I believe that every senior in Canada deserves to live in dignity, safety, comfort and respect. The Government of Canada is committed to meeting the needs of seniors, including helping to ensure they can access the safe, quality health care they need and deserve.

On January 31, 2023, the Government of Canada welcomed the release of complementary, independent long-term care (LTC) standards from the Health Standards Organization (HSO) and CSA Group. These standards are an important step in helping to ensure quality care for seniors and will raise the bar for safe and respectful care in LTC homes across Canada.

In early 2021, HSO and CSA Group were called upon by the Standards Council of Canada, to develop two complementary LTC standards. HSO’s standard focuses on the delivery of safe, reliable, and high-quality LTC services, while the CSA Group’s standard focuses on creating safer physical environments, with effective infection prevention and control practises, in LTC homes.

Together, these standards provide guidance for delivering services that are safe, reliable and centred on residents’ needs; foster a healthy and competent workforce; and create safer physical environments by promoting a culture of quality improvement and learning across LTC homes.

The standards development process complements the Government of Canada collaborative work with provinces and territories to help support improvements in LTC. Budget 2021 provided $3 billion over five years to support provinces and territories in their efforts to improve LTC in their jurisdictions.

We are also committed to doing more to support seniors across the country. We know Canadians want to age closer to home and family, but also expect LTC to be safe, if it is needed. In the coming months, we will move forward with consultations and engagement with stakeholders and Canadians on the Safe LTC Act.

As well, to ensure that decisions continue to reflect the needs of seniors the Government of Canada announced in October 2022 that the National Seniors Council (NSC) will serve as an expert panel to examine measures, including a potential aging at home benefit, to further support Canadians who wish to age within the comfort of their own homes.

Enabling more seniors to age at home or in their community, close to family and loved ones, is ultimately what Canadians and the Government of Canada want.

Questions & Answers

What is the federal government’s role in LTC?

While provinces and territories are primarily responsible for delivering LTC, the federal government is working collaboratively with provinces and territories to improve the quality and availability of LTC, and to support training and better wages for personal support workers.

The Minister of Health and the Minister of Seniors’ most recent mandate letters reiterates the Government’s commitment to ensuring seniors get the care they deserve. This commitment builds on past efforts to support LTC throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

To address significant challenges revealed during COVID-19, the federal government announced the creation of a new Safe LTC Fund in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement. This fund transferred $1 billion to the provinces and territories to protect people living and working in long-term care.

In addition, Budget 2021 provided $3 billion over five years to support provinces and territories in their efforts to improve LTC in their jurisdictions.

This funding will support workforce stability, including through wage top-ups and improvements to workplace conditions (e.g., staff to patient ratios, hours of work), and strengthen enforcement (e.g., enhanced inspection and enforcement capacity, quality, and safety improvements to meet standards), including through accreditation and regular inspections.

The federal government will work collaboratively with provinces and territories to flow this funding as part of our collective efforts to make sure that seniors and others in care settings live in safe and dignified conditions.

The federal government has also responded to address immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in LTC facilities in several ways:

• The Safe Restart Agreement provided provincial and territorial governments with over $19 billion to help them restart the economy, while making Canada more resilient to future surges in cases of COVID-19. This included $740 million in funding to support our most vulnerable populations through infection prevention and control measures to protect those in LTC and those receiving home care and palliative care. For more information: Safe Restart Agreement.   
• $3 billion in emergency federal funding was provided to provinces and territories to support increased wages of low-income essential workers, including personal support workers in LTC homes.
• Developed guidance documents on the care of residents in LTC facilities, and infection prevention and control for long-term care, assisted-living facilities, and home care. For more information: Infection prevention and control for COVID-19: Interim guidance for home care settings and Infection prevention and control for COVID-19: Interim guidance for long-term care homes.
• Provinces and territories received federal support to fight outbreaks in LTC facilities by providing personal protective equipment, contact tracing, rapid testing and vaccines. The Government also deployed the Canadian Armed Forces and funded direct assistance through the Canadian Red Cross.
• In the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, the Government of Canada committed:
  • up to $1 billion through the Safe LTC Fund to help provinces and territories to improve infection prevention and control in LTC, such as hiring additional staff and wage top ups, new or renovated infrastructure including ventilation, and readiness assessments; and,
  • to help respond to labour shortages in long-term and home care by implementing a $38.5 million pilot project delivered by Colleges and Institutes Canada. The Long-Term and Home Care pilot project launched in December 2020 and was recently extended to June 30, 2024. The pilot is testing a new recruitment and training model for up to 2,600 Supportive Care Assistants and developing a career advancement pathway for up to 1,300 of these graduates to upgrade their micro credential to a full Personal Support Worker certificate. As part of the project, a National Occupational Standard for Personal Care Providers was developed to serve as a set of voluntary guidelines that can be used to create workplace standards, performance expectations, and as the basis for developing training curriculum.
  • Since 2020, the Government of Canada has provided $10.7 million to Health care Excellence Canada, who have enabled more than 1,500 LTC facilities across Canada to implement best practices for preventing and addressing COVID-19 infection. Their next phase of work will be Reimagining LTC: Enabling a Healthy Workforce to Provide Person-Centred Care. Participating teams will be supported to address gaps in the safety and quality of care received in LTC.

