Resources For Seniors In Grey & Bruce

The Council on Aging Grey Bruce is a seniors driven initiative born at the Seniors Summit Grey Bruce Owen Sound in March 2014, that was coordinated by the Owen Sound and Area Seniors’ Centre, funded and supported by community stakeholders and partners including: Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat, Older Adult Centres Association of Ontario, United Seniors Citizens of Ontario, Grey Bruce Health Unit, Seasons Owen Sound, Zehrs Owen Sound and Osteoporosis Canada.

Funding was received through the Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat to formulate and establish a Council on Aging Grey Bruce by the end of March 2015.

Interested individuals applied to sit on the COAGB Steering Committee in response to an ad in the newspaper. The Council on Aging Grey Bruce Steering Committee drafted the boundaries for the five Community Advisory Committee Areas.

Information Meetings were held in the 5 areas where Community Advisory Committees were formed. The intent is to provide information and encourage seniors, groups, clubs, organization, churches to join the movement.

Three individuals were selected from each of the 5 Community Advisory Committee areas to represent their area on the Council on Aging Grey Bruce. The 15 individuals in addition to 2 representatives from the United Seniors of Ontario (USCO Zone 9 and 32) formed the initial Council on Aging Grey Bruce. The COAGB elected a Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary/Treasurer at the first COAGB meeting held in March 2015.

Since the inception of the Council on Aging Grey Bruce these 5 areas have since been realigned to represent the 17 municipalities of Grey and Bruce Counties. With the Council on Aging Grey Bruce now having 1 representative from each of the 17 municipalities. Some representatives are volunteer representatives for their respective municipal area through a seniors’ organization and some representatives have been selected from their newly formed Seniors Advisory Committee in their respective municipality.

The Council on Aging Grey Bruce is a senior’s driven initiative and therefore is responsible to its membership as well as to the Active Lifestyles Seniors Centre Grey Bruce. The COAGB is a sub-committee of the incorporated Active Lifestyles Seniors Centre Grey Bruce, which provides ongoing leadership and support.

The Council on Aging Grey Bruce through the respective local Seniors Advisory Committees (SAC) will:

• Be the voice of seniors in our community
• Strive to create opportunities to build on each community’s strength and encourage quality services and programs that meets the needs of older adults and their families.
• Strive to ensure that community partnerships and collaborations are set as one of its main priorities. This is necessary in order to develop and deploy sweeping changes to address the approaching demographic shift.
• Provide an awareness campaign to seniors about the services that are available to them, help them find their way into the system and to navigate within it. Many government services are not user or senior friendly.

The initial application for funding to the Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat by the original Owen Sound and Area Seniors’ Centre was to implement a Council on Aging Grey Bruce with the objective to promote Age Friendly Communities initiatives within all 17 municipalities of Grey and Bruce Counties. The County of Grey, County of Bruce and the City of Owen Sound Councils supported the original funding application to the Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat, since renamed Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility.

The COAGB is a volunteer driven organization. COAGB applies for grants to help offset project expenses. As well, the COAGB accepts donations through the Active Lifestyles Seniors Centre Grey Bruce, which can provide tax receipts. In the long term, as Senior Advisory Committees (SAC) come on line in each of the 17 municipalities, with each of those SAC’s providing one member to sit on the COAGB, we believe through municipal support the local SAC’s and the COAGB will become self-sustaining.

• The Senior Advisory Committees (SAC) have direct access to their Municipal Councils where changes can be made at the level.
• The COAGB has direct access to the Grey and Bruce County Councils where changes can be made at that level.
• The COAGB has direct access to the Resolution Process of the United Senior Citizens of Ontario (USCO) and the Ontario Association of Councils on Aging (OACA) who have direct access to the Ontario Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility. The USCO has two seats at the Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility table and the OACA has one seat at that same table.  These three positions carry a lot of influence for Ontario Seniors.

More members means a stronger voice for seniors. Join the local Seniors Advisory Committee and actively promote an age Friendly Community in your municipality. Spread the word to all residents in your municipality to promote Age Friendly Initiatives.

Contact us if you need more information or if you want to become involved. Every voice counts to affect real change in our communities. Council on Aging Grey Bruce (COAGB) Executive Committee

• Tanya Shute (Chair)
• Jan Chamberlain (1st Vice/Housing Chair)
• Wally Halliday (2nd Vice/Communication Chair)
• Ros Brooks (Secretary)
• David Bradley (Treasurer)

ALCGB Office: (519) 376-8304
coagreybruce@gmail.com