Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to both our witnesses for coming today and contributing to this committee study.
With an aging population, we need to ensure there is a better continuum of housing and care needs for seniors in Canada. There seems to be a consensus among older adults and seniors that they would prefer to age in place and live independently as long as possible.
I noted that in the National Institute on Ageing report released last fall, “Pandemic Perspectives”, a significant number of Canadians indicated that COVID-19 changed their opinion on whether they would arrange for themselves a nursing or retirement home. Given what we know, this change of perspective isn't surprising to many of us.
I'm interested to hear your perspective, Dr. Sinha. You yourself said early in the pandemic that if your mother were in long-term care, you would have pulled her out. Do you think that change in perspective is permanent? In addition to improving the standard of care in long-term care homes, which we know will not be an easy task, what do governments need to do to prioritize to respond to that change in perspective?