Human Resources committee  As I referenced in my comments, we really work with seniors living at home, so my area of expertise and the information I gather from our locals do not address the issues and challenges of long-term care. I would leave that for others who are better equipped to speak to that spec

Human Resources committee  Thanks for the question. Yes, I think my comment alluded to the fact that we need to continue to support the community-led community organizations across the country in order for them to have the infrastructure and the adaptive programming to respond to and to support seniors li

Human Resources committee  I would use 211, which is a helpline across the country, as a perfect example of why we call ourselves “human services”. It is a phone line. You can also go on and search—somebody like me can go on and search for a service, come up with some solutions and make some calls. A sen

Human Resources committee  I think one of the benefits of the way we collectively responded through this pandemic was the great flexibility. Funders, government included, stepped up and asked local leaders to tell them what they needed and how they need to spend those funds. That allowed that creativity to

Human Resources committee  We did not at United Way Centraide. We're the national office, and I can't speak to it. We can gather that information from our United Way locals to see if they received any provincial funding for services in their community.

Human Resources committee  I can't speak specifically to the parameters of the $20 million that you're referring to, but I can say that I think the funds that the federal, provincial, regional and municipal governments contributed to ensure that services were continued and could be expanded and shifted thr

Human Resources committee  We tend to clump seniors all together, and as I think I heard some of the previous folks on the panel speak to, there are different stages of aging, especially now. My father is 86, and he is using an iPad to do his hearings. He's a lawyer, and he's on his phone every day. I thin

Human Resources committee  Yes. What you're speaking to is a very specific project, but across the country, I would say United Ways have been deeply involved in ensuring that seniors and other vulnerable populations have access to technology, have the connectivity, have the training and support, and equa

Human Resources committee  I can't speak specifically to that. Again, I'm happy to find information if that would be useful for you, but I think our experience in working and funding in the rural and remote areas was that not only was food more expensive, but there was also a supply-demand issue, right? F

Human Resources committee  We know that low-income communities often struggle to afford healthy food. There may be food available, but it's not always the healthy fresh fruit and vegetables that you alluded to in your comment. I think that's an important factor as well.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for that question. I really appreciate the feedback as well. For a relatively new ED in your local community to deliver in this year was quite extraordinary. I would say that we're really pleased to see that there's attention being paid to the charitable and non-profit

Human Resources committee  Thank you so much for the question. In preparing our statement for today, we looked quite broadly at the communities that were adversely affected by COVID, and I would say that we know the South Asian community has been disproportionately affected overall in the pandemic, so we

Human Resources committee  I would say it's the latter.

Human Resources committee  I would say that there are a couple of things. I think my colleague here talked about interconnectivity, to have access online [Technical difficulty—Editor] and to get supports for mental health or to speak to your doctor or what have you. The transportation issue was huge. W

Human Resources committee  Good afternoon. Let me start by recognizing and thanking the committee and the government for the critical and important work you are doing to support people across Canada and to support the essential community services that are helping our families and communities. United Way C