There are many reasons to engage seniors (those aged 65 and over) in the development of local plans. For example, encouraging youth and providing them with opportunities to form relationships with seniors may help to reduce intergenerational gaps. Demographic aging is also impacting many Ontario communities as older persons increasingly make up greater portions of the population. The importance of safety and security for older Ontarians has been recognized under Ontario’s Action Plan for Seniors and a growing number of initiatives present opportunities to connect community safety and well-being planning to seniors and their service providers. This section was developed to assist partners involved in the community safety and well-being planning process to identify opportunities to engage seniors and create linkages with other activities that are already underway.

Benefits of seniors’ engagement

Engaging seniors in the community safety and well-being planning process is a natural extension of the roles that they already play in their communities, as employees, volunteers, or members of various agencies/organizations. It may involve direct engagement with seniors themselves, senior’s agencies/organizations or service providers, and provide an:

  • opportunity for new understanding of the lived reality of seniors
  • opportunity to breakdown stereotypes/assumptions about older people and the contributions they can make to their communities
  • long-term opportunity for creation of on-the-ground community policies and programs that are increasingly responsive to the needs of seniors and the shared benefits these may have for people of all ages
  • source for new ideas, energy, knowledge and experience, and
  • opportunity to create healthy and positive community connections between people of all ages, leading to social cohesion.

Additionally, the following are benefits that engagement can have on the seniors themselves:

  • provide opportunities to apply skills and share knowledge with other generations
  • maintain or enhance social connections, and
  • build a sense of inclusion and voice into what is happening in the community as a contributor to a larger community purpose.

Building connections

The following are some opportunities and considerations for engaging seniors during the community safety and well-being planning process.

Seniors organizations

Seniors are members of many local agencies/organizations and a number of large senior’s agencies/organizations have local chapters across the province. Partnering with a variety of these groups will allow for a wide range of seniors’ perspectives and access to the diverse strengths and capacities of seniors from different ages and lived experience. For more information on seniors agencies/organizations that may be active in your community, please refer to the Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat website.

When reaching out to seniors, planning partners are encouraged to consider the following approaches to ensure diversity and equity:

  • identify diverse groups of seniors (for example, LGBTQ, Indigenous seniors and elders, older adults with disabilities, immigrant or newcomer seniors)
  • identify individuals/groups that can relate to seniors and their customs, cultures, traditions, language and practices
  • when forming advisory groups with seniors’ representation, consider compensation options such as small honorariums or offering food and covering transportation costs where possible (this will support seniors that might not traditionally be able to get involved)

Service providers

When forming an advisory group or other engagement approaches that include service provider perspectives, consider reaching out to agencies/organizations that are familiar with the needs of older adults, including:

  • community care access centres
  • long term tare Homes, retirement homes, or seniors housing providers
  • police services, including those with Seniors Liaison Officers and Crimes against Seniors Units
  • elderly person centres
  • community support service agencies (funded by Local Health Integration Networks to provide adult day programs, meal delivery, personal care, homemaking, transportation, congregate dining, etc.)
  • municipal recreation and health and social service departments
  • social planning councils and councils on aging

Local linkages

Existing local engagement and planning mechanisms may be leveraged to help connect seniors and service providers throughout the community safety and well-being planning process. By making these linkages, synergies and efficiencies may be achieved. Some of these mechanisms may include:

  • Seniors/Older Adult Advisory Committees
    • Established by local governments to seek citizen and stakeholder input into the planning and delivery of municipal services that impact older adults.
  • Local Elder Abuse Prevention Networks
    • There are over 50 local networks across the province that help address the needs of vulnerable seniors and the complex nature of elder abuse. They link health, social services and justice agencies/organizations to improve local responses to elder abuse and help deliver public education, training, and facilitate cross-sectoral knowledge exchange between front-line staff, often including advice on managing elder abuse cases. Contact information for local elder abuse prevention networks can be found at Elder Abuse Ontario website.
  • Age-friendly community (AFC) planning committees
    • Based on the World Health Organization’s eight dimension framework, the AFC concept highlights the importance of safe and secure environments, social participation and inclusion, all of which are aligned with senior’s participation in the community safety and well-being planning process.
    • Many communities are developing AFC plans to help create social and physical environments that allow people of all ages, including seniors, to participate fully in their communities. Local AFC planning committees are being established to lead the completion of needs assessments and multi-sectoral planning. To support planning, the Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat has created an AFC Planning Guide and an AFC Planning Grant Program. More information about AFCs and local activity underway can be found at the Seniors’ Secretariat website.
  • Accessibility advisory committees
    • Under the Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2001, municipalities with more than 10,000 residents have to establish local accessibility advisory committees. Most of the members of these committees are people with disabilities, including seniors.
    • Over 150 Ontario municipalities have set up local accessibility advisory committees. The committees work with their local councils to identify and break down barriers for people with disabilities.
    • Engaging accessibility advisory committees in community safety and well-being planning would contribute to the development of inclusive policies and programs that serve all members of a community. For more information, please visit our accessibility laws webpage.