Abstract
Background: Care policy issues have emerged in Canada as a driving force is policy and political rhetoric. How did this occur, what can we learn, and what comes next?
Throughout 2024, the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence (CCCE) worked with caregivers, care providers, researchers, regulators, policymakers, health and social care leaders, and labour to develop a National Caregiving Strategy aimed at making Canada the best place in the world to give and receive care. The process was centred in lived and living experience and co-produced with caregivers, care providers, and recipients of care from every segment of Canada, representing regional, cultural, and linguistic diversity, including input from Indigenous communities and other historically marginalized communities. It was grounded in working collaboratively and intentionally across disciplines to bridge the historic practice and policy silos between social care, ageing, disability, healthcare, and illness communities, with a focus on shared goals and integrated outcomes.
A year later, the landscape has changed and new momentum is propelling care issues forward across the country. The Government of Canada committed to developing a National Caregiving Strategy. The national political context is shifting rapidly toward a very different imagining of care and caregiving. Across the country, provincial governments are taking on caregiving issues. In this workshop, participants will take part in an interactive and engaging multi-disciplinary and multi-jurisdiction discussion and help chart the path forward.
Workshop Outline:
In this workshop, participants will take part in an interactive and engaging multi-disciplinary and multi-jurisdiction discussion.
10 min - Presenters will begin by tracing the evolution of care issues in Canada from obscurity to national and provincial prominence.
10 min – Presenters will share the details of the CCCE strategy and the latest developments in the federal and provincial spheres of Canadian policy, politics, and daily life.
25 min - Participants will be asked to consider these issues in a global context and work in small groups to suggest the best path forward.
15 min – The session will conclude with short report-backs from the groups
Objective: The objective of the workshop is to develop clear and concrete suggestions for how to capitalize on this unique moment to improve the lives of caregivers, care providers, and recipients of care in Canada. A summary report will be generated to share with workshop participants within 60 days of the session.
Presenters: Presenters for this session will be Liv Mendelsohn (Executive Director, CCCE) and James Janeiro (Director of Policy and Government Relations, CCCE).