The extent to which services for seniors in many of Canada’s long-term-care homes are terribly delinquent was starkly exposed by Covid-19. Nearly half the people killed by the coronavirus were residents of such lodgings, especially those that are privately owned. The abominable conditions in which they were abused – deprived of adequate food, bullied, drugged, … Continue reading Canada’s mistreatment of the elderly shameful, but so is shoddy care and neglect of children
Social programs
Canadian governments have ignored abominable abuse of the elderly despite care-givers’ repeated alarms
Ten years ago, Pat Armstrong, a sociology professor at Toronto’s York University, released a study of long-term care of the elderly in Canada. She exposed the abysmal lack of staffing required to provide quality care. “Residents sit in soiled diapers because there are no workers available to answer their call. They often miss regular baths, … Continue reading Canadian governments have ignored abominable abuse of the elderly despite care-givers’ repeated alarms
Long-delayed introduction of Pharmacare should be top priority in this election
When the government of Saskatchewan pioneered public health care in Canada in 1962, it covered the two main components of such a system: the services of physicians and hospitals. When other provinces, and finally the federal government, later extended medicare to the national level, it was still confined to these two admittedly important but insufficient-on-their-own … Continue reading Long-delayed introduction of Pharmacare should be top priority in this election
No excuse for government refusal to improve our inferior social programs and help kids in millions of poverty-stricken families
“Where’s the money coming from?” That’s the question thrown at any individual or group seeking increased funding for health care, education, child care, or public pensions – and, most urgently, for the elimination or at least sharp reduction of the disgracefully high rates of poverty in Canada. The presumption underlying this question is that the … Continue reading No excuse for government refusal to improve our inferior social programs and help kids in millions of poverty-stricken families
A Letter to the Editor
This is a letter to the editor that I recently sent to the National Post newspapers. They didn’t bother to tell me why they declined to publish it, but I suppose it was because of its “excessive” length. They have a procrustean tendency to either truncate submissions to fit their editorial “bed” or simply toss … Continue reading A Letter to the Editor
The Nonagenarian's Notebook 