Every person in Canada deserves to age with dignity, safety, and comfort, regardless of where they live. While many Canadians want to age in their own home, they also expect and deserve that high quality long-term care options are available. That is why the Government of Canada is developing a Safe Long-Term Care Act.
Today, Health Canada released the Safe Long-Term Care Act engagement: What we heard report, which summarizes what the department heard through in-person and virtual public consultations on proposed legislation to strengthen access to quality, safe, and equitable long-term care in Canada.
The consultations process garnered wide-ranging and highly informative perspectives from over 5,000 people in Canada, including health care organizations, academics, long-term care residents, staff and caregivers, provinces and territories, Indigenous partners, and other federal government departments.
During the consultation sessions, the Government of Canada heard that most people would prefer to age at home with necessary supports. When long-term care is needed, people want and deserve that care to be high-quality and safe. Participants spoke to priorities such as: treating long-term care as one component of the continuum of supportive care, which also includes home care and palliative care; inclusivity and responsiveness to diversity in long-term care; supporting the long-term care workforce; access to long-term care that is culturally-safe and trauma informed; and more transparency and accountability in long-term care. Health Canada will use this feedback to inform the Safe Long-Term Care Act.
