The Seniors Health Innovations Hub (SHIH) is a group of volunteer seniors in central Ottawa who are committed to enhancing support for aging in place. Collaborating with service providers, experts, academia, government and community organizations, the SHIH is a catalyst for community innovations in the areas of housing, primary care, home care and community support, and  technology. These four teams and the partnerships they develop function independently.

In June we were honoured when Anna Cuylits, a member of the SHIH, attended a ceremony at Queen’s Park where she was one of the 22 recipients of the 2024 Ontario Senior Achievement Awards.

Housing Options – Village Canada

Please note request for support & feedback at the end of this section

Our vision for “Village Canada” is a nonprofit “campus” combining affordable and market housing for seniors, students, and individuals with disabilities. Reflecting feedback we received from the community, the Village will foster a vibrant, intergenerational atmosphere and include housing options, recreation facilities, and community health and social care. The scale, design and services provided in the community will provide opportunities for innovation in services such as home care, long term care and technology.  It will be a community which, both by proximity and design, will promote social interaction and mutual support.

The property of interest for Village Canada is 23 acres of surplus federal land behind the RA Centre on Riverside Drive. It is part of a 465 acre property, Confederation Heights, being prepared for development by Canada Lands Company (CLC).  In January 2024 we introduced our promising housing innovation and noted that it was receiving support from all corners. We were concerned, however, that the CLC had been consulting for years and the rate of development didn’t match the timeline of our senior housing and support needs.

Then, as we are all aware, 2025 saw major political upheavals not anticipated as we entered the year. Enter Trump’s tariffs, threats of secession and an April federal election in which the new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, promised affordable housing on federal land built by Canadians. A new organization, Build Canada Homes, published  their vision and requested public response. It quickly became apparent to us and our supporters (who we called ‘the Consortium’) that Build Canada Homes shared a very similar vision. Our response to them is here.

Other Key Developments in 2025

Gaining political support

Yasir Naqvi, the federal Liberal MP representing Confederation Heights has been supportive of Village Canada since its conception and he continues to express his support and provide us with guidance as well as City of Ottawa counsellors,Theresa Cavanagh, Marty Carr and Shawn Menard, the counsellor representing Confederation Heights. Shawn Menard committed money that might remain in his ward fund after his commitment to another development is completed. All were in favour and made it clear that they would support us in our efforts to develop the vision.

Gaining and demonstrating public support

In June, CLC held a consultation on their Master Plan and Secondary Plan. Several supporters of Village Canada attended and reinforced the message to CLC that this concept had public support.

In July, the Seniors for Social Action of Ontario, a provincial seniors advocacy group, became aware of Village Canada and explored the concept in a webinar they hosted, available on their site.

Meetings were held with housing developers, including Ottawa Community Housing, exploring the potential for them to be involved. As well, we spoke with Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services and Gignul Non-Profit Housing with interest being expressed in collaboration as we move forward and an exchange regarding funding sources.

Gaining government support

Most importantly, we met with the CLC several times and they were very encouraging. They said that our vision was looked upon favourably and that the new Master Plan should provide the flexibility to allow our development to take place, should it be chosen. They also encouraged us to incorporate our Consortium. We understand that they plan to call for an Expression of Interest in the existing data centre heritage buildings early in 2026.

Incorporation of the Consortium Completed

As of December, the Centre for Social Enterprise Development (CSED), acting on behalf of the Village Canada Consortium (VCC), informed us that the incorporation was complete.

Next steps in 2026

• Seek operational funding for the new corporation and larger amounts for feasibility studies and plans
• Define the roles of the various consortium members in relation to the corporation (there are about 20 health care, community service and housing organizations in the consortium)
• Seek non-profit builders
• Prepare for the Expression of Interest in the two heritage buildings expected from CLC

This is a critical juncture in our development – support from the community sends a powerful message.

• The CLC is holding a public consultation on the Master Plan and Secondary Plan on January 22, 2026 from 6-9 p.m. at the Hellenic Centre. Tell them you are interested in seeing Village Canada built on this site. Registration can be completed here.
• Write to political representatives and government, expressing your support. To that end, we have developed some guidanceon who to approach and offered suggestions on what you could say. Our experience is that personalized appeals have the most impact on decision makers.
• We would like to test the market for an innovative idea. Would you consider, in two to three years, moving into an apartment or unit in a retirement building in the new Village and do so by purchase of a life lease arrangement? Of course, we don’t know the price but it would be substantially less than buying a condo. If so, send an email to seniorshealthinnovationshub@gmail.com.

Primary Care Team

Our focus over the past few years has been the lack of primary care for older adults.  In the fall of 2024 Dr. Philpott was appointed as Chair and lead of a new Primary Care Action Team (PCAT) with a mandate to connect every person in Ontario to primary health care within the next five years.   

In April 2025 the Ontario Ministry of Health (MOH) launched the first call for proposals to create and expand up to 80 primary care teams that will connect 300,000 more people to a family doctor and primary care team this year, bringing the province one step closer to connecting everyone in Ontario to primary care by 2029.  During 2025 there have been two rounds of requests for funding proposals, the most recent being in November; the successful applicants are expected to be released this spring. Round 3 is expected to be announced in the fall of 2026. 

