Health and Community Services
May 28, 2009

While June is still a week away, I felt it was important to take this opportunity to rise in the House and recognize June as Seniors Month in our province.

This time provides an important opportunity to acknowledge and recognize the incredible contributions and diversity of seniors. Every day in Newfoundland and Labrador and across the country, seniors work, learn and contribute. The wisdom, skills and abilities of seniors from our province are felt in homes and communities, and impact people of all ages and backgrounds.

Seniors participate in town councils and band councils, in church committees, service clubs, community development initiatives, educational institutions, and business endeavors - and the list goes on.

Through our Provincial Healthy Aging Policy Framework our government made a commitment to honour these contributions by creating a truly age-friendly province.

In support of this work, our government created an Office with a very focused priority: Aging and Seniors. And, it is my pleasure to be the Minister Responsible for this Office. In collaboration with the Provincial Advisory Council on Aging and Seniors, the Ministerial Council on Aging and Seniors and the inter-departmental working group, this policy framework is now being rolled out.

One fundamental way to support an age-friendly province is to create a culture of respect where we see and recognize the value and worth of seniors in our province.

It is in this spirit that our government was proud to introduce the Seniors of Distinction Awards in January of this year. The Seniors of Distinction Awards were created to honour and celebrate the priceless contributions, achievements and diversity of Newfoundland and Labrador�s seniors.

The interest in this awards program has been phenomenal, with seniors being nominated from all across the province. As Minister Responsible for Aging and Seniors, I look forward to announcing the first recipients of this annual awards program during a ceremony in late June.

In recognizing seniors, our government also recently launched Ageless, a social marketing campaign to promote positive images of aging. I encourage my fellow colleagues to wear buttons, which were created as part of this campaign, to help mark Seniors Month.

In closing, I encourage the people of Newfoundland and Labrador to reflect on the value and contributions of the seniors in their lives and to make every effort to honour and acknowledge these contributions.