Human Resources committee  That means I can't waste any time by thanking the committee for inviting me here on the same day that veterans were able to go to Parliament Hill. As a wounded veteran from the Yom Kippur War of 1973 between Israel and Egypt, and receiver of a military pension for life, I can onl

Human Resources committee  Thank you. My statement will begin now. In my research on seniors, I've had the privilege of studying how members of our aging population in Atlantic Canada view their homes and the challenges they face to continue living in them. The concept of a home is complex. It consists o

Human Resources committee  They don't plan to ever leave their home. They have no plan. They deny it.

Human Resources committee  Yes. We need an education program.

Human Resources committee  It's magical thinking. We exist in a world of magical thinking. We believe we are never going to grow old and get sick; therefore, we don't prepare for that future. We need to undertake education. Those under 70 need to do their home construction incorporating lifetime home stan

Human Resources committee  Some builders are trying to respond. There is a stigma about aging, and there is a perception that a lifetime home looks like some place that you would retire to, with grab bars and other things. I have a very good friend who heads HomesRenewed, the American program on aging in p

Human Resources committee  It has to be, for visitability—we can call it “visitability”—for lifetime home standards, and for accessibility. They are all the same ball of wax. Of course, any public building should incorporate those standards.

Human Resources committee  When I say 93% of Canadians.... As they approach older age, they don't think about aging in place. They believe they are going to be healthy enough and well enough, so they don't make any preparations. They don't think about it until the emergency—the broken hip or the accident.

Human Resources committee  Yes.

Human Resources committee  The most important action I've seen, from all my research, is that we need to encourage lifetime home building. I'd love to see it incorporated into the Canadian building codes. I know how difficult that is as a challenge, but we need to build homes for the future that people can

Human Resources committee  The building code is a complex issue, as you've alluded to, but in reality, the provinces adopt the Canadian national building code. They do modify it in a couple of instances, but they adopt the standards almost carte blanche across the way. I'm getting back to your example. Yo

Human Resources committee  —is only 32 inches wide. According to the building code, section 91.5, a 32-inch width...if it was a wheelchair that lady was in, it wouldn't fit through the front door, which needs to be 39 inches for an electric wheelchair, in case no one's told you how wide. Anyway, the build

Human Resources committee  Absolutely. We need to have accessible homes.

Human Resources committee  The challenge right now is that a whole range of very expensive technologies is emerging, such as motion sensors and alarm systems, but we're lacking evidence that these are cost-effective, and that they truly help people to age in place.

Human Resources committee  We have some small projects. One at the University of Toronto is very interesting, but CMHC should seize this opportunity to show and prove measures that these approaches actually help, because it is extremely costly to equip a home with all this type of technology. We need to pr