Advancing Age-Friendly Communities in Canada
Keywords:
age-friendly communities, supportive environments, healthy aging, active agingAbstract
The “age-friendly cities” concept proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) is a multi-sectoral policy approach to address demographic aging in urban settings. Canadian governments at all levels, seniors’ organizations and non-governmental organizations have embraced this model for creating environments to support healthy, active aging. This paper describes how Canadian governments and partners have advanced the Age-Friendly Communities (AFC) initiative starting with the original development by WHO in 2006-07 to its current status five years later, involving the federal government, eight provinces, and 850 municipalities. With evidence of actions taken at the three levels of government, it is argued here that the successful evolution of AFC in Canada is the fruit of the national, collaborative leadership role played the Public Health Agency of Canada, the commitment of provincial partners to implement AFC fully in their jurisdiction, and the engagement of municipalities in creative and comprehensive community development with and for seniors..
Le concept de « villes-amies des aînés » proposé par l'Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS) est une approche politique multisectorielle qui vise à répondre au vieillissement démographique en milieu urbain. Tous les ordres de gouvernement au Canada, les organismes s'occupant des aînés et les organismes non gouvernementaux ont adopté ce modèle pour créer des milieux propices à un vieillissement actif et en bonne santé. Ce document décrit comment les gouvernements canadiens et leurs partenaires ont fait progresser l'initiative des communautés-amies des aînés, depuis sa création par l'OMS en 2006-2007 jusqu'à la situation actuelle, cinq ans après, avec la participation du gouvernement fédéral, de huit provinces et de 850 municipalités. Compte tenu des mesures mises en place par les trois ordres de gouvernement, ce document explique que le développement réussi des communautés-amies des aînés au Canada est le fruit de plusieurs facteurs : le rôle moteur national et collaboratif joué par l'Agence de la santé publique du Canada, l'engagement des partenaires provinciaux à mettre pleinement en place le concept de communautés-amies des aînés sur leur territoire, et l'implication des municipalités en faveur d'un aménagement créatif et global de leur collectivité pour et avec les aînés.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
1-The author guarantees that the manuscript is an original work not published elsewhere in print or electronically in whole or in part, except in abstract form, that the author has the full power to make this contribution, and that the manuscript contains no matter libelous or otherwise unlawful or which invades the right of privacy or which infringes any proprietary right.
2-The author guarantees that the manuscript has not been previously published in print or electronically and that if the manuscript contains any tables, figures or images fully reproduced or closely adapted from previously published material, the author must obtain the necessary permission from the author/publisher holding the original copyright prior to publication in CRSP. The author may be required to produce evidence of permission granted to CRSP’s editors.
3-As a condition of publication in CRSP, the author assigns all copyright to CRSP, including but not limited to the right to publish, republish, and otherwise distribute this manuscript in print, electronic, or other formats. As CRSP is a non-profit interdisciplinary scholarly journal, the author will receive no royalty or other monetary compensation for the assignment set forth in this agreement.
For the purpose of full disclosure, CRSP will not normally use the content provided by the author in a commercial venture, but for the purpose of disseminating the author’s content to as many readers as possible. For distribution, third parties engaging in commercial activities may be contracted to distribute the content globally, and such parties may make a profit out of the author’s content in their normal course of business. CRSP will not pay the author or reimburse the author in any form based on such commercial activities because the conduct of such commercial activities is outside the control of CRSP.
Any future reference to or use of this published material by the authors must acknowledge CRSP as the original place of publication.
PERMISSION REQUEST/ARCHIVING
Permission is given to author(s) receiving funding via Tri-Council Agencies, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), to make their publications freely available in an Open Access repository within the stated deadline by the Tri-Council Agencies (12 months following publication). Archiving of publication must be a manuscript copy bearing none of the CRSP headers, footers or any other distinguishing marks. No links to the article on the CRSP website is permitted.
Permission requests from third parties to reproduce articles in part or full in academic/educational publications can be directed to the managing editor of CRSP, and will not be unreasonably denied.
