Seniors weigh in on improving their community
Almost 300 attend consultation meeting at the Cummings Centre
More than 270 seniors showed up at the Cummings Centre in the Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Damede-Grâce borough Monday to air their ideas on how the city of Montreal can be made more seniorfriendly.
It was the third — and so far the most well-attended — of six public consultation meetings the city administration is holding as it prepares its 2018-2020 Municipal Action Plan for Seniors.
The plan is expected to be tabled at a city council meeting in May.
The city had initially announced only four meetings and none in boroughs where large numbers of anglophone seniors lived, a situation that was denounced by community groups and seniors’ advocates, and quickly corrected. Two more meetings were added to the agenda: Monday’s in C. D. N .— N.D.G. and another in Pierrefonds—Roxboro on March 7.
“It’s clear that there was an oversight,” said Peter McQueen, city councillor for N.D.G. “We always wanted to consult with anglophone and allophone seniors, a very important part of our community here in Côte-des-Neiges— N.D.G. And here they are, lots of them from N.D.G., and they are telling us how we can improve our community for seniors.”
He said the Projet Montréal administration is already working on initiatives that will improve life for seniors, such as more benches on streets, longer crossing times at intersections, and more and better bus service.
Participants in Monday’s meeting brainstormed ideas on how to make their neighbourhoods more accessible to seniors with mobility issues, how to fight ageism and promote more intergenerational contact, how to encourage seniors to stay involved in their communities, and how the city could advocate for seniors’ concerns with the province and federal government.
Karen Boloten, a senior who has difficulty walking, said the city could provide more handicapped parking spaces and also do more to ensure those spaces are not abused. She spoke of confronting two motorists recently who had parked in handicapped spots despite being able-bodied.
She also complained about wheelchair ramps and curbs that are not properly cleared of snow and ice and elevators in the métro that don’t work.
Janet Torge, an advocate for more innovative housing for seniors, said the city needs to recognize its senior population is diverse.
“One of the big issues for me is diversity of housing. We don’t all want to go into (seniors) residences, and that’s where the city’s money, the province’s money and the federal money is going. Developers are making a killing, but those of us who want to live in smaller places, like with five or six other people in a house ... that falls through the cracks. There are no programs for anything other than (large, institutional) residences.”
Participants were also encouraged to fill out a survey and to write questions they had for the city administration. Some of these were read aloud.
One of the written questions concerned the number of anglophones hired by the City of Montreal. “Us seniors have lost our children and grandchildren to Ontario and Western Canada. The question here is, what will you do to hire our children?”
Although moderator Nadia Bastien, the head of the intercultural relations and specific clients division of the city’s social diversity and sports service, attempted to answer some of these questions, she said the real answers would be in the city’s action plan.
Seniors at the meeting also called for:
Better snow-clearing of city ■ streets and sidewalks;
Shuttle buses to take seniors ■ from their communities to local hospitals;
More visible and better-lit street ■ signs;
More physical help for seniors ■ taking adapted transit;
Lower elevator buttons in public ■ buildings for those in wheelchairs;
Doors in the public transit system ■ and public buildings that are not so heavy;
More reserved parking for ■ seniors;
More information on the city’s ■ website posted in English;
More affordable housing for ■ seniors in areas where they already live;
Information made available on ■ paper, rather than just online;
More information by phone, ■ staffed by people;
Free public transit for seniors; ■
Better maintained, cleaner, safer ■ subsidized housing for seniors.
For more information about upcoming consultations and to participate in an online survey on making Montreal more seniorfriendly, go to: makingmtl.ca.