National Defence committee  We can't eliminate risk. We have to accept some risk when we allow visitors and family in, but we can mitigate that risk. We can limit the number of people in. We can ask that families comply, and if families don't comply with the infection control practices, they shouldn't be ab

National Defence committee  Obviously, we have to address the testing issue. We have to address the infection and the adequacy of PPE. That's just fundamental, and it's not addressed everywhere. We have to continue to hammer away at the staffing issues because we're going to be.... We have outbreaks right a

National Defence committee  Yes, I do, for some of the reasons articulated earlier. There is a patchwork of what can be expected across the country. It would raise educational standards. It would probably raise care hours and our understanding of the kinds of mixes provided. At the minimum it would reassure

National Defence committee  No. I only heard about half of it.

National Defence committee  No.

National Defence committee  I have the correct one.

National Defence committee  Thank you very much for the question. Over half of the PSW workforce are immigrants. Over half of the people who are immigrants don't speak English as a first language and sometimes don't speak English well enough to understand it readily in a conversational way. It's a highly r

National Defence committee  Thank you. As many as 30% of PSWs and care aides were working more than one job pre-pandemic. About 70% of that group were working for financial reasons, and many of them couldn't make a decent wage. Wages in Canada pre-pandemic ranged from $12 an hour to about $22 or $24. You c

National Defence committee  Thank you very much. In Canada, we are fortunate we have the capacity to call upon the Canadian Forces in crisis. I'm thankful they stepped up to provide care in nursing homes during the first wave of the pandemic, going into unfamiliar and besieged care settings with little t

Status of Women committee  Yes. I wanted to go back to the issue of respect that was mentioned. If we think back to George Orwell, we know or we believe that if we take a word out of a language, the concept ceases to exist. In Canada, we don't even count personal support workers and care aides accurately.

Status of Women committee  In terms of federal-provincial jurisdiction, there's absolutely a need for additional resources, particularly in the workforce. To think that we ought to transfer substantial resources without ensuring that across the country we have some reasonable, at least minimum, standards a

Status of Women committee  One of the primary effects of successful aging-in-place programs here in Alberta is that we've had a very aggressive aging-in-place set of policies as early as 2006 to 2008 to keep people in their homes, in the community, or in alternative living, to keep people out of long-term

Status of Women committee  Thank you very much for the invitation. Let me be very clear: The pandemic did not cause the problems in long-term care, deep-seated attitudes about sexism and ageism did. The pandemic was just the proverbial straw on top of long-term, long-standing neglect. We have the highest