Seniors

Key Priorities for English-Speaking Seniors
 

In 2007, the Government of Quebec held public consultations across the province to assess the living conditions of seniors. Resulting from these consultations was a report entitled Preparing the Future with Our Seniors, which established the need to facilitate access to information about services. This was, according to the co-chair of the roving commission Mrs. Sheila Goldbloom, of particular importance for English-speaking seniors who often lack information about services in the official language of their choice.

Based on that pressing need for our English-speaking seniors, in 2009 the Quebec Community Groups Network applied for and received a project grant through the New Horizons for Seniors Program of the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. The main goal of the project was to develop the www.quebecseniors.info database which informs English-speaking seniors and their caregivers about existing resources in their own language.

Thanks to the New Horizons project grant, the QCGN also created a Seniors' Working Committee withrepresentatives from across the province who came together to discuss needs and key priorities for Quebec English-speaking seniors and set the foundation of a provincial seniors’ coalition. The committee helped produce Blazing a Trail for Active and Healthy Aging: An Action Plan for Quebec’s English-speaking Seniors which consolidated pertinent provincial government recommendations, results of a survey of English-speaking seniors, and advice from key community leaders and organizations.

The main priority identified in the action plan was the creation of a provincial network for English-speaking seniors. To implement this goal, and to improve networking among English-speaking seniors, the QCGN applied to the Soutien aux initiatives visant le respect des Aînés (SIRA) project of the Provincial Ministère de la Famille et des Ainés and received a project grant for 2010-2012. This current project aims to help organizations working with seniors to share best practices; to provide seniors with greater access to resources; and to develop partnerships and coordinate seniors’ demands. Knowledge transfer and sharing with French-speaking counterparts, organizations and government partners are also among the goals to help seniors better meet their needs and challenges.

In April, more than 100 seniors and representatives from institutions and community groups from across Quebec gathered to take the first important steps towards the creation of a provincial network for English-speaking seniors. The forum set five main objectives for the next three years:

• To advocate at all levels of government to ensure English-speaking seniors throughout Quebec have access to all the services and programs that are necessary to maintain their health and vitality
• To empower seniors by improving their access to information and resources
• To promote the Seniors’ Network as an inclusive English-language organization that is recognized as the voice of English-speaking seniors in Quebec
• To ensure the sustainability of the Network through adequate and timely funding, results-based activities, sound and shared leadership, and fostering intergenerational activities
• To create a permanent structure to address the specific seniors’ issues

For further information, please contact Ruth Pelletier at (514) 868-9044, ext. 229.