plant the seed early. You want to raise the profile of what is being done.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

We talked about indigenous communities. We know that one of the challenges is that a lot of indigenous communities want to stay close to where they're from. I think this is a great opportunity for them.

How do we include the indigenous community and educate them more about these opportunities?

[Leighton McDonald]

We make sure we're addressing their needs. In many cases, when we are providing services to these communities, it involves an enormous amount of travel. It means that we need to remunerate for travel. That's something that is not being well done, I don't think, for rates for personal support workers. We need, first of all, to make sure that people are incentivized to get out and provide those services.

I think it's standard practice now that most home care organizations have client and family advisory councils. That needs to include representation from all sectors of the population.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you.

Could you tell this committee how the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation should enhance and simplify the accessibility and adaptable homes program to provide easier access to more individuals?

[Leighton McDonald]

It's not an area of my expertise other than to say we need to again.... It sounds like I'm wanting incentives for everything, but I think one needs to look at tax breaks for investment in these things in order to keep people out of facilities that are much more expensive.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Yes.

I'm going to end there, because I only have 30 seconds left and I want to ask more robust questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Okay, next we have Mona Fortier.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you very much.

I will share my speaking time with Mr. Lauzon.

Thank you for your very interesting presentation today. It is in line with some of the conversations I have had with seniors in my riding. These people told me their concerns about housing and social inclusion.

Ms. Osborne, Ms. Mercier, do your projects include services that meet certain needs?

In the riding of Ottawa—Vanier, for example, there is much talk about linguistic, racial, ethnocultural, and religious minorities, as well different sexual orientations.

Do you consider these issues in your projects?

[Michèle Osborne]

Our environment is very inclusive, but it is still difficult for certain individuals who are in a minority. It is difficult for seniors who are in a minority. A senior who has a good support network, a family, can find the services they need.

We work a lot with vulnerable people, those with low income who have trouble reading and writing and who, in many cases, have unfortunately been on social assistance all their lives. At 65, they did not apply for the Quebec pension plan so we help them fill out those forms. This is a very disadvantaged client group.

As part of one of our initiatives, local social workers travel around and reach out to the informal network of seniors in order to find these individuals. They contact the mechanic, the parish priest, their hairdresser, and the grocer. As soon we are aware of a vulnerable and isolated person, we try to establish trust with that person to identify their needs and direct them to the appropriate resources. It is an incredible service. Our organization has two local social workers. Every year, they locate between 100 and 150 seniors who are not familiar with the network.

It is easier for a person who has support, especially from their family. It is much more difficult for those who are isolated, alone, and especially for members of a minority. Being part of a minority is very difficult.