Yesterday, BC’s Seniors Advocate Dan Levitt made his way to Terrace to present to a crowd of seniors at the Terrace Sportsplex’s Banquet Room in an event focused on giving Northwestern Seniors a chance to voice their concerns and ask questions about issues that affect them.
And as expected, Levitt himself also emphasized a lot of what he thought the biggest issues facing Northwestern BC seniors are at the moment;
“We just haven’t invested enough in affordable housing for seniors. We have to invest enough in infrastructure for seniors care, whether that’s day programs or respite care or long-term care. Certainly, the pressure on hospitals has been felt in Alternate Level Care patients because of the infrastructure not being built and seniors have told us they’re struggling with income and affordability as well as community services that are needed for healthy aging things like transportation. A lot of pressures are being felt on seniors living Terrace and Northwest British Columbia. I think another key thing we have to do is get over this aging and ageism rhetoric. Aging isn’t a problem to be fixed, ageism is. and that ageism translates into a lack of investment in supports that seniors need.”
Levitt also went onto praise the seniors who attended as well as the Skeena Valley Seniors Society, who helped put on the event;
“I really appreciated the energy in the room and the number of people that came out as well as the fact that there is a senior service organization that is promoting seniors to voice their concerns. Because what our office does is amplify the voices of seniors around our province. There’s 1.1 million seniors today and there’s going to be 1.5 million seniors ten years from now, when 25 percent of our population is over 65. And in rural BC, there’s more seniors then anywhere else in the province, so it’s really important that they voice their concerns and that they’re listened to. The good news here is that the municipal and provincial government are listening to what seniors need.
But he wasn’t the only person speaking at the event as several other politicians like Terrace Mayor Sean Bujtas and Skeena MLA Claire Ratee talked about their own concerns and answered some questions, as did several service agency representatives, like PNGI, the Ksan Society, the Kermode Friendship Society, Terrace Churches Food Bank and Volunteer Terrace.
Skeena Valley Seniors Society President Diana Penner also had her own thoughts on how she thought the event went;
“I’m happy with the attendance. I’m happy with the items that were discussed as well as getting the opportunity to bring forward seniors issues again.”
Dan Levitt was set to attend another similar event earlier today in Kitimat before making one other stop on his tour of senior advocacy events in Prince Rupert.