THUNDER BAY – The Ontario Health Coalition held protests across Ontario Monday, with advocates saying they're fed up with broken promises, expanding privatization, and inadequacies in long-term care.
“There’s a lot of us old folks that are around these days and we’re going to be involved in long-term care, I just know that, and the way it’s heading now, it’s not the direction we want it to end up at,” said Jules Tupker, chair of the Thunder Bay Health Coalition.
“And that’s why I’ve been involved with this for many years, I thought they were going to take a number of years to get where I want it to be when I retire and get into long-term care, so it’s a very very important issue right now.”
The local protest, which was held at the Service Ontario office on James Street, was part of a province-wide day of protest over long-term care issues held on the day the Ontario legislature reopened for a new session.
“The Health Coalition here in Thunder Bay and the... Ontario Health Coalition have been raising these issues for a long long time,” Tupker said. “And yet it just falls on deaf ears. You know, I don’t just blame Doug Ford for what’s going on now, but the previous liberal government did nothing also, and we’ve been raising this for many, many years.”
The demands from The Ontario Health Coalition and other Health Coalitions across the province include:
- Immediate action to fast-track increases in care levels and staffing to meet residents’ care needs
- Enforcement of care standards through reinstatement of annual surprise inspections, and real accountability through fines, loss of license for repeated non-compliance. Repeal the Act shielding LTC operators from lawsuits for negligence
- End for-profit LTC
- Ensure the human rights of LTC residents are upheld, including an end to unlawful detention, isolation and ensure full access to caregivers and families
