Hon. Alice Wong, P.C.

Toronto, Ontario
May 21, 2014

Thank you for that kind introduction.

It is an honour to be here and share the same podium with such an impressive group of experts in the field of aging.

The Knowledge Exchange conference is an important venue for those of you in the field of gerontology to learn from one another. I am happy I could be here with you today, and I look forward to hearing about new developments.

In my opinion, yours is one of the most fascinating disciplines. Every day we discover something new that will help us on our journey toward better aging.

Just the other day, I read a rather startling prediction from the Office of the Chief Actuary. The Actuary said that five of every ten Canadians, who are now aged twenty, can expect to live until the age of ninety.

If the current trend continues—that is, if people continue to live longer and healthier lives—we will see entire new industries geared to aging.

Actually, it’s already starting to happen.

More and more products are designed to assist seniors, and businesses are thinking more about how to respond to the needs of older people.

Our government understands that to meet seniors’ evolving needs, we must continue to take action, so that senior Canadians can stay active, engaged and informed.

In 2011, when I took on the portfolio of Minister of State for Seniors, I felt I would be able to make a difference.

I knew that if I wanted to serve seniors well, I would have to do some work on re-shaping attitudes toward older people.

I also knew we had to find innovative ways to finance programs that help seniors continue to be active, engaged members of their communities.

We continue to fund programs like the New Horizons for Seniors Program, or NHSP, that help promote the well-being and social inclusion of seniors across Canada.

In fact, this winter in the Government of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, we proposed an additional $5 million, which would bring the budget of the NHSP to $50 million annually.

I believe that in order to succeed with our programs, we have to take advantage of the knowledge and resources that already exist in the community.

I firmly believe that the guiding principles of social innovationcan help us resolve some of the more deeply-rooted issues facing seniors.

Issues like social isolation, loneliness, elder abuse and financial literacy.

Social innovation is about looking for new ideas to find solutions to social challenges and benefit people and their communities.

I’m excited that our government is playing a leading role in bringing together partners from both federal and private sectors to address issues like social isolation.

The Government of Canada is focused on making sure communities are well supported and is taking the necessary steps to help them to tackle local issues.

Social innovation is about mobilizing private capital for public good by creating opportunities for investors and community organizations to work together on mutually- beneficial projects.

This new direction complements existing programs such as the New Horizons for Seniors Program. We want to allow the opportunity for innovative approaches to be used to help as many Canadians as possible.

Social innovation recognizes that government programs and funds alone are not the solution to these pressing social issues.

Social innovation is about finding new, efficient ways of addressing social issues, such as promoting better participation of seniors in our communities.

It is also about putting all our talents to work, partnering and forging alliances between governments, the business community and community organisations for the common good.

It is about working as a dynamic team, pooling our resources and tapping into the wealth of collective experience and expertise that can really effect positive change for seniors across Canada.

To make room for social innovation initiatives within the NHSP, we are shifting some of its focus to “innovative projects” that will leverage resources to tackle some of the pressing issues faced by seniors today.

Leveraging requires partners outside the federal government to give a certain level of cash or in-kind resources, or both, to the project.

And it works.

It works because it increases sources for funding, including from the private sector, for social issues at the community level.

Last fall, we opened a Call for Proposals to identify Pilot Projects on social isolation and intergenerational learning.

We looked for projects that address isolation among seniors through better social support networks and resources, and community interventions.

Last week, I was pleased to announce that 20 of these New Horizons projects had been approved and would be starting in the months to come.

I’d like to share with you a few examples of the projects that have been approved to address social isolation, through this new innovative approach:

• the Dementia Alliance of Canada,which will provide peer support to seniors affected by dementia by matching them with volunteers highly trained to deal with this condition;
• the Municipality of Muskoka, which will identify problems seniors face when searching for different programs and services that are available to them; and
• The Silver Harbour Seniors’ Activity Centre in North Vancouver. The Centre will develop a pilot project to identify transportation problems and find solutions for seniors, especially those who are isolated.

All these projects have something in common. The organizations have all brought community partners to the table. By leveraging funds from partners, we are seeing a much greater capacity to make a real impact.

The New Horizons for Seniors Program has traditionally provided two types of project funding for projects led or inspired by seniors:

• Community-based funding, which provides grants of up to $25,000 for one-year projects; and
• Pan-Canadian projects with maximum funding of $750,000 for up to 3 years for projects that focus specifically on elder abuse.

I am proud to say that over 13,000 NHSP projects have been approved in hundreds of communities since 2006.

On May 13^th,I announced this year’s NHSP Call for Proposals for Community-Based Projects. Organizations have until July 4, 2014 to apply for project funding.

I expect a Call for Proposals for pan-Canadian projects will be launched later this year, and one for innovative projects will come next winter.

NICE’s National Survey on the Mistreatment of Older Canadians, which was launched in June of 2012, is a great example of an NHSP pan-Canadian project.

NICE will develop the first survey of the mistreatment of adults 55 and over.

It is estimated that between four and ten percent of older adults in Canada experience some form of abuse and that only one in five incidents is ever reported.

This survey is really the first of its kind.

Gaining a more complete understanding of the dynamics of elder abuse in Canada will help healthcare providers and policy developers make more informed decisions.

As I said a moment ago, we need to continue to take action now, to keep our seniors active, engaged and informed.

Our government is working hard to improve the lives of seniors on many other fronts:

• In Budget 2014, we proposed the Canadian Employers for Caregivers plan, to help Canadians balance their work and caregiving responsibilities;
• We made it easier for caregivers to find the information they need in just one location when we created the new Information for Caregivers section on the seniors.gc.ca website.
• In April 2014, we tabled the Digital Privacy Act to amend the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in Parliament, to better protect seniors from fraud and financial abuse; and
• this year, it is estimated that we will provide more than $80 billion through Canada’s public pension system.

So, as you can see, we are taking a holistic approach to help seniors have happier, healthier and more secure lives.

This is a good investment that our government and all Canadians can be proud of.

Thank you for inviting me, and I look forward to hearing from the extraordinary lineup of speakers and presenters here today.

Filed under: Commentary, Seniors