Human Resources committee  I think universal design tends to be the domain of people involved in the disability industry, if I can call it that, the people who are dealing with specific issues related to disability. In the Olympic Village in B.C., there was an effort to introduce universal design into so

Human Resources committee  Obviously, it's not an area I know a lot about, but I would be hugely sympathetic to that. I've done some research in the U.K., where they had a program. I say “had” a program because they lost it with the change of government, but it was called “lifetime homes, lifetime neighbou

Human Resources committee  My focus has been on the urban areas, and I know, to extrapolate some of the more suburban situations.... We know, for example, in the suburban areas around Toronto, which are very car-dependent, the Minister of Transportation projects that 42% of people who are currently in thei

Human Resources committee  I think the federal government has done an enormous amount and has focused a lot of resources on the health side. I think it's important, where I'm coming from—and I've talked about this with physicians as well—not to be trapped into thinking that old age is a disease. People are

Human Resources committee  At one point, until about seven or eight years ago, CMHC had a research arm that conducted research in co-operation with provinces and municipalities and the private sector. That disappeared. It vanished. They no longer carry out that type of proactive work.

Human Resources committee  Not as it used to exist. Maybe MP Vaughan has more knowledge. I could add something to your recent question about things like signage. More than 15 years ago the Government of Japan adopted the principles of universal design as a national policy, and they apply these policies,

Human Resources committee  I believe there is. I wouldn't want to downplay some of the negatives, but I'm working with the City of Toronto on the second version of their seniors strategy, and one of the philosophical standpoints, if you like, of that strategy is that our older population is a tremendous re

Human Resources committee  Thank you. Just focusing on co-housing for a minute, which is a very interesting model, one of the drawbacks, as I understand it, is that the legal framework is a bit of a barrier to people because if they enter into an agreement, they don't understand how they can exit the agre

Human Resources committee  More than 60% of the senior population live in single-family dwellings, and the majority of those are in suburban neighbourhoods that have those characteristics that I mentioned that are very difficult to deal with if you can no longer drive. It has been established that we're a

Human Resources committee  The federal government can give resources back to CMHC that were once available to undertake research, and use this for an education tool to collaborate not only with provincial, regional, and municipal governments but also with the private sector, because the scale of the requir

Human Resources committee  As I mentioned, the concept of age-friendly communities is quite widespread across the country in cities large and small. It's being used as an engagement tool. It's been developed as an engagement tool by the World Health Organization. It wasn't designed to fit with our planni

Human Resources committee  I think the most practical way is to offer examples. In research that we've done, we searched high and low for examples of age-friendly communities. It isn't a concept that's well understood. You usually receive a big blank when you ask the question, so you have to go out and fin

Human Resources committee  Could I just add? One thing that people don't realize about scooters is that there are no regulations for them. You could have your licence taken away, as many people increasingly do, for various reasons, and you could go down to your local store and purchase a scooter and be out

Human Resources committee  That is a complex question. I think the important thing is to find ways to engage the development industry. The scale of the demographic shift today is so significant that we can't rely on the traditional methods. If everybody is going to go towards spending time in long-term car

Human Resources committee  Yes, I think that's an excellent idea. Building codes can also play a role, as well as education in the development industry. We've actually done quite a lot of work to find out what the appetite is for responding to this kind of initiative in the development industry. Right now