During my first year as a City Councillor, I initiated the City of Toronto’s Seniors Strategy: a proactive, holistic, and inclusive initiative that seeks to create a truly accessible, respectful, and age-friendly Toronto.Since 2013, 100% of the recommended actions have been fully implemented.
In this spirit, Toronto Seniors Strategy 2.0 was unanimously adopted by City Council in 2018. Recommendations include the City of Toronto expanding their community paramedicine program in order to better support seniors who are high-volume 911 callers with non-emergency community care and supports, constructing new sidewalks on roads where they are missing to improve walkability, mobility and accessibility of city streets, develop a workplace anti-ageism campaign under Toronto For All, allocating resources to extend the HomeShare Pilot Project, which helps match seniors with extra bedrooms to students in need of living accommodations and much more, develop a new homeless shelter that provides specialized services for seniors.
There is always more work to be done to support seniors, which is why I’m thrilled to announce that Toronto Seniors Strategy 3.0 is currently being co-created as we speak.