THORNHILL, ONTARIO March 16, 2009—Mr. Peter Kent, Member of Parliament for Thornhill, today announced investments for the Concord West Seniors Club, the First Chinese Seniors Association of Vaughan and the Seniors Enrichment Centre under the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program.
Mr. Kent made the announcement on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, and the Honourable Marjory LeBreton, Leader of the Government in the Senate and Minister of State (Seniors).
Speaking at the Concord West Seniors Club, Mr. Kent highlighted over $60,000 in support for three projects to help ensure that seniors have the opportunity to participate and take an active leadership role within their community.
“The Government of Canada is proud to support seniors in strengthening our communities and building our country,” said Mr. Kent. “These projects will encourage seniors in Thornhill, Vaughan and Concord to continue sharing their skills, wisdom and experience to benefit others.”
- The Concord West Seniors Club received over $18,000 for a project entitled Prevent Social Isolation and Promote Active Healthy Living For Our Seniors, which will target seniors and local youth for their participation in social and physical activities in order to build healthy relationships between the two groups;
- The First Chinese Seniors Association of Vaughan received $25,000 for a project entitled Diversified Wellness Benefits for Isolated House Bound Chinese Seniors, which will undertake various recreational and health-related activities and
- The Seniors Enrichment Centre received $19,000 for a project entitled Friendly Visiting Isolated and Vulnerable Seniors by Seniors, where volunteer seniors will visit seniors once a week. The project aims to bring recreation and cheerfulness to the lives of seniors, and to increase their contact with the outside environment.
The investments highlighted today fall under the Community Participation and Leadership component of the New Horizons for Seniors Program, which supports local projects that enable seniors to play an important role in their communities by helping those in need, providing leadership, and sharing their knowledge and skills with others.
With two additional components of the New Horizons for Seniors Program—Capital Assistance and Elder Abuse Awareness—the overall budget of the Program is now $35 million per year.
Since its beginning, the New Horizons for Seniors Program has funded over 4,200 projects in hundreds of communities across Canada. For more information about the Program, please visit www.hrsdc.gc.ca/seniors.
In Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the federal government made a clear commitment to protect Canadians, including seniors, in difficult times by implementing several key measures:
- Increasing the Age Credit by $1,000 for 2009 and beyond to allow eligible seniors to receive up to an additional $150 in annual tax savings.
- Providing seniors with $200 million in tax relief by reducing the required minimum withdrawal amount for 2008 from Registered Retirement Income Funds by 25 percent, in recognition of the impact of the deterioration in market conditions on retirement savings.
- Helping older workers and their families through these tough economic times by investing an additional $60 million over three years in the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers, and by expanding the number of eligible communities to include older workers in small cities.
- Providing $400 million over two years through the Affordable Housing Initiative for the construction of housing units for low-income seniors.
- Establishing an independent Task Force to make recommendations on a cohesive national strategy on financial literacy for Canadians.
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For further information (media only):
Michelle Bakos
Press Secretary
Office of Minister Finley
819-994-2482
Media Relations Office
Human Resources and Skills Development
819-994-5559
New Horizons for Seniors Program
Across Canada, the New Horizons for Seniors Program (NHSP) helps to ensure that seniors are able to actively contribute to and benefit from the quality of life in their communities.
Building on the success of the NHSP, in Budget 2007 the Government of Canada increased the Program’s budget by $10 million per year to provide capital assistance for repairs to facilities and equipment related to existing seniors’ programs, and to raise awareness of elder abuse across Canada. This has increased the total budget for the NHSP to $35 million per year.
As a result of the additional $10 million, the Program offers three types of funding to organizations:
- Community Participation and Leadership funding (up to $25,000 in funding): this funding supports community-based projects across Canada. Theprojects encourage seniors to continue to play an important role in their communities by helping those in need, providing leadership, and sharing their knowledge and skills with others.
- Capital Assistance funding (up to $25,000 in funding): this funding helps non‑profit organizations that need to upgrade facilities or equipment used for existing seniors’ programs and activities. It enables seniors to continue to lead active lives by participating in existing programs and activities in their communities.
- Elder Abuse Awareness funding (up to $250,000 in funding annually over a maximum of three years): this funding helps non-profit organizations and coalitions raise awareness of the abuse of older adults on a national or regional level. Through this funding, new educational and awareness resources about elder abuse will be available to improve quality of life, safety and security for seniors.
