Seniors raise concerns

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

Access to English-language services was one reoccurring theme brought up during the provincial public consultation on the living conditions of senior citizens, which made its final stop at the Sarto Desnoyers Community Centre in Dorval last Friday. Since Aug. 26, the commission has been travelling across Quebec to hear people’s concerns and suggestions about services to seniors.

According to Marguerite Blais, the minister responsible for seniors, the Dorval stop was chosen in the hopes more anglophones would come out and make their opinions heard.

The language issue was present right from the get-go, when numerous people in the crowd complained about not being able to understand the comments given by French-speaking members of the audience.

Blais, however, asked the people to be more courteous and tempered the audience by explaining that commission chairperson and former McGill University associate professor of social work, Sheila Goldbloom, is an anglophone herself.

“Some people are angry because people are speaking French,” Blais said, adding many people came from as far away as St. Sauveur and other francophone areas to attend the consultation. “I think we need to have a little respect for the people. We can’t ask people to stop speaking French. We asked Sheila Goldbloom, who is an anglophone, to be the chairperson on this commission. Isn’t that respectful?”

Blais and Goldbloom also offered to provide brief translations – in both English and French – after each person’s presentation.

Besides asking for better access to services in English, participants of last Friday’s consultation brought up many of the same issues the commission has heard since August.

“The same issues have been brought up at all of our public consultations across the province,” Goldblum said, pointing out long-term care and fixed income as two of the main subjects. Many widows and widowers are forced to live on only $14,000 a year, she said. “That’s a concern and that should not exist in Quebec.”

One man stood up to tell the commission about his mother, who he said is receiving a pensions of only $5,000.

“And right now, medication costs a lot of money. The province doesn’t cover many of them,” he said, adding the situation can come down to a choice between medicine or food.

A LaSalle resident named Fillipa echoed the same sentiment. “I have my two-bedroom condo. The taxes are killing me. The welcome tax is a burden,” she said. “And school taxes; we’ve paid that already. I have no children going to school now. I feel I’ve done my share.”

Beaconsfield resident Brenda Henry pointed out the issue of transportation in relation to isolation.

“Many seniors are terrified of taking the bus,” she said, adding it can also be difficult to get around in metro stations, such as the steep, long staircase at the Lionel-Groulx station. “Are you really going to (take public transportation) if you know you have to climb like a Sherpa guide when you get there?” Henry asked the commission to look into better ways for seniors to get around, especially to and from downtown.

Ann Davidson, head of the West Island Community Resource Centre and interim president for the Table de concertation sur les besoins des aînés de l’Ouest de l’Île (West Island roundtable on seniors needs), commended the commission for the networking opportunities it was giving seniors and reported that the roundtable is working on their own study on seniors needs, specifically in the West Island.

“We hope to use it as a tool to support new initiatives and extra services,” she said. “We (the West Island) are still deemed as a privileged territory, but community organizations need provincial support to continue to provide the services.”

Volunteer West Island (VWI) director Paul Bissonette also told the commission community organizations need support. The Meals on Wheels programs run by VWI, he said, is at risk of folding unless more people volunteers. “Numbers show that 11 per cent of volunteers do 77 per cent of the work,” he said about the big picture.

Many other issues where brought up at the Dorval stop, which ran past the three hours allotted to the consultation: the competencies of staff at seniors’ residences, stereotypes about the elderly, availability of affordable housing, access to information, living conditions, and the quality of food people living in seniors residences were only a few.

On the same day, the provincial government also announced it is increasing its $50,000 subsidy to Baluchon Alzheimer's to $500,000. Baluchon Alzheimer’s is an organization that helps people taking care of Alzheimer’s patients in their home by providing trained caregivers for $100 a day.

With the public consultation now over, the commission will compile a report on all they have heard since August by December or January. The report will serve as a tool for the government to make better decisions when addressing issues related to seniors.