The Yukon government released its first Yukon Aging in Place annual report Tuesday, highlighting its progress on introducing the provisions of the Yukon Aging in Place Action Plan from 2020.

The report highlights completed and ongoing projects from September 2020 to September 2021, all of which have the goal to promote, enhance and protect the well-being of Yukon seniors and elders.

Health and Social Services Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee made a ministerial statement on the report Monday in the legislature.

The Yukon Aging in Place Action Plan was released in September 2020. It included 56 recommended actions to help older Yukoners live safely, independently and comfortably in their own home or community for as long as possible.

Of the 56 recommended actions, 28, or 50 per cent, are now either complete or underway.

Seventeen or 30 per cent, are in the planning or development stages and 11, or 20 per cent, have not yet been started.

“Yukon seniors and elders deserve to age with dignity and comfort in their own home or community for as long as possible, and the first Yukon Aging in Place report shows that we are making significant progress for seniors and elders to do just that in the territory,” McPhee said.

“Over the next 20 years, the Yukon’s senior population is expected to more than double, and it is great to see that 80 per cent of the recommended actions in the Yukon Aging in Place Action Plan are already complete or underway.”

She thanked the Aging in Place Seniors Advisory Committee for “their valuable insight that is guiding the Yukon government’s actions to better the lives of seniors across the territory.”

Seniors Action Yukon representative Deborah McNevin said, “Implementation of the Aging in Place Action Plan is very important to older Yukoners across the territory.

“The government’s commitment to have departments work together on this initiative is appreciated. We look forward to an increasing speed of implementation in the coming year, with appropriate resources.”

McPhee told the legislature the first annual report highlights that 80 per cent of the plan’s actions are either complete or underway.

“Some of these completed actions include establishing a seniors’ advisory committee that acts as a focal point for Yukon’s seniors and elders to collaborate with the Yukon government on matters relating to aging in place.

“Although we have made significant progress to help ensure seniors and elders can age comfortably in the territory, there is still plenty of work underway,” the minister said.

Yukon Party MLA Brad Cathers said his party “is, of course, strongly in favour of providing care and support for seniors and elders.

“This is a big issue for many of our constituents, and we hear issues about it regularly.”

There is a “much, much more” work to do, Cathers added.

“The plan speaks to keeping Yukoners in their home communities, but a lot more needs to be done to realize those goals.

“Watson Lake residents have been asking this government to meet with seniors and residents to discuss building a continuing care facility in their community,” he noted.

“Just this month, my colleague, the MLA for Watson Lake (Patti McLeod), held a town hall to discuss this issue that was attended by over 40 residents who highlighted the urgent need for these services in that community.

“Unfortunately, the government has been very resistant to this request so far.”

Cathers went on to say the report says that Yukoners should remain independently in their homes for as long as they are able to.

“The report indicates that there are no retirement or assisted living homes available in the Yukon. Can the minister update us on the development of assisted living for Yukon seniors?”

NDP MLA Annie Blake also had questions for the minister.

“Aging in place can mean different things to different seniors and elders,’ Blake said.

“Here in Whitehorse, it might mean being able to downsize and move into seniors housing that is designed and built with seniors in mind.

“For some, it could mean making renovations to make one’s home more accessible and easier to maintain and live in. For others, it could mean accepting assistance in the home to remain there.”

While these are all great options for seniors or elders in Whitehorse, Blake noted, for seniors and elders in communities, these choices are not so readily available.

Most communities, including First Nation communities, can access some level of home care or home support, she added.

“Unfortunately, there are gaps in these services. Not every community has access to seniors housing. There are wait-lists and few options for downsizing and moving into accessible housing,” Blake pointed out.

For seniors and elders requiring more supports than their community can offer, too often, their only solution is to move into continuing care in Whitehorse, leaving their family and their community behind.

“For many seniors and elders, they have lived in the same community for their whole lives,” Blake pointed out.

“To be removed from family, friends, and all that is familiar to them can be heartbreaking and life-shortening. Imagine the elder from Old Crow moving into the new Whistle Bend Place.

“It is a great facility, but for the elder from Old Crow, it is like landing in the middle of Toronto and being told to make yourself at home — talk about culture shock.”

Policy makers also need to acknowledge that, when elders from communities must relocate into continuing care, “it may be triggering for them as memories from residential schools resurface,” Blake said.

“Their experiences and traumas associated with residential schools are lifelong. When they relocate to care facilities, some elders with issues such as dementia are re-traumatized as they believe that they are back in residential school.”

Blake said she and her Old Crow constituents are thankful that seniors housing will be built in the remote village.

“Hopefully, it will keep our elders, our storytellers, our mentors, our knowledge-keepers, and teachers closer to our community and connected to our traditional territory.

“To lose one elder to care in Whitehorse is like losing a volume out of a set of encyclopedias,” Blake added.

“Aging in place needs to be a priority for all elders and seniors in Whitehorse and in all Yukon communities.”

McPhee said Blake’s comments were “exactly the focus and the respect that we must bring to our seniors and our elders.

“Seniors and elders in our community helped shape this territory that we live in today, and they deserve to age in a way where they feel valued, supported, respected, and loved.”

It was recently announced that Handy Bus services in Whitehorse are being offered seven days a week, marking the completion of one of the action plan’s intentions.

The plan was informed with engagement with more than 1,200 Yukoners.