Ontario Caregiver Coalition
The voice of family caregivers
The Policy Brief Series: Building a Better Ontario for Caregivers
In early 2024, the Ontario Caregiver Coalition launched a survey of Ontario caregivers. The aim of the Survey was to guide advocacy for policy change on behalf of unpaid caregivers. The Survey focused on caregiver priorities for policy change, barriers to supports, and preferred solutions.
Thanks to the energy and engagement of our members and friends, the Survey received a strong response. It was completed by 612 Ontario caregivers, individuals who provide unpaid support for a family member, friend or loved one.
Drawing on what caregivers told us through this survey, over the course of 2024 – 2025, the Ontario Caregiver Coalition will be releasing a series of six Policy Briefs. The Policy Briefs will build on the voices of caregivers to propose solutions that will make a real difference for Ontario’s caregivers. The Briefs will address caregiver priorities, such as finding support in the community, addressing financial hardship, managing the relationship between work and care, getting a break, and access to mental health supports. Together, the Briefs will propose a comprehensive framework of supports for Ontario caregivers.
Policy Brief 1: Listening to the Voices of Caregivers
Too often, the voices of unpaid caregivers have not been heard in developing and designing the policies and programs that affect us, and those that we care for. Caregivers are experts in the systems that we navigate. We know what our loved ones need, and what programs and policies will support us to continue in our vital role. However, caregivers continue to struggle through poorly designed systems, trying to piece together supports and fill the gaps.
The Policy Brief, the first in our series, sets the stage by highlighting what caregivers told us about their priorities for policy change, the barriers that they face in accessing the supports that they need, and their experiences with the systems that they navigate and uphold.
You can access Policy Brief 1 by clicking here:
We are Currently Recruiting Volunteers to Join our Board of Directors and Committees
Have you thought about using your knowledge and experience With Unpaid Caregiving to make a difference for others?
Joining the Ontario Caregiver Coalition will be the perfect volunteer opportunity for you.
Who We Are:
The Ontario Caregiver Coalition is the voice of Ontario’s unpaid caregivers, the family, friends and neighbours who provide supports that allow people living with disability, acute illness or frailty to live with dignity and in comfort.
We bring together caregivers from across the province with organizations that support them, to advocate for the supports that caregivers need to fulfil their vital role.
We are a registered non-profit, driven by the passion of our members to create a world where caregivers are recognized, valued and supported.
To find out more about us, please check out the links below:
Who We are Looking For:
We know that we can only achieve our mission by drawing on the skills, talents, and perspectives of unpaid caregivers and the professionals who support them.
We believe that the diversity of viewpoints that comes from different lived experiences, and varied professional and personal skill sets will make a difference for the OCC and caregivers across the province.
We are looking for individuals with experience and interest in:
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volunteer management
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fund development
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non-profit governance
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government relations
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stakeholder and community engagement, and
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communications.
Experience with or knowledge about caregiving is an asset.
What We Offer:
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An opportunity to exercise leadership skills by participating in the governance and strategic decision-making processes of the organization,
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a platform to network with people who have the same passion for making a difference as you, and
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a positive, team-orientated and collaborative environment with an opportunity to serve your community.
Your Commitment:
Board Members:
Board members fulfil a vital oversight role for the OCC, as well participating actively in our communications, engagement, operations and advocacy work.
Board members serve a 2 year, renewable term.
They generally dedicate 4 to 10 hours per month to the OCC.
Committee Members:
We are also looking for individuals interested in serving on our Governance, Communications, Research and Advocacy, and Partnership Committees.
To learn more about our committees, please click below:
Time commitment for Committee work can be flexible, but generally requires 2 to 4 hours per month.
Engagement for board and committee members is virtual.
How to Apply:
We invite everyone who is interested to apply.
Interviews will be conducted in early August. Directors will be formally elected to the Board at our Annual General Meeting in late September. New committee members will also commence their work in the early fall.
Please indicate your interest by sending in a letter of interest and resume by end of day June 28th, 2024.
Applications and enquires can be sent to our email, ontariocaregivercoalitionocc@gmail.com, addressed to the attention of the Nominating Committee.
Or, please click the button below to apply:
Open Letter to Doug Ford in Favour of the Motion to Introduce an Ontario Caregiver Support Benefit
The OCC, our partners and other Ontario non-profits have written an open letter to premier Doug Ford in favour of a motion that would introduce an Ontario Caregiver Support Benefit.
Please see the letter below, and share it as widely as you can.
The OCC 2024 Caregiver Survey is now closed!
The OCC’s 2024 Caregiver Survey is now closed. Our sincere thanks to the members, friends and supporters who completed the survey, or helped to spread the news about it. Because of you, we were able to surpass our starting goal, and received almost 450 responses from caregivers.
