Cecile Cassista is the executive director of the Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents' Rights. (Photo: CHSJ News)
A one-time payment of $500 for those over the age of 75 who are receiving Old Age Security payments was announced in the federal budget this week.
The Coalition for Seniors executive director, Cecile Cassista, says that doesn’t go far enough, “What about the people 65 and over. Some of them don’t have investments and we should be looking at all of them as a whole, not trying to discriminate on age.”
She says this is a one-time payment and she would like to see guarantees that there will be no clawbacks on their incomes.
“Seniors are living in poverty as it is. They are going to food banks. Some of them are becoming homeless. We talk about seniors, but what are the specifics that we can do that can help them live with dignity and quality of life,” Cassista says.
In the long-term, the federal government also announced in the budget, legislation to raise Old Age Security payments by 10 per cent as of July 2022.
