Canada: Becoming a Senior Society - a podcast by RCI | English

Updated on January 23rd 2019 |Canadian model Maye Musk, 70, attends the 2018 GQ Men Of The Year Party at Benedict Estate on December 6, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. Musk's modelling career has taken off since she let her hair grow in silver, and she's now the latest"face"of Covergirl. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images)HOW OLD?
Canada, like all G7 countries, is an ageing society. With a population of almost 38 million people, the the median age here is now 40.Of the G7 countries, however, we’re still one of the youngest.

But by 2031 we will be in the situation that Japan finds itself in now, with a quarter of the population over the age of 65.Headlines like these, from the 2016 Canadian Census, surprised many people, and present the challenges and opportunities we'll consider here.

* If you'd like to view some of the charts, you'll find them at the end of this post.

From the joys of embracing the process in good health as Maye Musk is doing, to the"staggering ageism"writer Sharon Butala has experienced, to the demands of the'100 million by 2100'group, to significantly increase immigration to support seniors, we'll look at how Canadians are evolving.

Centenarians, people over 100, are the fastest growing demographic in Canada now. (Trevor Wilson/CBC)CENSUS AND CENTENARIANS
The fact that there are now more people over the age of 65 in Canada, than under 14, came as a wake-up call, following the census.The demographic pyramids of the past have become demographic columns, and indeed now the columns are getting top heavy.

David K. Foot, originally from Australia, is the economist and demographer, who recently retired from the University of Toronto.He first alerted Canadians to these developments over twenty years ago, with his"Boom, Bust&Echo"series of books, written with journalist Daniel Stoffman.

David Foot, author of"Boom, Bust&Echo,"at his home in Toronto on May 29, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim

In this new millennium, however, it is becoming evident this evolution is a global trend.It is not just the countries of the so-called developed world that have experienced a drop in fertility; it is increasingly the reality in what we know as the developing world now as well.

Jonathan Chagnon is a demographer with Statistics Canada, the government agency that keeps track of the country’s facts and figures.He says it’s not all bad news, that we just have to be prepared for this evolution. 

ListenEN_Clip_3-20181107-WME30“Canada still has one of the youngest populations of the G7 countries. There’s only the United States who has a lower proportion of 65 and over, than Canada.” - Jonathan Chagnon
From government budgets to provide the healthcare services, to buildings and residences designed to accommodate more walkers and wheel chairs, and more communal living options, profound changes in our society are underway.Many of the indoor shopping malls we frequent, particularly during the cold winter months, were redesigned in the last decade to provide more comfortable seating, allowing the elderly to rest as they make their way through retail spaces, and making seniors welcome to spend time there, or in the food courts, to break the isolation that is now recognized as so detrimental to the quality of life of an elderly person.

Even death is undergoing a revision. There's a social transformation taking place as Canadians consider the right they now have, to an"assisted death".

Funeral traditions and burial methods are also changing. In early November 2018, the first Salon de la Mort, at Montreal's Palais de Congres took place, featuring a wide variety of end of life options.
CENTENARIANS ARE THE FASTEST GROWING DEMOGRAPHIC IN CANADAPhoto: iStock

Meanwhile, people are living longer, a lot more of them and a lot longer. Is it the good life here?“There was a real generational shift in Canada.

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