February 12, 2024 | Vancouver, British Columbia | Health Canada

All seniors in Canada deserve to age in dignity, safety and comfort, regardless of where they live. That's why the Government of Canada is investing nearly $200 billion over 10 years, including $5.4 billion in tailored bilateral agreements with provinces and territories to enable aging with dignity.

The Honorable Mark Holland, Canada's Minister of Health, and the Honorable Adrian Dix, British Columbia's Minister of Health, today announced a $733 million bilateral agreement over five years to help the people of British Columbia in… Aging with dignity and close to home to improve access to home and community care and long-term care (LTC). This funding follows the $1.2 billion bilateral agreement with the province announced in October 2023.

The federal funding will support British Columbia's five-year action plan to improve health care for seniors. This plan provides for the following:

• The development of home and community care
  • Continue to expand and integrate home and community care for older people with complex illnesses and frailty to better meet their needs while reducing pressure on hospitals and emergency services.
• Improving the availability of palliative and end-of-life care
  • Improve access to palliative and end-of-life care for people outside of hospitals so that they can receive this care at home, in a palliative care center or in the community.
• Improving the quality of long-term care
  • Improve the quality of care for people with dementia by implementing evidence-based knowledge, standardized training and monitoring tools.
  • Strengthen the relevance, safety and quality of long-term care by establishing consistent and appropriate standards for the care and monitoring of long-term care.
  • Promote aging in place by connecting older and vulnerable people living at home with a new outreach program that provides them with long-term care, supports, services and respite care.
  • Support the delivery of excellent long-term care by improving resident experiences, recruiting and training diverse and qualified staff, and improving working conditions in care facilities.

Progress on these large-scale initiatives and commitments will be measured against the targets that British Columbia publicly announces annually.

Thanks to this new agreement and the agreement Collaborate With the agreement signed in October 2023, British Columbia commits to improving the way health information is collected, exchanged, used and communicated to people living in Canada and to simplify the recognition of foreign qualifications for health professionals trained abroad, to facilitate the mobility of key health workers in Canada and assume shared responsibility to ensure respect Canadian Health Act to protect Canadians' access to health care based on their need rather than their ability to pay.

Recognizing the significant gaps in Indigenous health outcomes, the Government of Canada and the Government of British Columbia are also committed to working meaningfully with their Indigenous partners to improve access to high-quality and culturally appropriate health services. British Columbia's action plan builds on the ongoing engagement of its Indigenous partners and recent discussions with the federal government. All levels of government, within their respective jurisdictions, will make health-related decisions in a manner that promotes respect and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

British Columbia and the federal government will continue to work together to improve access to health services and achieve outcomes for seniors across the province, including addressing the needs of Indigenous peoples and other underserved and disadvantaged populations.