Debrief about COSCO BC’s 75th-anniversary conference, Human Rights and Ageing: Strategies for an Equitable Future.
October 3-5, 2025
The Councils of Seniors’ Citizens 8 – 75th Anniversary Conference was charged up with energy, covering the many topics, issues, ideas and hope around a more equitable future for all our BC aging citizens as they become and live as older persons. Notables include Dan Levitt, Seniors’ Advocate and Susie Chant, Parliamentary Secretary of Seniors and Long-Term Care (In photo with Lisa Dawson above). We worked together in one of the workshops on the UN Convention and Rights of Older Persons, contributing to the discussion of long-term care and where that intersects with Human Rights and Ageism.
The audience was as diverse as the group of people this conference was about:
Seniors and seniors’ representatives from across B.C. and Canada; municipal leaders, Federal and provincial departments dealing with seniors and non-governmental organizations such as social planning councils, seniors and community centre staff, agencies supporting older adults, unions, and advocacy groups. The format focused on panel discussions, each panelist providing background to their workshop first. Then everyone split up into workshops led by the respective panelists.
Paul Adams, BC Rural Health Network – Team-based primary care and Community Health Centres
Jeff Moss, Jewish Seniors Alliance of BC Home Support Advocacy Campaign
Lisa Dawson, Independent Long Term Care Councils Association of BC – Grass-roots advocacy in support of resident and family councils in long-term care
Penny MacCourt, Action for Reform of Residential Care – Quality of Life for Seniors in LTC
Paul Adams, BC Rural Health Network, gave a nod to the disparity of long-term care in the North. An audience member commented about taking away adult day centre programming to turn that space into long-term care. Robbing from one social service to provide for another is not a long-term solution.
Jeff Moss, while focused on at-home care to stave off entry to long-term care, was clear that a certain % of people at home will, eventually, require long-term care.
So that left Penny and me to cover off our introductions. Penny focused on her workshop about building a Quality of Life for residents in LTC and what that really looks like. I focused on educating the audience on the positive outcomes we experience through stakeholder engagement to achieve continuous improvement in quality of care and quality of life in LTC.
If you would like more information about this conference, please contact us: iltccabc@gmail.com
