Seniors' Advocacy in Ontario

Care Watch is a non-profit, senior-led, volunteer advocacy group working on issues surrounding the quality of care, in-home care, and community services available to Ontario’s senior citizens. The Board of Directors is composed of working seniors and is currently chaired by Josephine Grayson, whom I spoke with by phone and email to learn more about Care Watch’s advocacy. The Board draws upon its members’ professional credentials and experiences of ageing to produce fact sheets, research reports, letters to the government, and presentations—materials aimed at shifting public understanding regarding services offered to senior citizens and promoting equitable care policies at the provincial, federal, and municipal levels of government in Canada. As Ontario’s population ages, the quality of senior citizen home care is becoming an urgent issue, and senior citizens themselves are important players in this discussion.

According to Grayson, Care Watch’s work is motivated by a perceived decrease in an individual’s social relevance as a result of ageing: “As people age, they tend to become less visible,” says Grayson, “their voices cannot be heard.” Other challenges that motivate Care Watch include identifying who administers and pays for home care services. Ageing is an inevitable part of life, and standards of care services strongly determine the quality of life experienced by senior citizens. Knowing who administers such services and how they are funded gives senior citizens a greater ability to advocate for improvements.

Care Watch also evaluates and scrutinizes the effectiveness of new government initiatives regarding care. The organization publicizes letters it has submitted to politicians, including an open letter to the Federal Minister of Health, Jane Philpott, and the Ontario Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Eric Hoskins. Grayson’s letter encourages the “protect[ion] of funding for home care services,” amidst an agreement between the provincial and federal governments, wherein the provincial government promised to allocate more funding for mental health and home care services. But Care Watch’s advocacy is not only about letter-writing and influencing policy—it’s also about educating the public about what these policies mean, and the impact they’ll have on individuals. For example, Care Watch has released fact sheets and evaluations concerning the 2016 Patients First Act, legislation drafted by Minister Hoskins that proposes reforms to home and community care. Asked about the response and reception to her open letter, Grayson says, “when you’re an advocate, it’s a bit […] difficult to figure out what the impact has been. We see our success being responded to […], we’ve received responses back [from the government], which tells us that we’ve been heard.”

Recently, in conjunction with the Toronto Seniors’ Forum, Care Watch initiated Still Acting Out, a project that uses publishing, public consultation, and theatrical performance to address senior citizens’ experiences of ageism and issues of discrimination faced in home care. Drawing upon the collective experiences of Care Watch’s Board of Directors and over 200 participants from across Toronto, the collected responses were scripted into short, dramatic scenes that were acted out by volunteers in a variety of theatrical venues. The importance of this project lies in its function as an educational tool, both for the general public and for other seniors’ advocacy organizations, demonstrating the many issues faced in the daily lives of senior citizens.

In the near future, the advocacy group hopes to further the progress it has made in bringing about access to in-home care, housing, transportation, and Meals on Wheels programs for the benefit of senior citizens. Ultimately, addressing the challenges of ageing is not only a social necessity but a moral imperative. Care Watch aims to improve the lives of individuals regardless of age; after all, any work that increases an individual’s quality of life is work worth pursuing.