Aging & Social Change: Fourteenth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

Building inclusive, equitable and diverse societies means tackling all forms of exclusion, including those based on age. While negative effects of ageism targeting older adults are well documented, strategies, approaches, and best practices to counter these are still under studied. Hence, the goals of the current study, mandated by Employment and Social Development Canada, was:1) to conduct a qualitative content analysis of two federal reports (stemming from eight roundtable consultations conducted with Canadians in 2022 and 2,920 responses to a questionnaire) as well as 30 peer reviewed articles; 2) to provide a set of policy options, and recommendations for the most promising initiatives to address ageism against older adults in Canada in the areas of health and health care, employment and workforce, social inclusion, safety and security, media and social media. The paper focuses on the main findings from the content analysis and major policy recommendations to address ageism, including education and intergenerational contact.