When Cheryl Green looks for examples of residents that have aged well in Whistler into their golden years, she can’t help but think of one man: local visionary, lawyer, developer, and Freedom of the Municipality holder Garry Watson, who remained active as a passionate advocate for the resort up until his passing in April at 89.
“I had the pleasure of working with Garry Watson on a project, and to me, he was a prime example of living and aging well in Whistler, and I really applaud him and his wife for making it happen for him,” said Green, the communications and community engagement director for the Mature Action Community (MAC), at a council meeting last Tuesday, July 18.
Green and the other members of MAC, the resort’s senior advocacy group, want Watson’s experience to be the norm for Whistler’s older adults, part of the reason why the non-profit lobbied the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) to apply to be officially recognized as an Age-Friendly BC Community, as well as for an associated grant.
“As the chair of the 55-plus group here in Whistler, it’s our pleasure to represent the growing number of people relocating to Whistler to enjoy their life in different stages of life,” said MAC executive director Kathy White to local officials. “It’s a grant to—like many other grants we apply for as a non-profit society—advocate and to engage with our local community, council and our network of communities of people. We highly recommend this grant go forward and then we are ready to prepare a letter of support as well.”
Mayor and council followed MAC’s lead on July 18 by greenlighting the grant application through the BC Healthy Communities’ 2023 Age-Friendly Communities program. Administered through the provincial health ministry, up to $15,000 is available to support age-friendly planning and projects in Whistler. Municipal staff recommended prioritizing two potential actions in the grant application: Explore existing emergency preparedness plans and how they meet older adults’ needs, and consider a campaign to bring awareness to older adults about current emergency preparedness plans.
“This will enhance the community’s ability to proactively address the challenges and vulnerabilities faced by older adults, while providing older adults, caregivers and the wider community with key information in advance of emergency situations,” explained RMOW policy planning analyst Rex Lin.
Although no public consultation is required as part of the application, Lin said community engagement would be “an important aspect for the project” in determining any special needs and requirements for older adults in emergency situations, as well as identifying opportunities to “bridge the gaps to better prepare for emergencies.” If the application is successful, the RMOW said it would consult with groups such as the municipal Accessibility and Inclusion Committee, MAC, the Whistler Community Services Society, and Tourism Whistler.
“With the extreme weather events that we’ve had, during the heat dome [in 2021], the most vulnerable people were elderly people,” said Councillor Cathy Jewett. “One of the things in Whistler is we haven’t really considered air conditioning before, so we have to acknowledge that our environment is changing and ensure we have plans in place to help these people.”
Part of the goal is to gain a better grasp on where Whistler’s vulnerable residents are situated in case of an emergency.
“As Coun. [Arthur] De Jong is constantly reminding us, we live in a tinder box, and in the event of an evacuation, we need to know where those vulnerable people are, the ones that need help, and the ones that can’t get out on their own,” Jewett added.
A successful grant application would also pave the way for the RMOW to apply for recognition as an Age-Friendly BC Community, allowing for Whistler’s age-friendly initiatives to be promoted on the BC Health Communities Society’s channels, as well as make it automatically eligible to receive official Pan-Canadian Age-Friendly Communities recognition, which is endorsed by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the World Health Organization.
It’s not the first time the RMOW has applied for grant funding through this program: in 2020, the municipality received funding to complete Whistler’s Age-Friendly Assessment and Action Plan, which it did the following year. The final report identified 30 strategies and 71 actions to support Whistler’s aging community.
