Learn English with Jason Nixon, Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services and Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Indigenous Relations, Arlene Adamson. In this episode, we learn about the importance of the Senior Lodge Program, its history, and how it has impacted the lives of many.
00:10:19.460My name is Don Natchuk and I'm the current chair for the Greater Edmonton
00:10:24.280Foundation Seniors Housing. And I want to, on behalf of the staff and the residents
00:10:30.520and the Board of Directors, I'd like to welcome you all here to Otwell Lodge.
00:10:39.000The Lodge program is a very important support and provides supportive options for our seniors.
00:10:43.720And we're really pleased that the Minister and his government are here today
00:10:47.800to continue in reviewing the services that we provide.
00:10:51.080this means a lot to me it means more to me it means to me on a lot to me on three levels as a
00:10:57.180matter of fact one as a citizen I'm very pleased to see that we are taking care of our seniors
00:11:02.320it means a lot that we're doing that second as the chair of the of the GEF board directors
00:11:09.020as the chair I'm very pleased to see that we're moving forward and improving our services on a
00:11:13.860daily basis but guess what I also am very pleased to see this happening because on a personal level
00:11:20.000I'm very pleased to see this because my mom lived in this exact lodge, and I'm so pleased to see that the minister is here continuing that wonderful service.
00:11:28.640She said it changed her life, minister.
00:11:31.040So thank you so much for what you're doing.
00:11:46.080Jason Nixon was sworn in as the Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services on June 9, 2023.
00:11:54.080He previously served as Minister of the Environment, Parks, Minister of Finance and President of the Treasury Board.
00:12:00.080Jason Nixon was first elected as member of the Legislative Assembly for Rimby Rocky Mountain House Sundry,
00:12:06.080May 5, 2015, re-elected on April 16, 2019, and again on May 29, 2023.
00:12:16.080Prior to his service as an elected official, Mr. Nixon was a successful entrepreneur.
00:12:22.080He was also the Executive Director at the Mustard Seed, where he spent several years running an addiction treatment facility.
00:12:29.080This speaks volumes to the Minister's background in this area, and we're very proud to honour him today.
00:12:35.080today mr. Nixon with different height requirements well thank you first of all
00:12:48.360the GEF seniors housing and the Otwell place for hosting us today thank you so
00:12:53.440much to see you here today it's a real pleasure to see so many people come out
00:12:57.360for what I think is a very important announcement when it comes to housing in
00:13:01.300general in our province, but particularly for senior housing in the province of Alberta.
00:13:06.520Alberta's senior lodge program is actually the oldest social housing program in the province
00:13:11.720of Alberta. There are over 10,000 lodge units across Alberta, and almost half of those are in
00:13:18.240rural communities, like the communities that I call home, as well as, of course, in places like
00:13:21.880Edmonton, where we are today. Senior lodges are integral to our communities to ensure seniors can
00:13:28.280age in the communities of their choice remain close to their friends remain close to their
00:13:33.320families and to the communities that they help build in my mandate letter from premier smith
00:13:39.000i was asked to do the following work with senior lodge providers to undergo a planned review for
00:13:45.160the purpose of expanding seniors lodges and facilities to keep up with the increased growth
00:13:50.200and demand we need to know ultimately what works and what does not work in our lodge program
00:13:56.120especially as our population ages and the demand for seniors housing continues to increase
00:14:01.640and so i'm excited today to announce that the government of alberta is fulfilling this goal
00:14:06.200we are convening a panel to thoroughly review the seniors lodge program ensuring it is
00:14:11.160sustainable and remains a pillar of our community for generations to come this review will also look
00:14:16.920into how we can best support the transition between lodges and continuing care with our
00:14:21.960friends over in the department of health to ensure that we can continue to meet the needs of seniors
00:14:26.840with when they need to access more care this panel will be composed of 11 members and will
00:14:32.920be co-chaired by my friend emily brandon lunte and alberta seniors and community housing
00:14:37.800corporation president arlene adamson both are here with me today i chose both of these individuals
00:14:43.640to chair because first off emily lunte worked for my department in the housing division before he0.52
