Provincial Health Coalitions Put Federal Parties on Notice: Canadians Demand Real Action to Fix Long-Term Care

(Canada-wide) - With a federal election called for September 20, provincial Health Coalitions across Canada are putting all federal political parties on notice. The federal government could have already set real national standards for long-term care in legislation or an emergency federal-provincial-territorial funding accord with sufficient funding attached to leverage real change. Instead, nothing has happened. Canadians expect all political parties to commit to bring in national standards for long-term care as a matter of national priority.

EDMONTON — Today, Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced the allocation of $400 million in operational funding over four years, for 6,000 continuing care beds across the province. Of these, 2,200 will be new beds, and the remaining 3,800 will be refurbished or renovated from existing “underutilized” spaces in private facilities.

EDMONTON — Friends of Medicare and Public Interest Alberta join organizations from civil society, labour, and senior citizens representing hundreds of thousands of Albertans speaking out against Bill 70: COVID Related Measures Act, which is expected to be voted on by the Legislative Assembly today. Twenty-three (23) organizations have signed an open letter to demand that this legislation not be passed into law because of the dangers it poses to Alberta seniors and their families. The letter was emailed to Premier Kenney, Minister of Health, Tyler Shandro and UCP MLA Richard Gotfried, the sponsor of this bill. The open letter will be tabled today in the Alberta Legislature by MLA Christina Grey, Critic for Labour and Immigration & Official Opposition House Leader. 

June 1, 2021
EDMONTON

Government review of Alberta's continuing care system simply changes who pays, and who benefits

EDMONTON (Canada-wide) — Today Friends of Medicare joins provincial and territorial Health Coalitions from across the country, Canadians 4 LTC, advocates, family members, and seniors for a National Day of Action for Long-Term Care Standards. All across Canada, we will be virtually protesting the failure of our federal and provincial governments to set national standards for long-term care. The scale of suffering and preventable death in Canada’s long-term care homes throughout the pandemic has precipitated a moral obligation for meaningful change. However, our political leaders have failed to lead.

EDMONTON — Bill 70: COVID-19 Related Measures Act, introduced today, intends to ensure legal protection for health services facilities—including continuing care operators—facing lawsuits over illness or death due to exposure to COVID-19. If passed, Bill 70 will prevent families from being able to seek answers and hold care homes responsible for negligence of their loved ones. 

EDMONTON — Today the Standing Committee on Private Bills and Private Members' Public Bills deliberated Bill 215: the Seniors Advocate Act, introduced by MLA Lori Sigurdson, critic for Seniors and Housing. An independent seniors advocate, like that in British Columbia, would serve as an independent officer of the legislature to help seniors navigate services, provide policy recommendations to the government, and conduct reviews on service providers to ensure seniors’ needs are met. 

EDMONTON (Canada-wide) — Today, advocates representing more than a million Canadians came together to demand that the federal government and provinces work together to establish national standards for long-term residential care. The groups released a legal opinion setting out a proposal for a commitment from the federal government to ongoing funding for long-term care with clear criteria requiring the provinces to improve quality, accountability and take profit out of seniors’ care.
 

EDMONTON — March 11, 2021 marks the one year anniversary of the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic, and seniors groups, labour groups, and advocacy groups are gathering outside of the Federal Building at the Legislature to install an visual representation of the lives we have lost to COVID-19, especially those of Alberta’s seniors who have been disproportionately affected. The visual will be a collection of roses, made by Erin Alyward, each one colour coded to show the age of the person we lost. The advocates and activists will also be joined by members of Alberta Arts Action Group, a group which blends arts and activism, who will sing and recite poetry as we mark this solemn occasion.