As a reminder you need to be registered with Health Care Connect(HCC) in order to be eligible to obtain primary care.  If you are looking for primary care, you need to register your name on that list. The details to do so are included in the HCC link.

Older Adult Forum: An Urgent Need

We were thrilled with the level of interest: 121 people attended in person and 176 attended online. Our goal was to build awareness of the crisis in primary health care for older adults, to share related advocacy approaches and to provide strategies to support healthy aging. The intended audience included older adults and their families, caregivers, as well as stakeholder and advocacy groups across Ottawa. The speaker’s biographies, presentations and the Resources document are available here.  The purpose of the Resources document is to provide content given by the various speakers followed by other helpful resources.

Partnerships / Relationships

Over the past year, we continued our partnership with the Centretown Community Health Centre (CCHC) as a member of a community advisory panel.  CCHC has been supportive of our advocacy for seniors’ primary care since 2023 when we jointly, with Perley Health, submitted a request for funding of a primary care clinic staffed by nurse practitioners.  In November, we provided a letter of support for the funding proposal submitted by CCHC on behalf of itself, the Somerset West Community Health Centre and Restore Medical Clinic.  Their proposal identifies that many, including seniors, will be attached ensuring primary care will be provided to those with the highest need across central Ottawa.  A decision is expected to be disclosed by the MOH in the spring 2026.

As well, during the planning of the Forum, we developed a relationship with the Ottawa Ontario Health Team (OHT) – ESO, the local office of the Ontario Ministry of Health. They provided us with excellent demographic information for the Ottawa area and participated as one of the speakers at that event.

Our goals for 2026

• We will continue to advocate that older adults who do not have primary care be given priority as older adults are more likely to need routine health care and specialist referrals.  Access to primary care is known to enhance overall health, prevent disability and reduce related costs.  

• A 2024 Stats Canada report shows the most frequent patients in an ER (other than infants under 1 year) are 75 years and older, they stay longer than any other age group, and approximately 20% of older adults are admitted.  They tend to be those with chronic, complex conditions and multiple co-morbidities, resulting in higher costs being incurred.

• We will continue to strengthen our partnerships and expand when appropriate In order to assist in our advocacy work, we plan to send out a Feedback Form that will allow us to determine if more people have been successful in obtaining primary care as well as other related facts.  Stay tuned!!

Home Care and Community Support Services

Home care and community support services are critical for aging at home but it is difficult to find an innovative, community-based service delivery method that could be adopted to maximize resources and improve services. Ontario Health atHome delivers services via a complicated system of contracts and support providers that is not community based and change to that system is daunting. A good local website for Community Support Services is Access Community Support Services. Both support providers and those seeking support will find answers there.

The SHIH would like to continue to offer guidance through the morass of services. To that end, we are updating our Guide to Healthy Aging in the Community monthly. In this guide, we provide Ottawa-based links to many services and activities that will contribute to healthy aging. Please contact us using the email address in the Guide to if you have any additions or changes.

Technology Team

The SHIH Technology Team continues to collaborate with the National Innovation Hub which involves AGE-WELL and SAM3(Sensors and Analytics for Monitoring Mobility and Memory) and a collaboration between Carleton University and Bruyère Health, a relationship we have honed over the past several years.

In mid October, we co-ordinated a presentation given by Bruce Wallace (Carleton U) to the Board of Directors of an affordable non-profit rental housing development for seniors. The purpose was to explore whether there would be an opportunity to use some of the residents as a research study for certain technology products that support older adults to age in place. Other logistics, such as the timeframe and location were also presented. The Board needs to present Bruce’s suggestions to their residents; at this point, we have not been informed of a decision.

One of our Technology team members has been an EBE (Expert by Experience) member on the National Research Council Aging in Place Challenge Program for 5 years. The Program’s objectives shift the focus away from long-term care homes toward preventive home and community-based care. The aim is to empower older adults to age in their homes and communities by improving the quality of life of older adults and their personal caregivers through sustainable innovation. Since its launch in 2021, the program has supported several funded collaborative R&D projects and initiativesand continues to do so.  We receive regular updates on this Program from our representative.

2026 Activities

• Please see this Recruitment Poster: Participate in a study on 
  Genie Usability Assessment – System UI/UX design which is a new SAM3 research project. This project is to evaluate the user interface and experience of the Ambient Activities Genie product for how it meets the needs of their older adult target user group. 

• We expect that AGE-WELL and SAM3 will continue to ask us to broadcast a need for older adults to participate in one or more of their studies. Stay tuned for that request that we will disseminate by email on their behalf.

• We will collaborate with them on technologies that are proposed by them. As well, we welcome any suggestions for the development of technologies that could increase your safety, security or assist in improving your health and well-being. Please email us your suggestions at the email address below.

Previous Team Updates are available here.

The Seniors Health Innovations Hub wishes you a happy and healthy 2026!

Margaret Tansey (Chair)

Anna Cuylits 

Carolyn Inch

Patricia Eakins 

Peter Heyck 

Terrance Hunsley

Email: seniorshealthinnovationshub@gmail.com