Our seniors built this community. They raised families here, ran businesses here, and paid the taxes that built the roads and parks we all enjoy. They deserve a city designed with them in mind, one that supports active, independent living rather than treating aging as an afterthought.

 

That conviction led me to champion the Age-Friendly Community initiative. I submitted a Member Motion to put it on the City’s agenda, and I made the case publicly in an article published in Municipal World magazine in January 2024, because good ideas deserve advocates beyond the council chamber.

 

The results have been real. The City adopted an Age-Friendly Community Strategy and established an AFC Council made up of seniors themselves. That last part matters to me. Programs for older adults should be shaped by older adults, not designed on their behalf by people decades younger. The AFC Council now provides direct input into new City programs, including Coffee Chats and interest groups that bring people together and push back against the isolation too many seniors quietly experience.

 

Practical support matters just as much as social connection. I organized a Senior Health and Safety Fair with York Regional Police, York Region Public Health, Community and Social Services, York Paramedics, and Richmond Hill Fire and Emergency Services. Navigating support systems can overwhelm seniors and their caregivers, so we brought them to one room. That included connecting qualified seniors with dental services at the Regional Health Clinic right here in Richmond Hill.

 

An age-friendly city is simply a well-designed city. Benches, programs, accessible services, and easy-to-find information help everyone, at every age. We are all heading in the same direction, after all. The city we build for our seniors today is the city waiting for us tomorrow.