Opinion: Opinion: It’s time to bring back Alberta’s seniors advocate

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As of today, it’s been two years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a pandemic.

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In that time, we have faced challenges which would have seemed inconceivable mere months before. Lost jobs. Sleepless nights. Empty shelves in grocery stores. Shuttered businesses. Months or years separated from family and friends. For many, lost loved ones.

Many of the loved ones we have lost have been Alberta seniors. In fact, almost 90 per cent of all COVID-19 deaths in Alberta have been in people over the age of 60. The vast majority of these seniors died while in facility-based care after weeks or months in total isolation without hugs from their families and loved ones.

The continuing-care system in Alberta and across the country has been in a state of crisis for years. After decades of increasing privatization, declining staff-to-patient ratios, and a chronically underpaid and stretched-thin workforce, the COVID-19 pandemic swept away any pretence of a functional care system. This crisis has thrown the myriad of dangers facing seniors into sharp relief. Seniors are suffering physically, mentally, materially and emotionally and far too many have died alone and too soon.

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And yet, here we are two years in, and no changes or real investments have been made to ensure the dignity, safety and wellness of Alberta seniors.

Bluntly, for past and current governments, seniors have remained and continue to remain a low priority. And our current Kenney government is absolutely callous in this regard. It’s been nearly two years since Kenney said the quiet part out loud when he made this appalling and ageist statement: “The average age of death from COVID in Alberta is 83, and I’ll remind the house that the average life expectancy in the province is 82.”

The message here is clear and re-articulated in every decision the UCP government makes — they adhere to a market fundamentalist ideology of maximized profit for already wealthy corporations, no matter the cost to human lives. Even amidst the worst public health crisis in a century.

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However, COVID-19 is not the only issue seniors face. Seniors struggle with poverty, loneliness, housing insecurity, lack of access to social services and more. All things the UCP government have made worse through cuts to public services, privatization, and selling off of affordable housing.

To add insult to injury in the long track record of this government’s failures, early in their tenure in the legislature, the UCP axed the dedicated provincial seniors advocate. The rationale for this decision was that the role could be absorbed by the provincial health advocate.

One only needs to scratch the surface to understand that a properly empowered seniors advocate, focused explicitly on seniors’ issues and advocacy, is a critical piece in the puzzle for helping seniors live a full life of health and dignity. The senior advocate’s 2018-2019 annual report said 28 per cent of calls were about health care. A quarter of them were for help with income and financial supports. Another 26 per cent were looking for social supports, and 21 per cent were looking for help with housing. It is obvious that this role has more dimensions to it than health alone.

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The seniors advocate was in extremely high demand throughout its short tenure. Between September 2018 and December 2019, Alberta’s seniors advocate handled over 3,850 interactions. Clearly, seniors in our province are suffering and they need help. The government could take an immediate step to address this with a legislated, independent and empowered seniors advocate.

But we need to get the details right. The former seniors advocate office was improperly empowered and it wouldn’t be appropriate to bring it back as it was. While the Alberta NDP government created the role by ministerial order, this advocate’s office was insufficient as it reported through the ministry of health, not to the legislative assembly, and failed to meet the needs of seniors in the province.

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Because it was embedded in the ministry of health and subject to budget and staffing restrictions of this ministry, the role did not have the necessary autonomy to conduct investigations of complaints in continuing care, to advocate for increased transparency and accountability and to garner public support for improvements.

There are models from across Canada that demonstrate what a properly empowered senior advocate can do. When the office of the child and youth advocate (OCYA) of Alberta became an independent office of the legislature on April 1, 2012, it finally had a mandate under legislation that was independent from government and had powers to conduct investigations and make recommendations. With further changes in the ensuing years, the OCYA was empowered to investigate systemic issues within the child welfare system. This evolution over time, which further empowered this independent advocate, should be the model for the seniors advocate now.

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Seniors in Alberta and across the nation deserve safety and a dignified life. They are vital and integral parts of our communities and our families. They deserve so much more. That’s why all Albertans should join with organizations like Public Interest Alberta, Friends of Medicare, Seniors United Now, the National Association of Federal Retirees, Canadian Association of Retired Persons, and more to demand the creation of an independent, properly empowered and funded seniors advocate dedicated to promoting the rights and well-being of Alberta seniors.

Terry Price is the president of Public Interest Alberta and the chair of the Seniors’ Task Force and Douglas Martin is the acting president of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons — Calgary Chapter.