Prince George, B.C.- As the Parliamentary Secretary for Seniors, Ron Cantelon  prepared to head into yesterday’s open house on the role of the Senior’s Advocate, he says some common themes have developed.

 

“Communities are very much involved” says Cantelon “ I think that’s a common theme, communities are already doing a lot of advocacy work. The other common theme is that there needs to be someone who can look at the broad picture for the entire province and focus on systemic issues where things are going wrong and we are making the same mistakes, we’ve got to fix that.”

 

The Prince George session was the 9^th of ten planned sessions aimed at hearing from stakeholders and the general public. Cantelon says while communities have taken on a great deal of responsibility for their senior populations, the message is clear they need more support “ Clearly we heard educational support as much as anything, instructional support. A lot of the issues are navigational, you know many seniors aren’t computer literate so you need to have people who they can contact, and the first person a senior can reach is going to be their advocate.”

 

There are some issues which reflect the differences between urban and rural B.C., in particular, Cantelon says the larger urban centres have a broader multicultural base, and language barriers exist, so there will be a need to provide services in a multi languages.

There has also been a push for the Senior’s Advocate to be “independent” “We have heard that, and certainly they want an independent voice to look at the systemic issues. To point to the government and say ‘this just isn’t working’.” 

 

He credits community groups for doing a tremendous amount of work, and that they need assistance.

 

The final report  with recommendations is expected to be presented to the Provincial Government later this fall.