A city committee’s push for a stand-alone municipal department for seniors’ issues headed by a “champion” for the city’s rapidly growing population of older residents has been approved for further study by Ottawa council.
In July, the seniors advisory committee requested that the city develop a comprehensive Ottawa Older Adult Plan to address some of the more pressing issues currently facing the senior community. In order to produce this plan, the advisory committee suggested establishing a separate “Seniors Services Division” to co-ordinate all seniors’ needs and services across the city.
Although council’s decision to study the issue further before taking any immediate action does not completely satisfy the advisory committee’s original requests, president Peter van Boeschoten is not complaining. He says all the councillors seem to be very supportive, and he is happy the city is starting to take some initiative.
“As long as the city moves in the direction that we are advocating, we can live with either solution,” van Boeschoten says.
The seniors advisory committee, along with many other seniors’ centres and community groups around Ottawa, recognizes the importance of making Ottawa an age-friendly city in the face of alarming future demographic changes.
In its July report to city council, the advisory committee said the city’s connection with the growing senior population has so far “been accomplished more by good luck than by good management.”
The committee warns that during the next 20 years the number of seniors aged 65 and over will increase by 50 per cent. This would bring Ottawa’s 50-plus population to more than 400,000.
“The city needs to be prepared for it,” van Boeschoten says. “It’s the kind of thing we need to start [planning for] now, because in the future, 20 per cent of the population is going to be seniors.”
Kathy Ryer, director of administration at The Good Companions, a local seniors’ centre, says she has noticed a recent increase in the number of seniors wanting to get involved. She says that the organization is working to prepare for the changing demographics, and to ensure that seniors are valued members of our society.
“We need to lay the foundation now and the footwork now, and certainly The Good Companions are doing that,” she says.
Oris Retallack, executive director of the Council on Aging of Ottawa, says she is disappointed with the decision to hold off on creating a seniors services division for the moment.
“I would like to see it very prominent,” Retallack says. “I’m hoping and presuming that it’s not going to get dropped or lost in the shuffle.”
Retallack says that the Council on Aging is focused on promoting the mandate for an age-friendly city, especially in the face of a major demographic shift.
“Healthy, engaged citizens of any age provide a healthier community,” Retallack says.
“If a city is senior friendly, then it’s friendly.”