CELEBRATING SENIORS DAY
ON OCT .1, THE DAY CANADA honours the contributions of its seniors, federal Seniors Minister Philomena Tassi paid a visit to the CARP national office at the Zoomerplex in Toronto.
As well as speaking to representatives and local chapter members, Tassi took part in a panel discussion on seniors’ social inclusion, a topic which she said was “very near and dear to my heart.”
The minister was joined on the panel by Laura Tamblyn Watts, CARP’s national director of law, policy and research; Dr. Raza M. Mirza, an expert on the factors influencing late-life social, mental and physical well-being; and Diane English, of Parks and Recreation Ontario.
Drawing on the link between loneliness and poor health, Mirza said, “Social isolation has the impact [on health] of smoking 15 cigarettes.” Another study he pointed to draws a link between dementia and isolation.
CARP’s Ottawa chapter also ran a National Seniors Day event on Parliament Hill. Rick Baker, president of CARP’s Ottawa chapter, hosted MP Deb Schulte, parliamentary secretary of revenue and chair of the all-party Seniors Council, and met with Tassi as well.