(Montreal) The Coalition for the Dignity of Seniors (CDA) reiterates its invitation to the government to hold a general assembly on the living conditions of seniors, following the report of the Health and Welfare Commissioner.
Posted at 12:56 p.m.
The group of six national associations calls for consultation with those who are directly affected by care and services to find out their needs and expectations.
Reproaching the various ministries for working in silos, the CDA spokesperson asks the civil servants for better consultation and to “look outside the box”.
“We have to talk to the various groups that represent seniors and to the seniors themselves. […] You have to get the broadest possible opinion from all the stakeholders. If we do this only at the highest level, we will never have the sound of the people at the base,” argues Pierre Lynch, also president of the Quebec Association for the Defense of the Rights of Retired and Pre-Retired Persons.
In her report released last Wednesday, Commissioner Joanne Castonguay indicated that during the first wave of the pandemic, decisions for the elderly were made “without consulting them enough”.
She even described Quebec’s attitude towards seniors as “partnerist”, an opinion shared by Mr. Lynch.
“We must stop seeing seniors as a tax burden, but look at them as wealth,” he says. Mr. Lynch points out that seniors represent 20% of the population and an economic force for Quebec.
“If the seniors weren’t there, there would be practically no volunteering and there are a number of services that wouldn’t be provided,” he points out.
This article was produced with the financial support of the Facebook and The Canadian Press News Fellowships.