June 14, 2024

It’s Seniors Month, and Ontario’s government tells us how it celebrates older adults. There are congratulatory messages, awards, and programs. However, much of the language is ageist, and some of the programs just don’t work for everyone who needs them. They also won’t correct many of the real problems older Ontarians face.

But there is still reason to celebrate, with news of something that can truly improve the lives of older adults in Ontario and elsewhere.

In May, the United Nations General Assembly’s Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, which Canada joined in 2017, submitted its draft decision. The decision begins by:

• Noting the increase in persons 60 and older and the challenges to their human rights
• Recognizing the essential contributions older persons can continue to make
• Emphasizing that all human rights are universal, indivisible, inalienable, interrelated, and interdependent and stating the obligation to respect, protect, and promote those rights

It also specifies the need to eliminate ageism, which presumes that it is somehow acceptable to neglect older persons and discriminate against them. It’s this ageism that is at the root of gaps in older persons’ human rights.

“The Open-ended Working Group has set the stage for an international convention to protect the human rights of older adults.”

Recommendations encourage United Nations Member States to act nationally, regionally, and internationally by:

• Raising political commitment to older persons’ human rights, dignity, and wellbeing
• Linking ageing to social and economic development and human rights
• Updating the international plan of action on ageing, considering an international legally binding instrument, and adding protocols to existing human rights treaties
• Enhancing data collection, sharing data, promoting discussions, and developing partnerships
• Paying specific attention to older persons’ human rights in multilateral forums, United Nations intergovernmental processes, and reports to and from human rights bodies
• Combating ageism with initiatives to advance positive images of older persons as contributors to society rather than as passive receivers of care and burdens on systems

Finally, it recommends concrete discussions on next steps. This is a large step toward formally recognizing the rights of older adults. It sets the stage for a legally binding United Nations Convention on the Rights of Older Persons.

What can you do?

• Keep the momentum going. It’s taken 14 years to reach this point, and success is now within reach.
• Apply pressure. Let your elected officials know you support Canada’s participation in developing an international convention on the rights of older persons. You can contact the Prime Minister at https://pm.gc.ca/en/connect/contact.You can find your Member of Parliament (MP) at https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en. Ontario can also adopt the Convention. Contact: Raymond Cho, Minister for Seniors & Accessibility at Raymond.Cho@pc.ola.org and Premier Doug Ford at premier@ontario.ca.