National Seniors Day is October 1

Hi, I'm Steven MacKinnon, Canada's Minister of Seniors, and I want to wish everyone a Happy National Seniors Day.

I have just recently taken on the responsibility of serving you as Canada's Minister of Seniors. I am deeply honoured to take on this work, and to lead the Government's efforts to make life better and more affordable for seniors.

That is the Government's commitment to Canadian seniors: that no matter where they live, every senior should be able to age on their own terms, with dignity and choice.

I have already had many great conversations with seniors about how we have been able to help make life better for them, but also about what we have left to do.

Just a few weeks ago, I was in Québec to visit with people at a seniors' residence. I was greeted at the door by a woman with a smile on her face and enthusiasm in her eyes. She had just gone to the dentist, thanks to the Canadian Dental Care Plan and now had new teeth.

She was so happy. Stories like these are why I am so pleased to be the Minister of Seniors. These are the tangible results of the work we are doing.

But we still have a lot of work to do to make sure every community, from coast to coast, is an inclusive place for seniors to thrive as they age.

I am looking forward to meeting with more seniors all across Canada to learn more about how we can best support Canadian seniors so that they can age with dignity and choice.

Happy National Seniors Day!

Music with birds chirping and ambient sound.

Text appears in an animated blue sky: Rethinking Aging.

We pan down from the sky to the facades of brightly coloured single-family homes, in front of which a green car moves from left to right.

We zoom in to the window of one of these houses. A black and white cat is sitting at the left side of the window.

Narration: Ageism is a socially tolerated and widespread form of discrimination.

A tracking shot from left to right shows a wall covered with framed photos of a man named Pedro, in his sixties, with a tan complexion and grey and white hair.

Narration: Take Pedro, who lost his job because he was considered "too old to keep up."

Pedro can be seen in all the photos on the wall, and in a variety of scenes: outdoors doing physical activities with his friends, in a community garden growing tomatoes, around a campfire playing the guitar, and in portraits with various people.

Zooming in, we plunge into the photo of the community garden, where Pedro digs in the ground and a woman picks a red tomato. A video effect shows the scene being photographed on a cell phone. The photo on the cell phone is the same one displayed on the wall when we zoom out.

Narration: Judging someone based on their age is a bias that leads to discrimination, exclusion and unfair treatments. Without realizing, it's easy to accept ideas that are ageist, depicting older adults as fragile, incapable, and disconnected. This leads to social isolation and robs them of dignity.

We return to the photos on the wall, and we continue to pan from left to right.

Narration: But Pedro is an important member of his community. We need to change how we view Pedro and older people.

Next, we see Pedro seated at a dining table, accompanied by a man and a woman, chatting and sharing a meal.

Narration: To overcome ageism, each of us, no matter our age, must learn to recognize and challenge our own biases. Let's encourage the participation of older people in all areas of society, and value their experience and skills.

We go back to an outside shot of the house facades, in front of which a woman walks from right to left, pushing a stroller.

Narration: Together, we can build a Canada in which everyone, whatever their age, feels respected.

A vertical pan upward leads us back to the blue sky from the beginning of the video. The screen fades to white, and the Canada wordmark appears.