Our work / signature initiatives
National Seniors Strategy
Meeting the growing and evolving needs of Canada’s ageing population will require concerted coordination and effort between municipal, provincial and territorial governments. In 2015, the NIA worked in close collaboration with partners across the country to develop a National Seniors Strategy that outlines key steps for all levels of government to address the critical issues impacting older adults in Canada. The strategy was then refreshed in 2020, on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NIA and partners continue to advocate for a comprehensive federal strategy grounded in the key focus areas below.
National Seniors Strategy Key Areas of Focus
Enables older Canadians to remain independent, productive and engaged members of our communities.
- Make addressing ageism, elder abuse, and social isolation a national priority
- Ensure older Canadians do not live in poverty by improving their income security
- Ensure older Canadians have access to affordable housing
- Ensure older Canadians have access to inclusive transportation
- Enable the creation of age-friendly communities, physical environments and spaces
Ensures Canadians can lead healthy and active lives for as long as possible.
- Ensure Canadians are supported to engage in wellness and prevention activities that enable healthy ageing
- Improve access to medically necessary and appropriate medications and vaccines
- Ensure older Canadians and their caregivers are enabled to participate in informed health decision-making & advance care planning
Ensures older Canadians have access to person-centred, high-quality, and integrated care as close to home as possible, provided by providers with the knowledge and skills to care for them.
- Ensure older Canadians have access to appropriate, high quality long-term care, palliative and end-of-life services
- Ensure that older Canadians have access to care providers that are trained to specifically provide the care they need
- Develop standardized metrics and accountability standards to enable a national seniors strategy
- Ensuring the needs of older adults are recognized and supported in emergency and disaster preparedness planning, response, and recovery efforts
Providing support and recognition to meet the needs of current and future caregivers will not only keep Canada’s health and long-term care systems more sustainable, but it will also ensure that our national economic productivity can be improved and strengthened.
- Ensuring that the family and friends of older Canadians who provide unpaid care for their loved ones are acknowledged and supported.
- This can be achieved by ensuring unpaid caregivers and older adults are supported in the workplace
- Ensuring unpaid caregivers are not unnecessarily penalized financially for taking on caregiving roles