Proposal for an Independent Seniors' Advocate for Alberta
Dr. Brian Staples, Chair, Seniors' Action and Liaison Team (SALT)

By 2025 Statistics Canada projects that 20 percent of Canada's population will be 65 or older. Currently in Alberta there are at least 19 provincial government departments involved in seniors' matters. A senior in distress who phones the department of Seniors and Community Support for help is often referred necessarily to other departments. Seniors seeking such help while in distress are also often short on energy, hearing impaired and sometimes have trouble being understood on the phone because English is not their first language. Not infrequently they are frustrated with the process often to the point of tears.

A Circle of Chairpersons of mainly seniors' organizations, including the president of ARTA, is proposing the establishment by government of an Independent Seniors' Advocate (ISA). The ISA would complement rather than replace the role of the Minister for Seniors and Community Support and would be an officer of the
Legislative Assembly. The ISA would have a very small permanent staff including

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two professionals. The first would be responsible for collecting and continually updating the considerable and impressive resources that are already available provincially, federally and locally to assist seniors in need. The second would be responsible for recruiting, training and deploying a corps of seniors to be called Independent Seniors' Advocate Elders (Elders). The Elders would be paid honoraria and expenses to be field officers of the ISA. They would visit seniors in distress, listen to their stories and shepherd them in seeking existing resources to relieve their distress. The corps of Elders would be more economical than permanent staff, could easily be expanded or contracted, and would be dispersed throughout the province. In addition to this individual advocacy work, the ISA would have two other critical roles. The first would be to refer cases of administrative unfairness to the Ombudsman, or where evidence of irregularities warrants, to the police, Human Rights or Privacy Commissioner. The second would be to identify evidence of deficiencies or gaps in services to assist seniors in distress and advocate for eliminating those deficiencies whatever the level of government.

For further information on this proposal and what might be done to support it to the provincial government contact Dr. Brian Staples at 9603 - 96 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, T6C 3Z1, or by e-mail at brianstaples@shaw.ca.

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