OPEN LETTER

Open letter from François Grisé, founder and CEO of Un et un font mille and Mouvement HABITATS, and Dr. Stéphane Lemire, geriatrician and founding president of Fondation AGES, representatives of the “Agissons ensemble pour le mieux-être des aînés-e-s” collective.

 

CHANGING THE WORLD OF SENIORS

 

In a world where everything often seems to be going wrong, it's easy to forget that, every day, many people take action for the good or simply for the better. They take action to transform the diverse realities of old age.

 

They may not be able to change the world, but they are changing the “worlds” of every senior.

 

The realities of old age and aging are often perceived through the same “anxiety disorder”, giving us the impression that everything is going wrong in Quebec. This anxiety-inducing vision may even lead us to believe that our society is heading for a dreaded “geriageddon”.

 

As we prepare to mark the International Day of Older Persons on October 1, we believe that we must, together, talk about and celebrate everything that's working. We believe in making visible the people and organizations that are changing the worlds represented by every old person, every family, every neighbourhood, community, city and territory.

 

Of course, like you, we've read and heard about the loneliness, isolation, idleness, sense of exclusion and social disaffiliation of seniors. On the front page we read about abuse, financial scams, evictions from their living environment, “profiteering from the vulnerable”, physical and psychological abuse of the elderly of all kinds. We debate everything that affects them: the lack of human resources, of services dedicated to home care and the lack of adapted alternatives to promote independent travel.

 

And of course, we have to talk about it. We have to speak out, denounce the unacceptable and bring public attention to these issues. We have to continue to get angry, to fight, to get angry in order to be heard and make practices, systems and communities evolve.

 

But today, we want to invite you to celebrate everything that's going right in the face of the new realities of old age and aging.

 

Let's make visible the actions of the tens of thousands of people who, every day, change worlds by acting to break isolation, defend the rights to dignity, to be cared for, to a better quality of life, to be included in society, to social involvement, to be free from ageism, to add life to the many days of our new longevity.

Let's celebrate this longevity. Let's all put our shoulders to the wheel so that more and more people can feel proud to grow old in Quebec.

  

Joviality is not an option. But in the lucidity offered by the passage of time, we believe we must restore the balance of forces between these chronicles of foretold disasters and the more everyday stories that, every day, bring meaning and comfort.

 

We are speaking today on behalf of hundreds of individuals, citizens, members and representatives of organizations representing tens of thousands, who are taking action and will continue to take action every day for the well-being of seniors.

 

We believe that by joining forces, we will amplify our impact and create a powerful collective movement.

We claim the right to light that comes with every gesture of care and support that targets the personal and collective dignity of those who gave birth to us.

 

And each of us believes that, by giving visibility to what works, we will realize that these human-scale gestures represent the real foundation on which to build and become engines of change for our institutions. All the pieces are there. Let's make them grow, interact and integrate. And if we can't change the world, let's change the worlds represented by each old-age experience.