00:14:49.240went into elected office has an immense amount of experience when it comes to the work that
00:14:54.520my department does on this important issue and i could think of no one better in caucus to advocate
00:14:59.560and to be able to make sure that we end up with the best senior lodge program for as i said
00:15:03.800generations to come and arlene is a huge resource for our department uh for me personally uh has
00:15:09.720taught me more about this issue than anybody else in the province is somebody that we've come to
00:15:13.720rely on uh for the important work that her organization does and the important work that
00:15:18.600uh all of the organizations that are running our senior lodge program across the province do and i
00:15:23.000could think of two no better people uh to be able to make sure that we get this right and to work
00:15:27.720with that panel i will say that this uh the work of the panel will actually will commence this year
00:15:33.160it is long overdue the last time the lodge review uh lodge program was reviewed was 2015 and there
00:15:38.440there is a tremendous amount of things have changed between 2015 and now. The panel will hear
00:15:43.660from Albertans and consult with a variety of stakeholders and take their feedback on what
00:15:47.920the needs of the Lodge Program are, and I'm very excited to hear what that feedback is and then
00:15:52.720ultimately to be able to work with the government to take action to secure a Lodge Program in the
00:15:57.820future. This is part of our overall objectives when it comes to housing, which remains one of
00:16:02.640the highest priorities of the government, whether it's from the emergency housing situations that
00:16:06.980we see really prominently in the news right now around our homeless situations in our largest
00:16:11.620cities, all the way to our seniors' housing. Housing remains a priority for our governments.
00:16:17.600Why you see us continue to invest a significant amount of money in this issue, Albertans'
00:16:22.580taxpayer money, to be able to ultimately make sure that we have enough homes for everybody,
00:16:26.440that affordability remains within our market, and that we can keep our economy going and our
00:16:32.380province continuing to be the fastest growing place in North America and the best place to
00:16:36.340live, I think, in the world. It's why we have continued to invest $9 billion with all of our
00:16:42.180partners inside affordable housing to be able to make 25,000 new units of housing in our province
00:16:47.660by 2031. It's why we will continue down that road. But what is important as we work on this issue is
00:16:54.120that we make sure that we don't lose sight of the important demographic of seniors inside our
00:16:58.420community and the role that housing, and my department in particular, plays in making sure
00:17:03.300that we have adequate seniors housing for, again, our entire province. And I do want to close on why
00:17:09.420I think it's, we often say it's very important to get this right, obviously, for our seniors,
00:17:14.940because they built our communities, they built this province, and we are enjoying the privileges
00:17:19.680of living in the communities that they built right now. And it's important that we create a space for
00:17:23.560them to be able to age in place in their communities and be around their friends and family.
00:17:28.540But it's also actually important for our communities. I want to really stress this.
00:17:31.860I always say back home, our community is better when grandma and grandpa is living with us in our community.
00:17:37.240And if we do not get our lodge program right, then we can't have that happen.
00:17:40.980And so it's very critical, not just for seniors, though that's certainly one of the main reasons why we're focused on this.
00:17:46.700It's just critical for the future of our society and our province to be able to make sure that we can continue to live with those who built our community.
00:17:53.020And so I thank you again for being here for this announcement.
00:17:55.720Look forward to your questions in a moment.
00:17:56.960But before we do that, I'd like to bring up one of our co-chairs, my friend, the Honourable Member from Leduc, Beaumont, MLA Brandon Lente.
00:18:12.060Good morning, everyone. Not quite as tall as Minister Nixon, but we'll make do.
00:18:19.540So thank you so much for being here and thank you Minister Nixon for that introduction and
00:18:26.260for your incredible work leading this file. I know it's an extremely important issue and
00:18:32.420we certainly appreciate all of your leadership and hard work. So as mentioned, my name is Brandon
00:18:39.220Lunte and I'm the MLA for Leduc Beaumont. I'm very excited to co-chair the Seniors Lodge review panel
00:18:47.460with Arlene Adamson from the Alberta Seniors and Community Housing Association.
