The following article was originally read at the Canadian Pensioners Concerned National Annual Conference, September 2007.

Canadian Pensioners Concerned was started informally in 1969 by a group of retirees who were concerned with their lack of income security due to the amount of their retirement income and, secondly, the threat of inflation.

Seed grants were received from three sources, the Anglican Church of Canada, the United Church of Canada and Bell Canada. Representatives of the group did a cross-country tour and met with individuals, seniors organizations and a variety of authorities to discuss mutual concerns. From that tour, a number of groups were organized to press for more adequate pensions for seniors and provincial divisions and local chapters of Canadian Pensioners Concerned (CPC) were begun in four provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Ontario. In 1971 the organization was incorporated. In 1999 there were divisions in three provinces and representatives in six others.

The name Canadian Pensioners Concerned gradually became well-known to authorities and other organizations as pensions were increased in the 1970's and again during the 1980's and 1990's when income security for seniors was under threat from increased interest rates and ongoing inflation. By the late 80's and into the 90's, the mandate broadened but the original name was retained. Now CPC works, as the brochure issued by the Ontario Division claims, "...ensuring the well-being of all Canadians by promoting policies, legislation and services for safe, healthy communities".

Grants from New Horizons for Seniors, Health Canada and the Seniors Independence Program, have made it possible for CPC to do both the work entailed in specific projects and to carry on pro-motion of current issues of importance to seniors and Canadians of all ages. In the 1980's CPC produced a major work in English and French titled Action Through Advocacy which detailed the skills and methods required for success. In 1994, a second edition was published with a grant from the Seniors Independence Program of the federal government. This edition was subtitled A Guidebook on Advocacy for Seniors Organizations.

The next major publication was produced in 1997 in four parts and called My Plans for Me. It is an educational information package on Advance Health Care Directives in Canada. The four part set is intended to support seniors in planning how they wish to be treated when seriously ill or during terminal sickness. It is also a guide to making decisions that should be made prior to death.

Yet another publication which was published in the early years of this decade was Dealing with Diabetes : A Tool Kit for Seniors Helping Seniors. All three of these recent major projects were re-searched by groups of volunteer specialists, such as doctors, nurses, lawyers, social workers, and promoters for seniors, who attended meetings organized by Canadian Pensioners Concerned in cities across the country: Halifax, Moncton, Fredericton, Charlottetown, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria. The publications were printed in both official languages.

In the early 70's the Ontario Division collaborated with the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE), a legal aid organization, and produced a useful booklet The Older Person and the Law. In 1988 the Division researched and published a pamphlet titled It Works for Us! A Guide to Healthful Eating for Older Adults. It is probably the most popular publication CPC has produced - well over 150,000 have been distributed, all free. The Division had to have a special committee of volunteers to package and post the requests for bundles of the Guide.

From the early days, CPC has been concerned with primary issues that support the good life for all citizens, seen from a senior's perspective. Number one has been the need for income security. The Old Age Pension, which came to be named Old Age Security, was, in the early days, a great benefit for many seniors. Some actually managed to support themselves on it. With the rising cost of living very few, if any, seniors in Canada can manage on OAS today. What has concerned CPC and other seniors organizations has been the threats from authorities. In 1971 the federal government removed the line from the income tax forms which made it clear that six percent of income tax was for social programs including OAS. Gradually people no longer understood that it was a pension paid for by taxes from all employed citizens throughout their working lives. In 1989 the federal government legislated what has been called the "clawback" of OAS. It discriminates against the principle of universality and those with higher incomes who have in fact been paying more towards OAS through taxes than the less well-off. It also tends to divide seniors - the have's from the have-not's.

The next serious threat against OAS came with the proposal of the federal government for a so-called seniors benefit which would have replaced OAS and been a mere charitable program for poor seniors. CPC pushed strongly, in company with other seniors organizations, against both the claw-back and the seniors benefit. The clawback continues but the seniors benefit plan was dropped by the federal Finance Minister.

The second most important concern of CPC has been, and continues to be, that of health care. CPC honours the Canada Health Act. In 1997 CPC National and CPC Ontario Division adopted a Health Core Values Statement which supports strongly the retention and expansion of the principles and provisions of the Canada Health Act and the progressive extension of a publicly funded and accountable system of integrated and coordinated health care services. Unfortunately, there are powerful, well organized forces that are in the process of destroying this universal health care system. They wish to replace it with a private for-profit system that is similar to that which exists in the United States. So the process of privatization goes on apace. Authorities at both the provincial and federal level say that they are in favour of the public system but in fact they allow the privatization to continue.

In addition to the Health Core Values Statement, CPC Ontario Division issued Position Statement on Privatization in Health Care in 1998 and reprinted it in 2005. Both these papers are as relevant today as they were at the time of publication. One of our ongoing tasks is to make our support for the Canada Health Act known and to campaign for its retention and expansion in favour of health care services not covered by the Act.

Yet a third concern of CPC is the need across the country for affordable housing. A recent study, Holding on to Housing, by the Ontario Division and other seniors organizations, found that an increasing number of seniors were in need of adequate, affordable housing in Simcoe County, a region just north of Toronto. In the city of Toronto, many seniors are in danger of losing their homes due to the rising cost of real estate and the ongoing rise in rental rates. A related problem is that of the homeless, many of whom are young people. The churches and other humanitarian groups try to help with programs like Out of the Cold and Out of the Heat but these are stop-gap programs that do not get at the basic economic problems which cause people to be without adequate, affordable and safe accommodation.

One last concern at this time is that of public transportation. CPC has not made presentations about transportation since the early days but at that time, it did have some influence on ticket pricing for seniors in Toronto.

In understanding the nature of CPC it is important to say that from the time of incorporation it has been open to cooperation with other seniors organizations. In recent years CPC also has given support to young people's concerns, in particular to the university students' struggles with the ever increasing cost of fees. In terms of actually joining forces with other organizations, CPC has done so for many years. It has been associated with One Voice, National Volunteer Organizations, Federal Superannuates, L'Assemblee des ainees et aines francophones du Canada and the Congress of Union Retirees of Canada. Along with these organizations it has been invited to various consultations with federal government ministries, especially Health Canada. Year after year CPC has been invited to make presentations to the pre-budget consultations of the Finance Committee of the federal government.

In conclusion, it must be said that CPC has, from the beginning, worked for humanitarian causes and the mode of operation has been based on humanitarian values. Although the majority of members are seniors they do not work for the benefit of seniors in opposition to others in society. Quoting from my own report to the annual general meeting of CPC National in 1999, I said, "We continue to have seniors' welfare and concerns at the centre of our work but we do so as seniors who are aware of the relationships of seniors to all other age groups in society. So we wish to ensure 'the well-being of all Canadians by promoting policies, legislation and service for safe, healthy communities across our country.' "

Bruce Mutch, Toronto
Canon Mutch was president of CPC National 1993-1996
and of the Ontario Division 1990-1993.