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Upcoming census release to show how country is aging, detail gender for first time

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OTTAWA — To Parminder Raina, age is really just a number — scientifically speaking.

Raina, the scientific director of the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging, points to the difference between complex movements a young person can do compared to the simpler motions of an older person because of how the body weakens over time.

But the age when all that happens isn’t necessarily the same for everyone, he says, and as Canadians live longer, the markers we set around aging need a rethink.

It’s why Raina is keeping an eye on the latest census figures scheduled to be released on Wednesday morning that will detail how the country aged between 2016 and 2021.

By the time the 2016 census rolled around, the ranks of Canada’s seniors over age 65 had for the first time outnumbered the nation’s youth 14 years of age and younger.

The results from the 2021 census count will likely show an acceleration of that trend, with the proportion of seniors potentially edging close to accounting for one-fifth of the national population.

And, as Raina notes, the results should show how life expectancy has changed and how that may also reshape the policy decisions linked to an aging population.

“This is some of the realization the research community and the policy-makers are having — maybe not the politicians as yet — but that just looking at the birth age or chronological age is not going to be a good indicator of determining what happens,” he said.

“There is a lot of research that is happening now to think about, how do we actually measure what the biological age of a person is, can we use some indicators to come up with that number, then use that number to adjust the chronological age, so you’re not inflating that idea of the age.”

The census figures will likely show the population aging faster in Atlantic Canada, and maybe British Columbia, with a youth movement showing most in Alberta, said Doug Norris, chief demographer at Environics.

Though even there, Norris suggested that the youngest provinces may see a faster pace of aging than those that already have a high proportion of senior citizens, because of the expected decline in the number of 20-somethings over the past five years.

The pace of aging nationally is expected to jump through to 2031 when the youngest baby boomers turn 65 — the oldest would have hit 85 — and Canada’s proportion of seniors rivals levels that peer nations like Japan encountered five years ago.

“The impact of aging really won’t be felt for a while, but it’s coming and will likely be another five or 10 years when we really start to see big increases in that 75- and 80-over population,” Norris said. “And that in turn has implications for health care, for nursing home needs (and) for long-term care.”

The census will also detail where many of those seniors live. Wednesday’s release will include details on the types of dwellings people lived in on census day, including “collective dwellings” like long-term care homes.

The vast majority of seniors won’t live in such a facility, which Raina said has implications for community planning so people can age at home.

If, as expected, the census shows that rural areas are aging faster than cities, it may force a rethink of health-care planning often done through an urban lens, said Laura Tamblyn Watts, CEO of CanAge, a national seniors’ advocacy organization.

“This census is an opportunity for us to pull apart some of what aging at home actually means in a concrete way, as opposed to a hand-waving, high-level way,” she said.

A new data point on the census will come from a revamped short-form question about gender, providing details on transgender and non-binary populations.

The figures will not only help shape government policy, but ensure non-binary populations are recognized where still ignored, said El Chenier, a history professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia who focuses on the historical treatment of homosexuality.

The census data, then, may provide a tool for non-binary populations to pressure organizations to recognize them, and help groups that already recognize them better adapt programs and services.

“When a government body like Statistics Canada says, ‘we’re gonna collect data on this,’ it literally says, ‘this exists and this is real,’ and people to this day continue to deny that trans people exist and that non-binary people exist,” Chenier said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2022.

 

Jordan Press, The Canadian Press

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Canada’s Denis Shapovalov wins Belgrade Open for his second ATP Tour title

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BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is back in the winner’s circle.

The 25-year-old Shapovalov beat Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday.

It’s Shapovalov’s second ATP Tour title after winning the Stockholm Open in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP Tour-level title this season.

His last appearance in a tournament final was in Vienna in 2022.

Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and spent most of this year regaining his best level of play.

He came through qualifying in Belgrade and dropped just one set on his way to winning the trophy.

Shapovalov’s best results this season were at ATP 500 events in Washington and Basel, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Medjedovic was playing in his first-ever ATP Tour final.

The 21-year-old, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF title last year, ends 2024 holding a 9-8 tour-level record on the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Talks to resume in B.C. port dispute in bid to end multi-day lockout

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VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.

The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.

The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.

The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.

The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.

MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.

In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.

“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.

“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”

In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.

“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.

The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.

“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”

The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.

The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.

A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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The Royal Canadian Legion turns to Amazon for annual poppy campaign boost

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The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.

Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.

Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.

Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.

“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.

“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”

Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.

“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.

Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.

“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”

But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.

Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.

“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.

Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.

The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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