00:18:53.460I know Arlene has a long history of serving and advocating for seniors in the province,
00:18:59.700and I look forward to working with her and the rest of the panel on this important review.
00:19:06.740Supporting Alberta seniors is a key priority for our government, and the work of this panel
00:19:12.660will enable the Seniors Lodge program to continue to play an important role in that support.
00:19:19.780Since 1958, the Seniors Lodge program has been ingrained in many Alberta communities,
00:19:25.700and our panel will engage stakeholders and listen to the voices of residents from across the province
00:19:31.540to preserve this legacy. A key objective of the panel's mandate is to consider innovative ways
00:19:38.580to make the most of existing senior large spaces and ensure that seniors can age gracefully in
00:19:44.660their communities together we will strengthen and shape the future of the seniors large program
00:19:50.980ensuring it continues to meet the evolving needs of seniors communities and housing providers so
00:19:58.260thank you once again for for joining us here today and with that i'm happy to bring up the
00:20:02.740the co-chair of the panel Arlene Adamson gradually gradually this might
00:20:15.680goes down good morning everyone thank you for being here thank you Minister
00:20:20.020Nixon I'm honored to support this work of your ministry and your priority you
00:20:25.500have made it a personal commitment to help make sure that the lodge program
00:20:29.840is reformed and revitalized for Albertans and the Lodge program is critical to Albertans and part of
00:20:36.880the work of housing and affordable housing in our province. I'm honored to be able to co-chair this
00:20:44.240with MLA Lunte. I'm excited given his depth of knowledge in the housing sector and his passion
00:20:49.920for this work. It'll be an exciting opportunity to work with the committee members as well
00:20:54.960who will represent both the depth of knowledge that's needed to inform the conversations and
00:21:00.720the outcome of this report and recommendations and this review that will ultimately see legs
00:21:06.480to improve the seniors housing across our communities the seniors lodge program is unique
00:21:11.200to alberta and so it's difficult to compare us to other provinces alberta leads the way in
00:21:17.760ensuring and has for decades that seniors have affordable housing in our community and it's an
00:21:22.640affordable option for seniors who need accommodation and on-site services the lodge plays a critical
00:21:28.320role in alberta across many municipalities and we recognize that the needs of seniors have evolved
00:21:34.160and so too do we need to make sure that the program evolves particularly given the rising costs
00:21:41.200and you know the evolution of aging and we need to ensure that people have safe and great places
00:21:46.080to call home asha and our members are highly skilled at this work we believe the lodge review
00:21:51.440is an excellent opportunity to ensure the program can continue to meet the needs of seniors given
00:21:56.400one in five is projected to be over 65 so it's as minister said it's long overdue we're excited
00:22:02.400that this ministry has made a commitment to this work and we're glad to have it underway
00:22:06.960it's been an important thing that we've been advocating for for decades so many seniors call
00:22:13.040lodges home we have some with us today in ges lodge here and they personally understand the
00:22:19.360importance of evolving services as they age they live the reality of the importance of having
00:22:25.600housing that you have a sense of community a sense of belonging and you can remain in community that
00:22:31.760you have friends and and family outside but they also understand the very important factor that
00:22:36.560it has to remain affordable and this lodge review will help to achieve that body of work and ensure
00:22:42.480that it's the lodges remain a viable option for Albertans as the demands for housing and services
00:22:47.120continue to grow over the next decades lodges operate in the majority of communities across
00:22:52.960alberta and these communities are all different what works for rural and urban isn't exactly the
00:22:58.640same and so it'll be important for us to look at that body of work and ensure that every community
00:23:02.720is thriving and has what it needs for people to age successfully and for each lodge um and
00:23:08.480community be to be viable to meet the diverse needs this review gives us a chance as well to
00:23:14.240determine not only how Albertans who live in lodges want to see services evolve but also
00:23:18.880Albertans who are looking forward to aging in their senior years what will they need in lodge
00:23:24.400program to ensure that it is possible for people to age well in community this review is also an
00:23:30.960opportunity for us to strengthen the partnership between municipalities and the government of
