B.C.’s aging population a ‘wake-up call’ for health-care system, advocates say

In B.C., the number of seniors surpassed one million for the first time, with people aged 65 and up making up 20.3 per cent of B.C.'s population.

Advocates in British Columbia are calling new data from Canada’s 2021 census a “wake-up call” to government to take action now or face a health-care crisis amid an aging population.

The data, released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday, found people 85 years of age and older are the fastest-growing age group in the country.

That figure was up by 12 per cent since the 2016 census, more than double the Canadian average.

In B.C., the number of seniors surpassed one million for the first time, with people aged 65 and older making up 20.3 per cent of B.C.’s population, an all-time high for provinces west of Quebec, Statistics Canada said.

B.C. is also home to the seven municipalities with the oldest populations in Canada: Qualicum Beach (more than half of its population is 65 years and older), Osoyoos, Sidney, Parksville, Southern Gulf Islands, Nanaimo E, and Nanaimo.

“I think it’s a big wakeup for all of us — we’ve been sounding this alarm for quite a while,” Terry Lake, CEO of the BC Care Providers’ Association, said.

“When you look at the number of people over 85, the fastest-growing segment of the population, and we know the health care needs of people in that age category are much much higher, we simply don’t have the capacity to manage that at the moment.”

B.C. seniors’ advocate Isobel Mackenzie said 85 is around the age when seniors begin to have far more complex health-care needs, or begin to transition into retirement homes or long-term care facilities.