For those seniors who do want to engage in helping other seniors, there are a number of vehicles. There are seniors centres and some programs that are run through seniors centres. There are some service and demonstration programs that have been done around the country, intergenerational programs and so on. I would agree with you that yes, we could and should expand on some of those programs to take advantage of those seniors who are able and willing.
Part of the problem is the stereotyping, that we tend to think about seniors as being old and frail. But there are lots who are not old and frail. I think the change in our policies about mandatory retirement may help to change some of the attitudes, to recognize that seniors can and do wish to contribute and to continue to do so.
Some people want to continue working in the paid labour force. There are others who are happy to be in voluntary roles. You have to get the right fit and get people matched up in the right program.
It's interesting that right now in British Columbia, where we have the Olympics coming, VANOC has partnered with the ministry that deals with seniors and has been doing the active ageing program to talk about how we can get seniors to be volunteers for the Olympic movement. The first question that we asked: Which seniors? Of course, those who have been athletic all their lives are going to be the ones who will most likely be chosen to fill these positions. But are there spinoff benefits that we can get from associating things like the Olympics, which are high-profile and very positive kinds of images, to feed back into the community so that other people will get on the bandwagon and use that as a vehicle for expanding the areas in which people volunteer?