Over the past year we have been reminded of our Christian calling to care for our elders and those approaching the end of their lives. We have also seen how this calling can be combined with political action, as long-term care is getting increasing political attention.
When COVID-19 struck, long-term care homes in British Columbia were hit hard, exposing deadly flaws in how we care for seniors and bringing long-term care increasingly under public scrutiny and control. The provincial NDP and the federal NDP have issued calls for all care homes to be permanently taken over by the provincial government or local health authorities. This possibility of takeover became very real when Fraser Health revoked funding for the Delta Hospice because of its refusal to provide euthanasia. The federal government’s recent expansion of the eligibility for euthanasia (Bill C-7) only increases the need for Christians and our wider society to provide better palliative care, rather than encouraging or enabling the vulnerable to end their lives because of a lack of adequate care. In the midst of this, ARPA Canada released policy reports on Elder Care and Palliative Care – reports for which we can only thank God for the timing, as we began drafting them before knowing the impact COVID-19 would have on long-term care in Canada.
ARPA Canada has long been advocating for a culture that prioritizes caring, not killing. Through our Care not Kill campaign, we have focused on combatting efforts to expand assisted killing. Now we are expanding our efforts to intentionally promote caring as the alternative.
In the final weeks before the summer we are launching a new Called to Care initiative in British Columbia. There are three phases to this campaign.
Phase 1: Read it!
Until last year, ARPA did not have much expertise in the area of how different levels of government should support elder care and palliative care, and how Christians should be involved in these particular issues. If you also need to brush up on your knowledge on these issues, we have several resources that we hope you’ll find helpful for participating in this campaign. For an in-depth look at elder care or palliative policy from a Christian perspective, you can read our elder care or palliative care policy report. If you’d prefer shorter articles focused on specific aspects of elder care, give the articles below a read. If you prefer to watch and listen rather than read, check out André and Anna’s presentation on elder care.