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Background

The Canadian population is aging. It is a demographic trend that can be neatly plotted in graphics, counted in statistics. We are living longer.

Statistics Canada recently put numbers to this fact, pointing out the number of people aged 100 or older increased 50 percent between 1996 and 2006, and is set to triple to more than 14,000 by 2031. This made national headlines.

Meanwhile, Canadians are having fewer babies, shifting the historical balance between the young and the old. Add to that the reality that the baby-boom generation is entering the retirement years, and it becomes unavoidable and clear – the Canadian population is aging.

In November 2006, the Special Senate Committee on Aging was created with a broad mandate to review a wide range of complex issues to determine if Canada is providing the right programs and services at the right time to the individuals who need them.

The committee has reviewed public programs and services for seniors, identified the gaps that exist in meeting their needs, and examined the implications for service delivery in the future as the population ages.

The committee released an interim report in February 2007, Embracing the Challenge of Aging, which summarized the findings of the first phase of the study. That report identified overarching questions, organized into four broad themes:  defining seniors; the diversity of seniors and their needs; promising policy approaches; and the role of the federal government.

Using these four broad themes to frame its work, the committee undertook to examine these issues in more detail in the second phase of its study. This included a series of hearings and a questionnaire sent to seniors’ organizations across Canada to elicit their views on issues important to them.

In March 2008, the committee released a second interim report, Issues and Options for an Aging Population. In its second report, the committee identified key public policy issues with respect to the aging of the population and presented a set of potential options for addressing these issues.

Since March 2008, the committee was engaged in the third and final phase of its study where it invited expert witnesses to testify at roundtable hearings and travelled throughout Canada to hear from Canadians on the issues and options presented in the second interim report.

The committee met with seniors to hear their stories in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Moncton, New Brunswick; Sherbrooke, Quebec; Welland, Ontario; Ste. Anne, Manitoba; the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Victoria, British Columbia.

This final report of the Special Senate Committee on Aging, Canada’s Aging Population: Seizing the Opportunity, sets out a comprehensive vision for government, organizations and individuals to embrace the challenges of an aging population.

For further information on the committee, please visit: http://senate-senat.ca/age-e.asp.