Evidence of meeting #43 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was men.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Coordinator, Conseil régional de développement social des Laurentides
A number of factors prevent a person from working up to the age of 75 and result in a drop in income well before then.
For example, as you rightly said, a number of seniors must leave the workplace not by choice, but because they become family caregivers. They leave the workplace to take care of their spouse or loved one. Their income drops significantly.
Of course, providing financial compensation to seniors aged 65 and over would certainly meet the needs of a larger portion of the population.
Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC
I would now like to talk about affordable housing.
You're conducting a great study for our region, the Laurentians. We need to determine how to adapt housing and make it affordable for seniors.
It has taken years, but the federal government has implemented the rapid housing initiative. There's also the national housing strategy. Yet Quebec municipalities are saying that this isn't enough.
You believe in the need to strengthen these measures to meet housing needs.
What makes these needs so critical?
Coordinator, Conseil régional de développement social des Laurentides
The current housing situation is indeed of great concern throughout Quebec.
In terms of housing for seniors, a great deal of community housing is being built for people who are independent or semi‑independent. However, the housing isn't adaptable for people who are experiencing a loss of independence. As I said earlier, this is an issue. It drives people to leave their housing, and sometimes to move to another region. This leads to social disruptions, which are increasingly difficult to address as people get older. The older you get, the less you can adapt to certain changes. This has physical, cognitive and mental implications.
The need to design new housing for seniors is a specific issue.
Liberal
NDP
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Thank you so much, Chair.
I'd like to welcome Mr. Mackie, a fellow Manitoban, to the committee today.
I have some questions for Madame Guerin on affordable and accessible social housing.
In my riding in Winnipeg Centre, many seniors are on the verge of being unsheltered—a real threat, a real reality—as a result of not being able to afford housing. Can you speak a bit more about the importance of affordable, accessible social housing as one of the most important social determinants of health?
Coordinator, Conseil régional de développement social des Laurentides
Housing is indeed one of the social determinants of health. This right should be a given and accessible to all.
We're currently experiencing a very worrying and difficult situation. We're seeing uncontrolled increases in housing costs throughout Quebec. Measures should be implemented to slow down this increase in housing costs. Old age and retirement pensions remain unchanged, while rental, grocery and electricity costs keep increasing. This makes the most vulnerable people even more vulnerable. Some people are facing fairly significant levels of poverty.
Affordable housing is a major and very significant issue. However, I was also talking earlier about adaptability and accessibility. It isn't enough to have affordable housing. It must also be adaptable and accessible for our seniors.
A potentially suitable solution would be to implement community structures where senior care services could be provided on site and where housing could be adapted to the seniors' progressive loss of independence, depending on their changing health status. We should be able to provide this care to seniors where they live, so that they can spend the rest of their lives in the same place. This solution would be good to consider.
NDP
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
I really appreciate what you've shared, particularly about choice. I know we've had many witnesses come to committee who have talked about widening options so that seniors can choose if they want to be at home or in a long-term care facility. They have talked about opening things up so people actually have a choice. Having a choice is really important for people to maintain their dignity and independence, particularly as we age and particularly for women.
Speaking about women, we know that women, as they age, live at disproportionately higher levels of poverty than men. They are not eligible for pensions, for example. Their care work is often not paid.
How has poverty disproportionately impacted seniors during the pandemic?
Coordinator, Conseil régional de développement social des Laurentides
I can't give you a specific answer to that question.
That said, women often have lower levels of education or have done invisible work by staying at home to raise their children. They receive fewer pension benefits. Sometimes, they don't get any benefits. This is indeed an issue for women.
Many isolated people live alone in Quebec. These people are increasingly living alone in their own homes. They may not have access to all the available health care. This leads to mental and physical health issues that can become worse. There are issues with the accessibility of home care. In addition, we must be able to identify the most vulnerable people in society.