00:23:35.200Alberta and the operators which are vital to continue to ensure that the lodge program is
00:23:40.960successfully delivered in communities the lodge program is misunderstood it's thought to be
00:23:46.800long-term care and let me make that clear it's not it is housing and it needs to be supported
00:23:51.680with the right supports to be successful i couldn't be more excited you know as as both an
00:23:57.840operator of this and a representative of all of our members who operate lodge program
00:24:01.840we have a strong voice we will have great input to this review i know that we have experts out
00:24:08.080there that will lean in and look for solutions and pave a pathway forward through this review
00:24:13.360to ensure that the ministry has what it needs to be able to help execute the program in a new way
00:24:20.240i would also be remiss if i didn't also say not only is this necessary for seniors and people
00:24:24.800who are aging in our communities it's also necessary because the lodge program is a
00:24:28.800significant workforce of people who come to work every day to support seniors as they age to make
00:24:36.480sure we're running great buildings to make sure that that people are connected and so this review
00:24:42.480will make an impact on our staff across the communities and the volunteers who come into
00:24:46.720the lodge program as well so as the minister said it's great for community we need to be
00:24:51.200interconnected in the lodge we need to make sure that it's recognized as a vital part of the
00:24:56.320community and this is an exciting time for our ministry asha is well positioned with our members
00:25:03.360to support the review to support the implementation and we know our members will contribute with
00:25:08.160ideas and solutions to ensure the continued success of the lodge program that has played a
00:25:13.040vital role for 60 years and we know it'll be set up for the next 60 years to do just the
00:25:18.240same for the future of albertans thank you very much we'll now move on to questions from the
00:25:24.640media we'll start with reporters here in the room and then move to the phone lines please state your
00:25:29.440name and your outlet and we'll do one question and one follow-up first question please hi it's
00:25:35.600jeremy thompson with ctv edmonton uh minister uh appreciating this review is focused specifically
00:25:41.200on the lodge system i'm wondering uh if there's sort of scope in in government to look at sort of
00:25:46.320retirement living in in general there's been a lot of concern about um you know the life lease
00:25:51.440system people looking for more regulations and assistance there can you can say anything about
00:25:55.200that? I think it's an excellent question and one of my objectives with this review is to make sure
00:26:01.380that we don't just limit it to the work that we do in seniors community and social services but
00:26:05.540we recognize the interlinks between other departments when it comes to making sure
00:26:10.880that seniors can live in successful communities. Ultimately our responsibility as Arlene just said
00:26:17.120is to create home, to create a community, to be able to make sure that seniors can live in that
00:26:21.420community and have good quality of life but we we do that with the support particularly of
00:26:25.660albert health services when it comes to things like continuing care uh and um on other rules
00:26:31.260around rent issues which actually comes from the service alberta particularly when it comes to life
00:26:35.100lease which i know minister now he's having some conversations about all those issues can be
00:26:39.340discussed during this process and we will be sharing what we learned even if it's not exactly
00:26:43.820about our lodge program with those other departments afterwards and minister lagrange and i
00:26:48.700through the processes taking place with the transition around health which includes the
00:26:53.580transition around continuing care which i sit on the integration council for my deputy minister sits
00:26:57.980on hs board for this reason now is to be able to make sure that all that conversation is happening
00:27:02.540once and we're looking at this as a big picture that said there's a lot of work specifically just
00:27:07.500to do on our lodge program and we want to make sure that we're getting our end of it right but
00:27:12.620we do recognize that we have partner ministries and certainly that can be discussed during this
00:27:16.380process and i've got to ask you sort of follow up uh on uh what you announced yesterday with the
00:27:22.060navigation center um you know we've seen already sort of some advocates in the homeless space come
00:27:27.180up critical of of that decision you know they're they're concerned that you know police are sort
00:27:32.060of leading the way they say you know social services should be more sort of directly involved
