Elder care, not child care, is Canada's pressing need

(Ottawa) - Today the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada is pleased to release a new report. "Care-full? The demographic crunch and senior care in Canada" examines the clear trend of fewer children and many more seniors as a percentage of population. Canadian society still runs on an old model where children care for aging parents--however, as a society we are having fewer children. This leaves fewer care possibilities for our aging parents.

So the question remains: How will Canadian families care for our elders?

Today, little attention is paid to demographic decline. "There's no need to be alarmist at the fact that we are having fewer children," says researcher Derek Miedema. "At the same time, it is not particularly prudent to ignore the growing percentage of our population who are aging, and, relatively speaking, the shrinking percentage who are children."

Changing demographics remains a pressing issue in western nations. Currently, Canada's fertility rate is about 1.6 births per woman. A replacement rate is 2.1 births per woman.

Policy solutions will need to be varied and creative. This includes employers exploring ways in which to allow concepts such as flextime for elder care, and communities exploring how to offer support networks so that seniors can remain close to home.

The report can be downloaded in full, here.

For additional information or comment, please contact: Andrea Mrozek, Manager of Research and Communications at 613-565-3832.