This week, we talk about ageism, social isolation and lodging crisis regarding an invisible population, seniors.
My guest is…
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
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PHILAB
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PRODUCTION TEAM
Suggestions, comments, questions? Let us know what you think at philab@uqam.ca !
This week, we talk about ageism, social isolation and lodging crisis regarding an invisible population, seniors.
My guest is…
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
---
PHILAB
---
PRODUCTION TEAM
Suggestions, comments, questions? Let us know what you think at philab@uqam.ca !
Good morning, good afternoon, and good lunch, everyone. You may be wondering who is speaking to right now. Well, I'm Katherine McDonald, head of production of the Felab Podcast. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I had to step in for part of today's episode. In today's episode, we'll talk about ageism, social isolation, and the housing crisis in the context of what some people have been deeming an invisible cause, or at least an invisible part of the population, our seniors. To do so, we'll have a conversation with Adam Safer, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Management at the University of British Columbia. Okanagan. Before working at UBC, Adam was a postdoctoral fellow with P Lab, and for two and a half years he was the director of the Quebec Hub. From an academic perspective, Dr. Safer is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research draws on theories of capitalism, nation, and race. His goal to critically explore organizational phenomena in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector. That being said, stay tuned because the C Lab podcast starts now. Can you state what philanthropy for vulnerable seniors in Quebec is like and also maybe present your research? Sure. So just a little bit of background, I guess. So, in 2021, I was approached by Jeanmar Fontaine, who's the co director of Felab, as well as Lisa Roche, who is the director of programs for the Saputo Foundation. And they were interested in a research project that would explore the state of philanthropy for seniors in Quebec. And if you think back to that time, this is the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which, as we all know, had a disproportionately serious impact on seniors, particularly in Quebec. So you can think back to all the news coverage there was about deaths of residents in long term care homes. But we also need to think about the fact that older adults do have health vulnerabilities that make them more susceptible to the health impacts of COVID As well as seniors are very vulnerable to social isolation and loneliness. And so when you start social distancing, when you have to start closing down community programs, programs at libraries, that sort of thing, it affects or affected seniors more significantly than other age demographics. And what were you able to find during the study? So our study really focused on philanthropy that takes a holistic approach to understanding the experiences of seniors. So when we think about seniors philanthropy, we might think a lot about philanthropic foundations that fund, let's say, medical research that deals with diseases that seniors or older adults experience or suffer from more than other aspects of the population. But we really want to move away from that medicalized model that really focuses on the social and economic challenges faced by seniors. So what we did is we conducted a study of 40 foundations in Quebec, and this included private foundations, public foundations, corporate, really. We tried to get a nice spread, and the idea here was to highlight the giving habits of key grant banking. Foundations in the field understand how these organizations engage in this domain, examine their strategies for doing so and where specifically they choose to concentrate their interventions. And so through this process, we identify five major fields of action. Those are palliative care, long term care, social isolation, as I mentioned earlier, autonomy building and different forms of research. And there are lots of subcategories within this field. So for example, autonomy building can include technology support or research, resource finding or emotional support. But we try to really group these larger subfields into those five key fields and I'd be happy to talk about each one of those individually. There's different angles that you can start looking at what senior is really defined as. And I was wondering for you, what was the definition of seniors? Well, we went with a really basic definition, which is 65 and older. Right. But what we're really focusing on here is vulnerable seniors. And I think part of the reason, one of the many reasons why philanthropy and people in society don't really think about older adults is because we have this idea that once you're older, you've saved up money, you're comfortable, that sort of thing, until you become sick. But the evidence shows that that's not really the case. Seniors suffer from low income and poverty at a higher rate than any other age demographic. And there are all sorts of other sort of barriers, as I mentioned, social isolation, there's different types of abuse that seniors face at very very high levels. The list really goes on and on. Could we say that social perception towards seniors is really biased? Oh, certainly. And that really comes like sort of so one thing that came out of this research is that seniors, or the idea of aging isn't really integrated into philanthropic foundations approach to equity and social justice. So in recent