What are the LTC standards?

Standards exist in every aspect of Canadian life. A standard is a document that provides a set of agreed-upon rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results and can be mandatory or voluntary. They are the “invisible infrastructure” that allow Canadians to live and work safely and thrive—and can become the basis of government legislation, policy, regulations and accreditation standards.

Since March 2021, the Standards Council of Canada (SCC), Health Standards Organization (HSO), and the CSA Group have been collaborating to develop two new complementary National Standards of Canada for LTC. The process was undertaken with broad engagement with residents, families, and Canada’s LTC workforce, and took place at arm’s length from the Government of Canada.

On December 1, 2022, CSA Group posted their new National Standard for LTC home operations and infection prevention and control. This standard addresses the design, operation and infection prevention and control practises in long-term care homes.

On January 31, 2023, HSO released their new National LTC Services Standard, which addresses the delivery of safe, reliable, and high-quality LTC services. It focuses on resident-and-family-centred care practises; safe, reliable and high-quality care; a healthy and competent workforce; and an organizational culture that is outcome-focused and strives towards the safety and well-being of all Canadians.

How has the Government of Canada supported this process?

Although LTC falls under provincial and territorial jurisdiction, the Government of Canada is working collaboratively with provinces and territories to protect vulnerable Canadians in LTC.

The standards development process is complementary to, but independent from, the federal government’s collaborative work with provinces and territories to help support improvements in LTC.

While Health Canada did not fund the development of standards, it did provide funding to support enhanced engagement and consultations with Canadians and stakeholders to ensure the diverse perspectives of stakeholders were considered during the development processes for both standards.

How are PTs engaged in the third-party process to develop standards?

To support the development of these new standards, HSO and the CSA Group formed a joint Government Advisory Table made up of federal, provincial and territorial officials to facilitate the exchange of information and inform the standards development processes.

Representatives from BC, MB, NB, NL, PE, NT, NU and YK participated. All PTs (except Quebec, which declined an invitation to participate) were provided with updates and received related materials. Health Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, Indigenous Services Canada, Veterans Affairs Canada, and Corrections Canada were also represented.

Will the federal $3B in funding be linked to PTs adopting the new standards?

Together, these standards provide guidance for delivering services that are safe, reliable and centred on residents’ needs; foster a healthy and competent workforce; and create safer physical environments by promoting a culture of quality improvement and learning across LTC homes.

The standards development process complements our collaborative work with provinces and territories to help support improvements in LTC. In addition, Budget 2021 provided $3 billion over five years to support provinces and territories in their efforts to improve LTC in their jurisdictions. We believe that strengthening compliance and enforcement activities in LTC facilities, as well as supporting workforce stability through wage top ups and improvements to workplace conditions, is essential to improving safe and care for patients, and creating a more positive and healthier environment for all who live or work in LTC.

Is the Government of Canada endorsing the new LTC standards?

The Government is appreciative of the work of CSA Group and HSO and welcomes these new LTC standards as it reflects the importance of LTC to all Canadians.

Together, the standards focus on the delivery of safe, reliable, and high-quality LTC services, safe operating practices and infection prevention, and control measures in LTC homes. The federal government is working collaboratively with provinces and territories to help facilitate improvements in LTC sector, while respecting their jurisdiction.

Does the federal government provide any care support for seniors and others outside of LTC facilities (i.e., at home and in the community)?

We know that Canadians ultimately want to age at home or in their community, close to family and loved ones. That is why the federal government is also providing $6 billion over ten years—starting in 2017—for provinces and territories to improve access to home and community care services, including palliative care.

As a result of the first five years of this investment, provinces and territories have implemented new initiatives to improve access, better coordinate and integrate care and support caregivers to help more Canadians receive the care and services they need so that they may remain at home longer. Details of the bilateral agreements, including how the funding is being spent, can be found here: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/corporate/transparency/health-agreements/shared-health-priorities.html.

To keep seniors safe, and improve their quality of life, the Government of Canada also announced in October 2022 that the National Seniors Council will serve as an expert panel to examine measures, including a potential aging at home benefit, to further support Canadians who wish to age within the comfort of their own homes.