Canadian provincial, territorial, and federal government aging policies: A systematic review

Abstract

In most countries, population aging is becoming more evident now that the first members of the large babyboom cohort have reached 65 years of age. As an accelerating increase in the number of older persons and the proportion of the public aged 65 and older will now occur, planning for population aging has become ever more crucially important. A systematic review of Canadian provincial, territorial, and federal government documents was undertaken to search for the existence of population aging policies, and to determine the aims and other content of the most current policy documents. Documents were identified in all but two jurisdictions of Canada (two northern territories). Document developers, and the aims and content of the 14 reviewed documents varied considerably. Some similarities were identified, however, including some common stated purposes for these documents - to address current issues and challenges facing older people and to plan ahead for a preferred future with population aging.