Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the June 2025 CCAA Communications Update. This is your monthly guide to the ongoing activities of the Canadian Coalition Against Ageism (CCAA).
Post Federal Election Update: Now is the Time: CCAA’s Call to Action for the Future of Aging in Canada
The election is over, and the time for action is now. The promises made during the campaign must be followed through with concrete steps to eliminate ageism and ensure dignity and respect for older persons in every aspect of their lives. We call upon our elected leaders and lawmakers to work with leaders of all other sectors—especially those within health, housing, and workplaces—to take immediate action to deliver and enact the necessary reforms for older Canadians.
With that in mind CCAA has take the pre-election messaging and repurposed it for post-election use. A full toolkit is available on the website
Post election toolkit on the CCAA website complete with Key Messages, a 2-page flyer, social media graphics in English and a short video. Please share these messages widely within your organization and with your network.
More tools and campaigns will be rolled out in the coming months:
- A petition to show our collective demand for systemic change
- An email campaign via New/Mode to connect directly with elected officials
- A Stories of Change campaign where older people, caregivers and community members can share their lived experiences with Ageism
Renewed Calls to action to Join the Movement through the newsletter, future webinars and engagement on social media
Key Message Videos
The remaining videos in the What, So What, Now What series were finalized in May and are now available to share to your members and on your communications channels.
This powerful video series explores why we must act now to protect the rights of older persons, invest in age-friendly policies, and confront the rising costs of inaction. Through real stories and compelling evidence, the campaign makes one thing clear: when we fail to prioritise aging in our national agenda, the consequences are felt across our economy, healthcare system, and communities.
- Human Rights at Risk: Older Canadians are being overlooked. Without a National Aging Strategy, inequities grow and rights are denied.
- Investing in Solutions: From digital inclusion to caregiving support, age-friendly policies benefit everyone—now and for future generations.
- *NEW* The Cost of Inaction: Delaying action will cost more—in dollars, in wellbeing, and in lost potential.
- *NEW* Human Rights through the PRISM: a look at Canada’s health care systems
Each video follows the WHAT, SO WHAT, NOW WHAT framework to break down the issue, explain the impact, and call Canadians to take action.
These videos will serve as essential tools for advocacy, engaging policymakers, elected officials, and the public in the fight against ageism. Videos are available on the Brand Resources page: https://ccaageism.ca/brand/#What. CCAA and ILCC have been sharing the videos twice a week on their social media channels and encourage members to do the same.
We also worked with our videographer, Craig Conley to create three additional videos for the In their words campaign. This video series features powerful lived experience testimonials from older adults who have encountered ageism in health care, workplaces, communities, and everyday life. Through their voices, we hear how age-based stereotypes, discrimination, and systemic barriers affect real people—and why change is urgently needed. These stories challenge assumptions, foster empathy, and call on all of us to take action against ageism in all its forms.
- Dr. Olive Bryanton sheds light on how ageism in health care—conscious or not—leads to real harm, from ignored symptoms to reduced access to treatment.
- Dr Satya Brink challenges health professionals to examine implicit bias and systemic discrimination in health care.
- Marie Howell shares her husband’s journey through late-life mental illness and the health care system.
Videos are available on the Brand Resources Page: https://ccaageism.ca/brand/#InTheirWords
Phase 2 Expansion into other sectors
Work continues on the Phase 2 expansion will be a key area of focus in the coming months. Kiran will be working closely with the working groups focused on the four key sectors (Health, Housing, Workplace and Financial), the OPAG and the CCAA committees to plan expansion into other sectors.
Lokender Singh has been tasked with developing outreach strategy and providing communications support for the Phase 2 expansion campaign, which Srishti Siri will be developing an overall membership recruitment campaign.
Ageism Toolkit Materials from Ottawa Technical Secondary School
On Friday, May 2, Cheri visited with communications students at the Ottawa Technical Secondary School to discuss the Ageism Toolkit and the Ageism Awareness Working Group project to update the Toolkit.
They have 16 Grade 11 and 12 students enrolled in the class that will be working on this project.
The students are going to review the toolkit pieces and they’ll each choose one to work on either as pairs or solo, with the plan to have a polished toolkit piece they can share with us that matches our brand guidelines by the end of the school year.
They’ve been instructed to look at each piece, determine who the audience is and what the best way is to transform the current materials for broader distribution. It could be one-pager, a social media campaign, a short video or series of videos, an interactive questionnaire, a set of flash cards – sky really is the limit.
CCAA Newsletter – Age Rights Bulletin
The next issue of the Age Rights Bulletin was sent at the beginning of April. The next issue in will be sent mid June.
If you have events or activities planned that you feel will be of interest to our members and subscribers, we want to know about them. Content submissions can be sent to info@ccaageism.ca by June 10, 2025.
Due to space limitations, we cannot promise all submissions will be included, but we will do our best.