Canadian Policies on Older Persons

In declaring 1999 The International Year of Older Persons, the United Nations has brought ageing and its projected effects on our society to the forefront. We cannot help but be awed by the figures - a projected 224% increase in the number of older persons worldwide between 1975 and 2025.

It is encouraging that individuals are living longer than before, but changes in government policies are necessary to ensure that the needs and constraints of older persons are taken into account and that the quality of life for older persons is simultaneously enhanced.. This is because the impact of the changing proportion of older persons will be felt in many areas of national concern; health, income security, employment, and education are just a few. The United Nations Principles for Older Persons and the International Plan of Action on Ageing provide this framework for developing national policies.

The ageing of the Canadian population is not a transient demographic phenomenon that will fade away after the baby boom generation. The senior population in Canada is expected to grow rapidly during the next several decades. The Division of Aging and Seniors, Health Canada has statistics that project that by the year 2016, 16% of all Canadians will be aged 65 and over (compared to 12% in 1998). There is a particularly rapid increase in the number of people in the very oldest age category in Canada, people aged 85 and over.

Persistently low fertility rates, among other factors, will maintain a high ratio between the number of seniors and the rest of the population for the foreseeable future. The fact that people are living longer will only accentuate the ageing of society. Not even high levels of immigration will have a significant impact in the medium or long term.

In 1982, Canada participated in the World Assembly on Ageing, the first world conference on ageing, held in Vienna. In preparation for the conference, a Report on Ageing (Report) and a Canadian NGO Report on Ageing were drafted for the Canadian delegation. They were written with input from provincial and territorial governments, and from seniors and individuals working with seniors across Canada. In the Report, the Canadian government’s approach to older persons was indicated as: "...development in order to improve the well-being of all Canadians on the basis of their full participation in the process, and the equitable distribution of its benefits." In the Canadian presentation to the World Assembly, Senator Maurice Riels stated that Canada’s objectives for the future were research and distribution of knowledge on issues related to seniors.

This Report was the first comprehensive governmental overview of the situation of older persons. It contains an analysis of older persons in relation to a number of sectors as well as legislation governing those sectors. It highlights universal government programmes and services, as well as those specifically targeted to older persons in each sector. The number of programmes and services available to seniors at this time shows the concern of the Canadian government to deal with the needs of its older population.

A number of points about the situation of older persons in Canada at this time were noted:

	increasing female predominance within the older population;
	senior citizens comprise a group with an unusually high concentration of people with low income, particularly among older unattached women;
	expected increase in the Canadian senior population to occur by the year 2000, including the rapid growth expected for the population aged 80 and over.

Throughout the Report, a number of suggestions were made to effect improvement of the delivery of government programmes and services to older persons including:

	development of networks, including government and NGOs on specific issues;
	more consultation with older persons in policy-making, planning and development and delivery of services that concern them;
	establishment of special services for those persons 80+;
	need to plan for housing that will be needed in the coming years; and
	need for more proactive services.

The government also recognized that specific action would be needed to cope with the expected demographic change, although the Report contains no explicit plans.

The Canadian NGO Report on Ageing puts forward a summary of the needs for seniors in the coming years, as seen by seniors, and individuals working with seniors. The purpose of this document was to provide directions for improvement in the scope and delivery of seniors’ services by the government. Some of the target areas mentioned were:

	an agency dedicated to second-career training;
	need for alternatives to placement in institutions; and
	improved income security for seniors, perhaps use of a means test.

Canada has a long history of policies and programmes serving older Canadians. Responsibility for polices and programmes to address the needs of seniors is shared between the federal and provincial/territorial levels of government. Most of the income security programmes are delivered by the federal government:

These programmes, in addition to provincial subsidies, have greatly improved the lives of many seniors and reduced the number of seniors living in low-income.

Another contribution by the federal government is the funding of provincial health and social programmes through such initiatives as Canada Health and Social Transfers. The federal government also provides significant funding for health care, health promotion, disease prevention and medical research.

Examples of federal commitment to ageing can be seen in programmes such as the New Horizons: Partners in Ageing programme, which ran from 1972 to 1995 and funded 39,000 projects. This programme was designed to encourage retired persons to participate in community life by providing their expertise to select projects.

Another programme was the Seniors Independence Research Programme (SIRP), which funded 29 research projects between 1994 and 1998 to strengthen national research on social, economic and health determinants of independence for both today's and tomorrow's seniors. Based on the SIRP research, a national consensus process was implemented whose goal was to move forward the policy, programming and practice agenda related to seniors' independence. Thematic consensus committees were formed, resulting in the development of four systematic literature reviews and syntheses, and four fact sheets.

The end of New Horizons and the SIRP was not the end of federal work on ageing. The Population Heath Fund and the National Health Research and Development Programme, although non-age specific, continue to foster knowledge development in this area. The goal of the Population Health Fund is to increase community capacity for action on the determinants of health. The Fund has a later life component that includes strengthening the capacity to support healthy ageing, enhancing personal autonomy and independence, and addressing concerns surrounding the end of life. The National Health Research and Development Programme, in existence for over 25 years, provides funding for research projects and activities on policy and programme development in anticipation of the health challenges facing Canadians, including older Canadians.

