National Day Of Action for LTC

Thursday, November 19, 2020 11:30am - 12:30pm Join live on Facebook and Instagram

Months ago, you — along with 77,000+ people — signed our petition demanding emergency funding, national standards and coordinated efforts by all levels of government to protect residents and workers in Long Term Care. With a second wave now upon us and thousands of lives still at risk, we invite you to join in a National Day of Action on November 19.

“Broken Hearts, Empty Shoes” is a national campaign that aims to bring attention to the rights of older adults in long-term care and assisted living facilities. The organizers will lay out thousands of pairs of empty shoes on the Hill to represent those we have lost in Long Term Care. The event will include special guest speakers.

To show your support: on November 19th place a pair of shoes outside your front door, take a picture and share on social media with the hashtag #Canadians4LTCStandards #CanadiensExigentNormesSLD

Please note that the event cannot exceed a 25 person outdoor gathering limit due to COVID-19. We encourage you to join live on Facebook or Instagram. Show your support for long-term care in Canada. We also encourage you to write to your MP and MPPto show your support and call for action on implementing national standards for long-term care.

For more information please contact canadians4ltcstandards@gmail.com

The Fight for National Standards Continues

When we launched our petition in early April demanding immediate support for residents and workers in long-term care, few of us imagined the impacts COVID-19 would have on all our lives. We are now in a second wave and over 10,000 people in Canada have lost their lives to COVID-19, 80% of them were living in Long Term Care. Despite the devastating impact of the virus on residents and staff in LTC during the first wave, the commissioning of new studies, the resurfacing of old ones, and growing public awareness of key problems already understood by those of us with loved ones living or working in the sector (underfunding, understaffing, low wages, lack of shared standards of care, lack of accountability, old infrastructure, for-profit homes) little has been done to address the systemic problems that have caused this crisis and taken so many of our loved ones from us. In the Throne Speech on September 23, the Federal Government made a commitment to National Standards – but details and a timeline have not been outlined and there is significant provincial resistance to what is seen as Federal Government interference in provincial jurisdiction. The financial stakes for the large corporations making substantial profits in this sector and their close ties with former politicians who paved the way for the corporate takeover of LTC (former Premiers of Ontario Mike Harris and Bill Davis both sit on Boards of large LTC corporations) will also make the fight for national standards a protracted battle. With the number of cases in LTC on the rise again, dozens of homes in outbreak across the country and the crisis in LTC once again featuring prominently in the news cycle, it is so important we make our collective voices and demand for change heard. We now have a Federal Government commitment to National Standards and countless statements from politicians of all political stripes about the failure of Long Term Care and the need to fix this broken system. Let’s hold their feet to the fire and demand concrete action now!

We hope to see you - virtually - on November 19th.