To many, the ideal life of retired seniors is to become snowbirds and enjoy living a joyful life on pensions and savings. Now free of job commitments and often relieved of mortgages and loans, many seniors pursue the dream life, having a large family who cherish their presence and embracing happiness collected over many years.
Doesn’t this stereotype seem extremely ironic compared to the title? The picture that many Senior Homes and advertisements paint on the living conditions of seniors in our city does not represent a large amount of the elderly population. Poverty is inclusive of all demographics—seniors are one of the most vulnerable groups. The number of seniors living in poverty, defined as below the low-income cut-off line in this data (Canada does not have an official standard measure of poverty), jumped from 204,000 to 250, 000 domestically from 2007 to 2008, a 25% increase in such a short amount of time. It’s only just the beginning of the stories that represent many lonely seniors in our city and my series on poverty and seniors.
Even with the presence of programs such as free library cards and cheaper annual transit passes for low-income seniors, many seniors experience difficulty maintaining their well-being while at the same time managing their finances. Many do not know that there is a wide range of programs available. The Old Age Security pension money may not seem so important to seniors who are better-off, however, there have been cases of victims of poverty who are denied benefits due to miscommunication. What about those who had suffered through the symptoms of social isolation?
What if the respected elders in your family were suffering from this issue? Many elderly citizens you see walking outside in the cold are victims who could not afford better methods of transportation. My view of a family is that the younger members carry on the responsibility of maintaining the health and happiness of elders as care is valued deeply. Many seniors don’t often have many relatives or large families or they can be distant.
This is what led to me to covering this issue when the opportunity came.
As I got over my emotional side, I began to brainstorm about the relationship between the lives of these seniors and poverty:
- Is it the victim’s fault or is it sudden turns in life that cannot be controlled?
- What led to poverty in the first place?
- Are there personal factors that play a role? Are there difficulties in life that the victims of this issue are reluctant to mention?
- What does our view of seniors, as youth on the other side of the age spectrum, have on our understanding of this issue?
The stories behind the lives of many impoverished seniors in our city are shocking. In my next article, I will be sharing many of the stories from interviews which were done by the Seniors’ Issue Constellation of the Calgary Poverty Reduction Initiative. In the meantime, though, take a moment to imagine the hardships many elderly people may carry as they attempt to move forward.