Since 1980 the National Advisory Council on Aging (NACA), a body at arms-length to the government, has assisted and advised the Minister of Health on matters related to the ageing of the Canadian population and the quality of life of seniors. NACA provides recommendations on current and upcoming issues, monitors policy development in Canada and abroad, distributes information, publishes reports and activates public discussion on ageing. Through the establishment of NACA, the Canadian government recognized that to meet the concerns of its senior population, it needed to be informed, especially by seniors themselves.

Federal government departments also produce numerous reports and studies on the situation of older Canadians both to inform policy-making and as information tools for seniors themselves. In 1988 and in 1994, the government produced booklets documenting Canada’s senior population in areas such as independence, health, housing, employment and living situation. "A Portrait of Seniors in Canada," produced by Statistics Canada in 1997, documents the situation of seniors in Canada and highlights many of the changes that are occurring in this group.

In 1989, NACA produced a report called: 1989 and Beyond: Challenges of an Aging Canadian Society. It considered specific issues of the ageing and the challenges faced by the government to deal with demographic change, including the support of informal caregivers, consideration of groups that will be vulnerable to poverty such as single families headed by women, and equitable allocation of resources among various age groups.

NACA is planning to release a follow-up to their 1989 report by the autumn of 1999: 1999 and Beyond. This report takes stock of the situation of seniors in Canada today, outlining the issues, challenges and opportunities for policy makers and those interested in the issue of population ageing.

Population ageing continues to be a priority research area in the federal government. In addition to the funding programmes noted above, a Programme of Research on Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population, an interdisciplinary programme centred at McMaster University, receives financial and in-kind support (e.g., access to data sets).

Provincial/territorial government, NGO (non-government organization) Contributions to Ageing Programmes

The provincial and territorial governments are responsible for the delivery and administration of health and social services. Most provide free or subsidized drugs to seniors. They regulate and subsidize/ support long-term care facilities. They also provide several social support services from which seniors benefit.

NGOs (including volunteer organizations) also play a key role in the lives of seniors, not only in providing services for seniors, but also in commenting on policy and programme design, and in liaising with various levels of government to inform policy and programme development.

In 1996, Ministers Responsible for Seniors agreed on a National Framework on Aging to guide all jurisdictions and sectors in the development of policies, programmes and services for seniors and provide a coherent, overall approach to preparing for an ageing population. As part of this work, Ministers endorsed the publication of a guide to policy development: Principles of the National Framework on Aging: A Policy Guide. The Policy Guide is a resource for policy planners, decision-makers and other stakeholders in designing policies and programmes for seniors. It is a set of five principles (dignity, independence, participation, fairness and security) reflecting the core values of seniors, and a list of related questions to ensure that policies and programmes support the principles.

This is a substantial document because it was crafted with input from seniors and provides a point by point checklist that can be used by policy makers. However, use of the Policy Guide is purely voluntary.

Another tool of the National Framework on Aging currently under development is a national database of federal, provincial and territorial policies and programmes for seniors that will contain information on health, social, housing and income-support programmes and other services.

In 1999, the federal budget invested $50 million over three years to support innovative approaches to home and community care; and access to quality health services, particularly in rural and remote areas. In addition, $15 million per year for each of the current and next fiscal years has been earmarked by the government to pilot new approaches for older workers’ employment. The focus of these approaches will be to identify better ways to help older workers to prepare for, return to, or keep employment to remain productive in the labour force. Project participants will be between 55 and 64 years of age.

In last 2 years, a number of federal government departments have developed other papers on senior’s issues. Examples include; Communicating with Seniors, Housing Choices for Older Canadians, Communicating with Aboriginal Seniors, The Effect of Health Reforms on Seniors, Best Practice Models of Continuing Care for Seniors, Strategy for Action on Seniors Medication Use, and a Planning Framework to Enhance Safety and Security for Older Canadians. In addition, the government has produced a Seniors Guide to Federal Programmes and Services that has information on all the programmes and services that the federal government provides for seniors, as well as contacts for provincial and territorial seniors services and a list of seniors organizations.

Canada has comprehensive polices and programmes in place to deal with older persons and more importantly to deal with the expected increase in the number of older persons. In answer to some of the challenges, as noted in some of the above-mentioned reports, the federal government has responded by:

	the situation of older women;
	improvement of community-based services for older persons and informal caregiving;
	affordable housing for older persons;
	networking with NGOs on specific issues; and
	development of special programmes for those persons aged 80 and over.

	consulting more with seniors on issues and policies affecting seniors. This is most obvious in the National Framework on Aging;
	producing a survey on "Canada’s Oldest Old;"
	creating a manual on senior’s safety;
	revising government income security programmes; and
	producing and disseminating research on issues pertaining to older persons.