00:27:36.860as well as more concerns about you know the the government's uh sort of recovery oriented
00:27:42.140system rather than more harm reduction approach? Just what do you make of sort of the early
00:27:47.320criticism and how did it go yesterday also? Well, let me start with how it went yesterday. I mean,
00:27:52.520it's, you know, it's day one and more of the encampment process from the Edmonton Police
00:27:58.300Service needs to take place for us to get to something that would resemble a statistical
00:28:01.780answer. But about half of the individuals who left encampments yesterday interacted with our
00:28:06.540navigations, sorry, half of the individuals that were interacted with by the Edmonton Police
00:28:10.760service in our department yesterday encampments went to the navigation
00:28:13.580center and ultimately would go on to receive services within our social
00:28:18.860services system the first individual through the system at first was
00:28:21.920hesitant to come afterwards said to all of the staff that she was so very
00:28:25.640thankful that she was able to come and had no idea that there was this level
00:28:29.060of resources available to her in the province and so I look forward to being
00:28:33.140able to tell some more of those stories in the coming days once we have a little
00:28:35.780bit more time to see how the center is working I've seen some of those
00:28:40.220criticisms first of all my department is not law enforcement my department is
00:28:45.720responsible for the social services sector and so with the images that we've
00:28:50.120seen coming out of encampments we have a responsibility to our workers and
00:28:54.080certainly those are they're not going to be the first point of contact into
00:28:57.400areas with weapons like we've seen and some of the violent circumstances that
00:29:00.740we're hearing about but they are on site with the Edmonton Police Service
00:29:03.960immediately right there with with a bus that can warm people up and the ability
00:29:08.240to take their belongings and get them to a safer location so i think the social services department
00:29:14.000is responding in a very very big way but obviously is not trying to be the law enforcement uh end of
00:29:18.800things because it's not our job and uh and i'm i'm quite impressed frankly with how fast they've been
00:29:25.200able to respond to this and i think that we're going to see some real positive things come out
00:29:29.280of this for people uh as for the conversation about again whether encampments are the right
00:29:34.720way forward as i've said the last several days the deaths of individuals in these encampments
00:29:42.000speak for themselves people have burnt to death uh people have uh are freezing people are losing
00:29:49.680limbs because they're freezing and sleeping outside we know there's violence taking place
00:29:53.920in these locations we know the gangs have taken over many of these locations there's sexual
00:29:58.160violence taking place in these locations uh they are not a safe place for vulnerable people in fact
00:30:04.000vulnerable people are being victimized in these locations and i have no doubt that our emergency
00:30:09.680services sector uh shelters our social services sector is a more appropriate place to get those0.97
00:30:15.120individuals help and we're going to continue down uh that road i will also point out that most of
00:30:19.760the commentary that we see do not appear to be from people in encampments they appear to be from
00:30:25.600organizations who a court of king's bench judge just said the other day when throwing out their
00:30:30.000case we're not advocates of this population and we're not experienced within this population so
00:30:36.480i will continue down that road harm reduction i mean most of that question should go obviously
00:30:41.200to minister williams but there's overlap with my department mr williams being the minister of
00:30:46.000addictions and mental health uh our government has been clear we've ran on this in multiple
00:30:51.040elections that we do not believe the approach that you see in places like hastings and bc
00:30:55.840is the approach that our our government or our province wants to take the majority of albertans
00:31:00.240agree with us this has been campaigned on and i can tell you it's a very popular answer when i
00:31:04.480give it things like town halls because we don't believe putting poison into people's bodies is
00:31:10.160going to help cure uh people of the terrible disease of addiction instead we are focused on
00:31:16.000creating environments where true recovery can happen i'm proud to be part of a government's
00:31:20.320made 10 000 more addiction treatment spaces continues to work on things like addiction
00:31:25.200recovery centers and is focused on recovery ultimately. And you're right, there's a difference
00:31:31.700in view. There are some, including the official opposition and some on Edmonton City Council,
