Human Resources committee  Yes, women are disproportionately disadvantaged for a number of reasons, all of which will be intuitive to most of you and are backed up by the numbers. They're less likely to have spent their maximum years in the labour force and less likely to have been working at the maximum i

Human Resources committee  Yes, and that's borne out, in a number of surveys we do, by who answers the surveys and what their age is. If somebody is in their nineties and has a family caregiver, it's probably their daughter, who is a senior of 65 or 68 years of age. Often, she will have left the paid lab

Human Resources committee  Absolutely.

Human Resources committee  I think that overall the concern is for a group of people who are different from the majority of Canadians. This is a group of people who are retired from the labour force, unable to earn an income and relying on the fixed income of whatever their pensions are. I've relayed to yo

Human Resources committee  Well, it would depend. I think Canadians are actually going to have to examine this issue of what the retirement age is, looking at longevity, years of healthy life and total years in the labour force—

Human Resources committee  Thank you. I think that issue is something that is going to continue to be part of the discussion when we look at longer years of life, healthier years of life and total time in the labour force, because what is happening is that people are entering the full-time paid labour for

Human Resources committee  Yes, I fully support the move to increase the OAS by 10% for seniors aged 65 to 75, absolutely.

Human Resources committee  I'm still here until April 5, but thank you for your kind words. Dental care is something we hear about probably the most in terms of affordability. To put it into context, when we surveyed seniors, those with higher incomes were those most likely to have a dental plan, ironica

Human Resources committee  The short answer is yes. You're quoting from a survey we did of our lower-income seniors in British Columbia, those who are in receipt of the B.C. low-income senior's supplement. They would also be in receipt of the GIS. Those are the seniors who are experiencing the biggest chal

Human Resources committee  Yes. Remember that most seniors are homeowners, although arguably the ones at greatest financial risk are those who are renters. When we look at those who are homeowners and the breadth of the value of that home ownership across the province, there's a marked difference between t

Human Resources committee  I think any of the factors that are going to contribute to the rising fuel costs will have an impact on those who are challenged in being able to afford the gas, yes.

Human Resources committee  I'm sorry; I'll leave it there.

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much, and thank you to the committee for inviting my testimony. I am the seniors advocate for the Province of British Columbia. This is a statutory office of the provincial government with a legislated mandate to monitor services to seniors, undertake systemic rev

Human Resources committee  Yes. I think it is a good investment. If you visualize this continuum of aging, people don't start out immediately needing total help. It's an incremental process as we age. We need a little help around the house with some housekeeping, some groceries, some meal preparation, an

Human Resources committee  I think the issue of how seniors access services, period, is an issue not just for the federal government but also for many private companies. Things are moving online. You have to get your bills electronically, etc. We need to understand that there is a group of people who are g