History of age-friendly in Manitoba

Age Friendly isn’t just for our seniors but includes persons of all age sections.
—Letter to the editor, The Beausejour Review (September 9, 2010)

It all started in 2005 with a concept of promoting “age-friendly communities,” where community members were encouraged to take a proactive stance of making their communities better and more accessible for seniors and community residents of all ages.

Manitoba communities have been directly involved with age-friendly research from the beginning. The concept of an age-friendly community was first introduced globally by the World Health Organization in 2006; it has since been adopted worldwide, with a Canadian study focusing on rural and remote communities taking place at the same time.

World Health Organization (WHO)

In June 2005, the global age-friendly cities project was conceived at an international conference in Brazil. A year later, the project evolved into the global age-friendly cities project with 35 cities involved worldwide and 33 cities directly participating in age-friendly research. The participating cities were selected from both developed and non-developed countries and included four Canadian cities: Halifax, Nova Scotia; Portage la Prairie, Manitoba; Saanich, British Columbia; and Sherbrooke, Quebec. 

The age-friendly research primarily involved older persons aged 60 years and over, who discussed their experiences in focus groups. Caregivers who care for older persons and service providers also participated. Nearly 1500 people took part in the focus groups between September 2006 and April 2007.

The discussions were centred on eight topics, or the eight age-friendly dimensions, that are commonly referenced to during the community consultations. The eight age-friendly dimensions are as follows:

• Outdoor spaces and buildings
• Transportation
• Housing
• Social participation
• Respect and social inclusion
• Civic participation and employment
• Communication and information
• Community support and health services

The research findings from the 33 cities was incorporated and published in the Global Age-friendly Cities: A Guide, released in 2008. 

Portage la Prairie

Portage is large enough to be interesting and small enough to be friendly.
Portage la Prairie seniors focus group

The Manitoba Seniors and Healthy Aging Secretariat asked the Centre on Aging, University of Manitoba to conduct the age-friendly research for the WHO’s project. Dr. Verena Menec, Director of the Centre on Aging, led the research. Dr. Menec’s research team conducted eight focus groups in Fall 2006, with seniors, caregivers, professional staff in public or regional services, business people, and representatives from volunteer organizations participating.

The focus group discussions were compiled into a research report, Age-Friendly Cities Project Final Community Assessment Report Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada, prepared for the WHO and incorporated into their global age-friendly cities guide.

Age-Friendly Rural and Remote Communities Initiative

Recognizing that a large portion of seniors live in rural and remote areas and face unique and different challenges than seniors in large cities, the Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Ministers Responsible for Seniors endorsed a parallel research project based on the WHO’s age-friendly global study. The Age-Friendly Rural/Remote Communities Initiative (AFRRCI) was launched in September 2006, with ten rural and remote Canadian communities participating in the research.Participating communities included residents from Albert Bay and Lumby, British Columbia; High Prairie, Alberta; Turtleford, Saskatchewan; Gimli, Manitoba; Bonnechere, Ontario; Alberton, Prince Edward Island; Port Hope and Clarenville, Newfoundland; and Guysborough, Nova Scotia.

Gimli

Gimli was selected as a participating community for the AFRRCI, after meeting set governmental criteria. Dr. Verena Menec, led the research again with the backing of then Executive Director, Mr. Jim Hamilton and the Manitoba Seniors and Healthy Aging Secretariat. Similar to the WHO study, focus groups were conducted with seniors and informal caregivers of seniors. In 2007, the research findings from all ten communities were compiled to produce a report, Age-Friendly Rural and Remote Communities: A Guide.

Age-Friendly Community-University Research Alliance

In October 2007, The Social Sciences and Humanities Resource Council of Canada (SSHRC) awarded Dr. Verena Menec, Director Centre on Aging, University of Manitoba, with a five-year grant under its Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) funding program. The Age-Friendly Communities CURA is built around the vision that Manitoba will be the most age-friendly province in Canada.

Working with community partners, government, service providers, and a diverse group of researchers, the CURA team has conducted research and assisted over 50 age-friendly communities with identifying how to make their community more age-friendly by participating in a community consultation process and analyzing age-friendly surveys.

Under the Age-Friendly CURA project, a number of age-friendly related research projects are underway, focusing on how to assist age-friendly communities with making communities more livable for residents of all ages.

Age-Friendly Manitoba Initiative

The province has been involved with age-friendly activities from the beginning—the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global age-friendly cities project and the Federal/Provincial/ Territorial Ministers Responsible for Seniors’ rural and remote communities—Manitoba has been there.

In February 2008, the Age-Friendly Manitoba Initiative (AFMI) was launched. Led by the Manitoba Seniors and Healthy Aging Secretariat, ten communities took the first step towards making their communities more age-friendly for their residents. Today, the AFMI has grown from 10 communities to over 80. Additional communities have joined the initiative through the following intake rounds:

• November 2008
• June 2009
• November 2009
• March 2011
• December 2011