Given the urgency of this pandemic and how it makes seniors more vulnerable, we urge you to increase federal healthcare transfers to provinces to ensure seniors are getting the care they need and to tackle crippling social isolation among seniors at this time.
We know how important it is to stay connected with loved ones, and what beneficial impacts that has on seniors’ mental, emotional and physical health and wellbeing. We need to improve the ways in which we support seniors through these difficult times. Communication and connection are happening online, but many seniors in care do not have access to digital devices. With unprecedented visitor restrictions in place to keep our seniors and staff safe, we hope that your Department will fund devices such as iPads or tablets so seniors can connect through real-time video chats with loved ones. This can make all the difference. Many seniors in care would normally participate in social activities in their facility and socialize with one another, but all these social opportunities have abruptly stopped with no alternatives. Many seniors are now suddenly alone and isolated. The federal government can improve social and mental health support for seniors in care by funding a project for digital connectivity through the purchase of iPads and tablets.
We look forward to working with you so that seniors in care can reach out to their loved ones in a safe way. We hope there is an interest and opening from your office to push this further. It would be my pleasure to discuss this with you.
Please feel free to be in touch with my office.
Yours sincerely,
Leah Gazan, MP
Winnipeg Centre
NDP Critic for Children, Families and Social Development
Scott Duvall, MP
Hamilton Mountain
NDP Critic for Seniors
MANITOBA—On Monday, MPs Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre) and Niki Ashton (Churchill—Keewatinook Aski) demanded that the federal government take action to end child poverty, citing rising rates in the recently released Manitoba Child and Family Poverty Report Card. Gazan and Ashton are calling on the government to implement a national school lunch program and a framework for a guaranteed, livable basic income (GLBI).
WINNIPEG – Winnipeg Centre MP Leah Gazan, the NDP’s critic for Women and Gender Equality, is reiterating Jagmeet Singh’s call on the Trudeau Liberals to cover contraception costs as part of the party’s push for a universal pharmacare framework.
“Contraceptives are an essential part of reproductive health for women and gender diverse people,” said Gazan.