00:31:35.740who would like us to go back down that road of harm reduction. We disagree. And that's not where
00:31:41.100we're going. And I think our government has been very, very clear about this. And I could tell you,
00:31:45.220you know, the other thing I find interesting about this is how excited other jurisdictions
00:31:48.100in this country are about what's happening in Alberta. I mean, Minister Williams, I keep getting
00:31:52.080speaking requests all over the world to come talk about what is taking place in our province i think
00:31:57.600we should be so excited that we are part of a province that is going to reach out to vulnerable
00:32:01.360people and say we can make you better and we will not accept that continuing to take poison and
00:32:06.400ultimately costing you your life is an acceptable solution to this problem so um i hope i answered
00:32:11.760your question sure tried thank you next question please well how much will this review of this
00:32:17.600news lodge program cost and will the results or final report associated with this review be made
00:32:23.200public um i don't i actually don't have the very specifics on the on the actual work of the panel
00:32:29.200it would be minimal and it's certainly not something that we've had to go ask for new
00:32:33.760money for from treasury boards would be being absorbed within my current budget the real cost
00:32:38.080will come from the results of the panel and so as they come back and provide us the recommendations
00:32:43.200that's where the serious conversation will come from you know what money is uh you know what the
00:32:48.320cost of those recommendations will be uh what implementation would look like and that's when
00:32:52.240there would be uh serious conversations coming forward on uh money um the we will certainly uh
00:32:58.800be making uh the results of what we hear back uh from the panel public uh and ultimately we'll be
00:33:05.200coming forward with a with a plan to be able to uh implement what we hear and be very clear on
00:33:11.040where we're headed with the lodge program for the next several decades okay and i forgot to mention
00:33:14.880my name is madeline coming through cdc hello madeline we know that albert's population has
00:33:19.280been growing recently and yet the pace of growth is faster in urban and suburban areas than it is
00:33:24.240in rural and as you mentioned a lot of these lodges more than half are in rural areas and
00:33:28.640some are struggling to fill vacant units is the government prepared to disproportionately spend
00:33:34.720more proportionally spend more on small rural lodges where seniors may want to stay um given
00:33:41.200that the growth is faster in urban areas where do you see the future for some of these lodges that
00:33:45.840are struggling and that say they need more support well this is why we need to have the review first
00:33:50.240of all because everything you say is correct as far as growth rates and the different circumstances
00:33:54.560between rural and urban and so we'll one of the things that i'm most looking forward to is a
00:33:58.640suggestion on how to deal with the fact that lots of our aging infrastructure in rural alberta is
00:34:03.280likely going to need to be renovated in a different way to provide accommodations that's more
00:34:07.600applicable to modern seniors a lot of that infrastructure was built before i was born
00:34:12.240and so it was just built in a different time and for a different uh a different process and so we'll
00:34:17.600we'll see what that looks like i do want to be clear that this government will continue to stand
00:34:21.680rural alberta alberta i am a rural alberton uh and my seniors deserve just as much as urban seniors
00:34:28.480to be have a chance to be able to live and age gracefully in the communities that they built
00:34:34.320and rural alberta provides a tremendous amount of the gdp and other things that we have
00:34:41.680uh in our province so we have to be able to make sure that those communities can
00:34:45.360can can continue to go forward uh no different than edmonton or calgary and they're going to
00:34:49.280require different needs the reality is though that we do have to have a serious conversation
00:34:54.240about how we use rural senior lodge infrastructure
00:35:16.040Hi there, my question here is for Minister Nix.
00:35:19.340And certainly we have touched on the fact that
00:35:22.640You know, in a lot of smaller rural communities, a lot of the seniors' lodges there are kind of older buildings that probably haven't had a little bit of work done on them in a while.
00:35:33.120How much will this sort of panel take into consideration the fact that some of these buildings are a little up there in years?
00:35:41.100Again, the condition of buildings, how we handle and use that infrastructure is certainly on a table for a conversation going forward.
00:35:47.240At the same time, we're not going to fully just wait for the panel recommendations specifically on that.