[Report] Consultations on the social and economic impacts of ageism in Canada: “What we heard” report

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Introduction

The Forum of Federal, Provincial and Territorial (FPT) Ministers Responsible for Seniors (Seniors Forum) has been working to address the social and economic impacts of ageism on older adults in Canada. The World Health Organization defines ageism as “the stereotypes (how we think), prejudice (how we feel) and discrimination (how we act) towards others or oneself based on age.” As a part of the FPT Seniors Forum’s work, feedback was sought from Canadians to better understand the impacts of ageism at the individual level, and at the community level. Participants provided feedback in 2 different ways: 1) by participating in a FPT Seniors Forum led roundtable consultation or a stakeholder-led consultation, or 2) by completing an ageism questionnaire. While ageism can be experienced by people of any age, the focus of the consultations and questionnaire was on ageism directed towards older adults. An older adult was defined as a person aged 55 and up.

As ageism is a complex topic, 5 themes were selected to focus on:

1. employment
2. health and health care
3. social inclusion
4. safety and security
5. media and social media

Between September and November 2022 a total of 8 FPT Seniors Forum led roundtable consultations and 17 stakeholder-led consultations were hosted across Canada, providing participants with an opportunity to discuss ageism as it related to the 5 theme areas. The ageism questionnaire was available to respondents from August 15 to October 31, 2022, and a total of 2,920 complete responses were received. The questionnaire consisted of a series of close-ended questions, as well as opportunities to share personal stories about the impacts of ageism.

This “What We Heard” report summarizes input received from the FPT Seniors Forum led roundtable consultations and stakeholder-led consultations and the ageism questionnaire. This input will inform a subsequent Policy Options Report, to be submitted to FPT Ministers for their consideration, that will propose approaches, initiatives, and strategies to address ageism in Canada.