NDP
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
To follow up with that, one of the things I've been pushing for is a guaranteed livable basic income. Could you speak about the importance of ensuring that all seniors have a livable income?
Coordinator, Conseil régional de développement social des Laurentides
Yes. I completely agree with this proposal.
NDP
Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Do you have anything to add on the importance of having a livable income?
Coordinator, Conseil régional de développement social des Laurentides
This would ensure that all seniors have the same opportunities and would limit social inequality. It would ensure that all seniors can participate in social activities, can get out of their homes, can afford transportation to go grocery shopping, or can go to the movies if they wish to do so. A number of them can't afford to participate in certain cultural or social activities because they don't have enough income. Their income barely covers their basic needs, such as housing, clothing and food. Their expenses come down to about that.
When people can't afford to buy food or clothing, fortunately, community organizations provide a major social safety net in our society. These organizations support the most vulnerable people and make it possible for them to maintain some quality of life.
Ultimately, basic income should be raised to reduce social inequality.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for their testimony today.
My first question is for Mr. Mackie. Thank you for being here.
My understanding is that your organization provides—please correct me—support for senior men. You come together almost fraternity style, with friendship, support and similar interests, to help senior men cope with the issues that [Technical difficulty—Editor].
Chair, Canadian Men's Sheds Association
Yes, that's it.
I'd like to make one comment on the last speech. I have a homeless son here in Winnipeg, living in a shelter. If you want to get really personal, I can tell you some stories.
Anyway, I'll get back to it. What Men's Sheds does is offer a place for what we call “health by stealth”. Health by stealth is not an arranged total program on whatever; instead, we bring in speakers. We may bring in someone on Alzheimer's, on stroke recovery or whatever. We ask someone to speak about it to the men.
It's interesting, because if a man and his spouse or partner go to a public meeting, quite often the man sits there with his arms across his chest and doesn't ask any questions and doesn't want to reveal, but if you get a group of men working together, trying to learn something together, then they will come to listen to a speaker on nutrition, on Ducks Unlimited, on stroke recovery and all of these kinds of things.
The second part of it is that we go back to those organizations—it can be mental health, it can be occupational therapists—and ask them to socially prescribe to Men's Sheds. If you're not familiar with social prescribing, please look it up. They refer men. Medical people refer men to us.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Mr. Mackie, how would you say that your efforts to support men in your community with this program have been impacted by COVID? I know you outlined it a little bit, but have you felt that it's been quite detrimental? What have the impacts been?
It sounds like you gather in a group and socialize and have the camaraderie that I would imagine is quite important to that model of service delivery. How has that been impacted by the COVID measures, and how do you feel we can best move forward?
Chair, Canadian Men's Sheds Association
We're trying to prepare for that right now, as we go along, but yes, virtually every Men's Shed has closed down. We can't get together as a group. We've been in lockdown in Manitoba since about November 7, and all the Men's Sheds have closed.
The unfortunate situation is that some of the locations where we used to run a Men's Shed may not be available to us as we come out of COVID. The reason is the costs. They have now gone into debt, and they're going to start saying to us that we have to pay them $200 a month. We don't have enough money. As a sideline, we raise money by garage sales of tools.
Chair, Canadian Men's Sheds Association
We collect tools. I got one email this morning saying, “Do you want a chop saw? Do you want a radial arm saw?” It was two or three things. I literally know who the man is, so I'll pick those up in the next little while and we'll store those items for the tool garage sale.
Now, that has much further implications than simply raising some money in a garage sale. It's fascinating, because quite often younger people who come to that tool garage sale start to learn to use those tools. They ask how you use it, and one of the men will mentor them.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
You're passing on this sort of generational handyman knowledge from the senior men to the younger men and women.
Chair, Canadian Men's Sheds Association
Yes. That's what I was going to say. It's always fascinating for me to watch the younger women who come in and say, “I want to buy that tool. I'll learn how to do it. Where do I go and what do I do?”
