The City of Ottawa wrapped up talks with residents last month in its effort to include public opinion in the new 50+ Recreation Strategy, created to meet the demands of an aging population.
A study from Statistics Canada shows that in 2006, baby boomers – people born between 1946 and 1965 – made up 30 per cent of Canada’s population.
As the baby boomers age and more people retire earlier, Hall says they will be looking for ways to fill up their time.
So the city put together several talks in English and French complete with a presentation about 50+ recreation to open the floor for discussion.
The final talk, in French, happened last month.
Sue Hall, who is leading the initiative for a 50+ program, says this is the final formal opportunity for people to have their say, but she will continue to accept informal input into the plan.
“We are all quite aware of the issue,” she says, referring to the fact that the majority of Canada’s population will be over 50 years old in the next few years.
She says Ottawa is not alone in working to create new recreation programs for people 50+ and to improve the programs that are already out there. Many other municipalities are working toward the same goal.
Hall says the city created a survey, accessible on the City of Ottawa website, to assess individual needs and to get an idea of what is already available, who is using the programs, and what more needs to be done.
The survey asks questions related to lifestyle and activities people enjoy, as well as whether people are using city programming already.
Fran Craig, a fitness instructor and recreation programs co-ordinator at Carleton University says the idea of 50+ fitness programs, as opposed to seniors’ fitness, has been around for a long time and will continue to grow.
“When I took over the program it was slow and relaxed, and now it is fast, challenging,” she says, showing the movements she teaches in her classes.
She says the programs have come a long way from where they were and the people who take her classes “really kick butt.”
The Jack Purcell Community Centre in Centretown offers several 50+ programs, such as an introduction to exercising with weights class, a cardiovascular fitness class, tai chi and yoga.
They also offer a wellness membership to their warm water pool for people with chronic pain.
Jill Young, the co-ordinator of programs in the pool facility says the majority of wellness members are above 50.
She says the facility already meets the needs of its 50+ clients ,but could still benefit from more specific programming.
Eleth Parke is a client at Jack Purcell who suffers from chronic back pain.
She says people such as her come to the facility for the healing.
“It is the warmest pool in the city. The warm water is good for me,” she says.
Hall says it’s important for the city to consider which existing programs are effective and which ones need improvement, before creating new programming.
She says the ongoing process of creating a master plan for recreation is made more complicated by the fact this age group can contribute to discussions.
“It’s not like creating daycare programs, this population can organize themselves and can be helpful in planning for the future,” says Hall.
She says the ultimate goal of the program is to help people 50+ and retired people plan for their future in recreation.
Despite hold-ups related to the swine flu vaccination clinics, Hall says now that the talks are completed, work can begin on creating and implementing new programming.