years, philanthropic foundations have really sort of pivoted towards focusing on inequalities equity, diversity, that sort of thing. But aging really isn't integrated into that. So that's why some people refer to seniors philanthropy as sort of an invisible cause. And so on the one hand it is invisible in a way. We segregate our societies to young, middle aged and old in the west and then we sort of assign those different groups with different social institutions and arenas. So young people do education, then middle aged, you do creation and work and then you retire. And this sort of three part life course sort of pushes older adults into the background. They're sort of treated as a separate group that's kept distinct from middle aged youth cultures and they're sort of viewed as existing outside of the social and cultural and community world that we all inhabit. So yeah, these sort of preconceived notions about what it means to be old or older and to lift you the life course definitely shapes that. Could we say that this frame needs to be changed or talked about? I do think so. All the foundations that I spoke with because I did some sort of informal interviews as well as part of this project, they all made it very clear that philanthropy for seniors should not replace the state. They don't want an austerity state where philanthropy takes on a bigger role. They want a really robust state. But philanthropy can play a very unique role in that. Philanthropy's role needs to be to partner with government, to fill in the gaps, to develop programs that are more tailored to specific needs and to do advocacy work to foster cultural change around ageism. That's sort of where philanthropy's role is rather than philanthropy is never going to be able to compete with the federal government's big income supports. It's never going to be able to compete with provincial programs that provides health and physical care for seniors. But they can do sort of more tailored community work. That whether it's intergenerational programs, whether it's arts programs. That's sort of where philanthropy can come in. So in a way, if I'm not mistaken, it's to try to go and advocate for that group of people that we seem to really push aside right now. Philanthropy can advocate for them to bring them into a sustainable and healthy society. Could we say that? I think philanthropy can play a role in that for sure at the sort of level of the public but also within the philanthropic sector because another thing that came out of this research and I'm actually launching a second phase of this project that's going to address this is philanthropy is neglecting seniors. Let's just say it, we'll put it that way. There are some foundations in Quebec dedicate a lot of their, if not all of their time and resources and energy to doing this work. But it's a very small minority and if you speak to them, they have a lot of trouble bringing other foundations into the mix to support this particular issue. So part of it is advocating again at the governmental level or within the public or cultural sphere, but it's also speaking to other foundations that are interested in equity and justice and saying, hey, aging is really, really important. It's also an intersectional issue. So this is something that needs to be addressed. Now the question is why? That is a good question. And that is the again, the second phase of this project is going to be using in depth interviews to try and piece together a theory about this. What we can do, however, is look at some of the sociological and psych literature around ageism, around gerontology to come up with some theories as to why this might be the case. For instance, I mentioned before the age segregation theory, this idea that our societies segment or segregates groups of people based on life course into distinct groups. And this segregation by age really reinforces the assumption that seniors are a separate group to be kept distinct from middle aged youth cultures. And this can sort of help explain philanthropy's emphasis on palliative care and disease research and its neglect of the social aspects of aging. Because again, once you move from that middle age into older age you're viewed as a non social, non cultural, non community being. You're just someone that is separate and ill or sick. But then there are all sorts of other theories. There's terror management theory which is this idea that our actions throughout life are shaped by our fear of death. And so if we sort of extend that into the philanthropic realm, perhaps donors feel like if they invest in innovation and youth culture even around issues of justice, it'll fill them with a sense that they are an important part of a future that is sustainable rather than focusing on something that might not be as long term. There's also conflict theory, this idea that we have limited resources and that different groups are in constant conflict for them. So this belief that older adults have already destroyed the planet have already created these institutions that have created equality and it's time for younger people. So there's all sorts of different theories and hopefully we'll be able to come up with something a bit more concrete and admin space in the future. One element that really strikes me is the idea that there seems to be a really big focus on youth. There are some foundations and group that seems to be focusing a lot on what they look like and what's their statement, what's their big ideas in terms of marketing perception. Would it be possible that it's one of the reasons why they seem to focus on a little bit more towards the youth, less towards the elders, let's say? Definitely. I completely agree with that 100%. Philanthropy