With this strong response, we will be able to confidently guide the OCC’s advocacy efforts over the next few years, support the caregiving programs and initiatives of our Organization Members, and provide decision-makers with the information they need to design policies that will make a real difference to caregivers.
We were pleased to see that we received responses from a wide range of caregivers, ensuring that we can advocate based on an understanding of the diverse needs of caregivers across the province.
We look forward to sharing the results of the Survey with our members at our June General Members Meeting, and will launch our public-facing report soon after. Check back in this space for our Report in the summer months!
Thank you for sharing your experiences and perspectives with us. Every voice counts! Together, we will make change.
Ontario Caregiver Survey 2024:
Let’s Keep the Momentum Going!
The 2024 Caregiver Survey will remain open until March 8th!
Please Note: As of Friday March 8, 2024 the survey is now closed. Thank you to all who participated! This blog post will remain up for those that wish to access the early results.
The Ontario Caregiver Coalition would like to extend our thanks to all the caregivers who have completed our 2024 Caregiver Survey since it was launched on January 31st, and to all of the organizations, friends and caregivers who have spread the word about our Survey far and wide.
Thanks to you, we are seeing great uptake of the Survey. As of Monday, February 12th – less than two weeks after our Survey launch – we have already had 312 completed surveys, with another 112 in progress.
A strong response to the Survey will deepen our understanding of what matters to the most to caregivers, so we can make the case for the changes caregivers need. And it will strengthen our voice with government, demonstrating the importance of this issue to families and communities across the province.
Let’s keep the momentum going!
If you are a caregiver who has not yet completed a Survey, please take 10 or 15 minutes to do so. And please take a few minutes to share the survey link with friends, colleagues, and partner organizations, and to post on social media. You can find the link to the survey, and to sample social media posts here. Together we can make a difference! The Survey will be open until end of day on Friday, March 8th.
Sneak Peek at Early Results
The Survey is already yielding some important insights about the experiences of unpaid caregivers in Ontario.
The lack of supports for caregivers comes at a cost: Of caregivers responding to the Survey, two-thirds had visited an emergency room because of a lack of supports. 42% had experienced a hospital admission. 38% had called 911. And 15% had resorted to admission to long-term care. The lack of supports for caregiving is adding to the strain on our health and long-term care systems. Investing in supports for caregiving now will add up to cost savings.
The Survey will shed light on diverse experiences of caregiving: There are many common threads across the caregiving experience, but there are also important differences in needs depending on the type of caregiving being provided. The needs of a person who is caring for an adult child with disabilities can be differ in some important respects from those of a person caring for a parent with dementia, for example. Our Survey will shed light on these diverse experiences. We will be able to understand how needs differ across types of caring. Thus far, about a third of those responding to our Survey are caring for a parent. About 20% are caring for a spouse. Another 20% are caring for a child under 18 who needs specialized supports. And about 22% are caring for an adult child with disabilities.
Caregivers urgently need supports for their mental, physical and emotional health: Respondents were asked to identify their top three areas of need. The number one response, at 54% of respondents, was for supports for mental, physical and emotional health, reflecting the toll of the current state of caregiving in Ontario. Other top priorities include support in juggling work and caring at 40%, system navigation at 37%, followed by financial supports, access to home care, and respite care, all hovering around 30% of respondents. These early responses point to the importance of thinking comprehensively about systems of support for caregiving, rather than relying on ad hoc responses.
We look forward to beginning to share Survey results in late June.
The greater the response rate, the more insights we will have to share. So please keep spreading the word!
Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence Release White Paper on Caregiving
The Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence (CCCE) has released its first whitepaper, Giving Care: An approach to a better caregiving landscape in Canada. The white paper is a result of extensive consultations with caregivers, care providers, recipients of care, thought leaders, service agencies, advocacy organizations and researchers from across the country. The report aims to ignite a public conversation on the state of caregiving and offer potential policy solutions to address the many challenges and systemic issues experienced by Canada’s 8+ million caregivers and care providers across the country. The report can be found here.
The More Beds, Better Care Act 2022, colloquially known as Bill 7, came into effect on September 21, 2022. The Act, passed without public hearings, aimed to facilitate the transfer of what are known as "Alternative Level of Care" patients from hospitals to long-term care placements. It does so by permitting placement co-ordinators and long-term care home operators to admit individuals to long-term care without their informed consent.
You can read the text of the Bill here.
The text of the Ministry of Health's and Ministry of Long-Term Care's implementation memo can be found here.
A plain language overview of the Bill and its implications can be found here.
Background material on the context and impact of Bill 7 can be found here.
The OCC's Open Letter to Government can be found here.