Thanks, Pam.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak today.
I joined the national seniors council in March 2025. At that time, we were focused on the care economy and what it meant for aging Canadians. Outside of my role on the council, I'm a professor at the college of community and global health at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. My research focuses on home care services, workforce planning for personal support workers, disability and aging.
I'm going to highlight two current work priorities of the council that may be relevant to the discussions here today.
Right now, we're turning our attention towards the connection between housing, aging in place and overall health and well-being. We’ll be taking a closer look at cost of living pressures, which we know are affecting many low- and middle-income older Canadians. The scope of the research is still being finalized, but we expect gender-based considerations to be part of the analysis.
In January 2026, we had the opportunity to meet in person. At that time, we were able to engage with Finance Canada as part of its consultations on the development of a voluntary code of conduct for the prevention of economic abuse within federally regulated financial institutions.