is very much a reputational exercise. Basically big corporations will do some sort of like greenwashing or they'll partner with particular cultural figures to appeal to the youth or whatever in a way to sort of obscure some of the harms that they do or to increase their market share, that sort of thing. And then I'm sure there are lots of philanthropic foundations that don't do this explicitly, it's more implicit. But yeah, we have to think about the ways that what causes are sexy, what causes are cool and how that will influence public perception of the institution or the organization. Now my question is how can we change? Is there material that is already moving things forward towards creating this healthier perception or advocacy towards the elders? My sort of read on this is that we live in a society that's constantly modernizing and as a result traditional roles of seniors in society have sort of faded away. Traditionally or even in other cultures, older adults are viewed as wisdom keeper. They're viewed as people to be respected who occult knowledge. But now anything I want to know I can pull up my phone and Google it in like 10 seconds. And younger people are more sort of savvy with technology as well. So a lot of these traditional roles have been sort of deteriorated or disappeared in our society. So there's a lot of work to be done in that way. Yeah. In terms of its relationship to philanthropy, again, I just want to emphasize that in terms of the material conditions of older adults in Canada, that needs to be done at the state level. We need more extensive programs, we need more health care and various forms of economic and social support. But philanthropy can enter the conversation around advocacy, as you say, both at the government level, but also in terms of supporting, let's say, charitable organizations and activists that are already doing this work on the ground, funding research that focuses on connecting older generations with younger generations through intergenerational programs, that sort of thing. So, yeah, there's lots of work to do, and ad field and philanthropy does can play a very role. Now, let's go with the little game. Ladies and gentlemen, today the game we're going to be playing is fact or Fiction? I'll define three statistics, and our guests, Adam, will have to choose if it's either fact or fiction. Are you ready, Adam? I'm ready. All right, first one. As of July 2022, there was over 7 million Canadians aged 65 years and older. Fact or fiction? Fact. It's true. It is fact. So there was actually 7,330,605 Canadians as of July 2022. Number two, the population age 85 and older has tripled since 2001. Fact or fiction? I say fiction. It is indeed fiction, although it still has doubled since 2001. Final factor, fiction. Number three, in 2021, the average Canadian rent for senior standard spaces here I will define. Standard spaces is where the resident doesn't receive high level care, which is defined as 1.5 hours or more per day. So in 2021, the average Canadian rent for senior standard spaces was on average $3,000 per month. Fact or fiction? What was that you're saying? They do receive they don't receive more than 1.5 hours or they do receive. More than 1.5 they don't. Oh, that's gotta be, oh, I don't know, fiction. Hopefully it is fact, meaning that although, you know, when I say it's a fact, the cost varies. Wherever you are in Canada, I mean, it's an average, but it goes to $3,075 per month. A couple of months ago, we had the chance to meet with Claude Pina, who's now at Santrade, Montreal. But back in the day, he was part of the Seputo Foundation, and we talked about housing crisis. Do you think it plays a huge role in the situation of elders within Canada? Yeah, housing is a significant concern for older adults in Canada. So right now, one in four seniors in Canada lives in substandard housing. Can you define it? Substandard housing can mean a few different things. It can mean unaffordable housing, so your rent is greater than 30% of your before tax income. It can mean inadequate housing, so it means major repairs. Or it could be unsuitable housing, which means there's not enough bedrooms. And these statistics, it doesn't affect all seniors the exact same way. It's far higher for seniors who live alone, for example, or seniors who live alone with a child, a family member or a roommate. Housing affordability affects, as I mentioned, can affect all those living in Canada. It uniquely affects seniors who have significant extra daily costs and unique housing needs, especially those with health conditions or who require additional assistance. All right, ladies and gentlemen, that's it for today. To continue the conversation around seniors in philanthropy and their invisibility within the sector, find us on our different platforms for more content and to share your comments. We'd like to thank Adam Safer for his wonderful conversation and feed and insight and P Lab for hosting this educational podcast. I'd also like to thank the amazing production team about whom this podcast would not be possible, joey, who is the host and co producer that you all know, and Leonie Pulay, who is co producer, researcher, and editor. Finally, I'd also like to thank the most important being to us you. Yes, you, for listening to this podcast. I hope you enjoyed every last sound bite, and we look forward to seeing again soon for our first English episode of our new podcast series, philanthropy in Action with Kim Fuller. I don't want to give too much away, but our guest works at Shidohis. Her first name starts with the letter M, and she is considered a game changer in philanthropy for the homeless. Can you guess who I'm talking about? Stay tuned.