The waiting list for Bonnylodge and senior's housing eligibility were at the top of the agenda when Alberta Seniors and Housing Minister Josephine Pon made a stop in town.
Pon sat down with local residents at the Bonnyville Senior’s Drop-in Centre and visited Bonnylodge as part of her province-wide tour on Thursday, Sept. 19.
"The main objective was to listen, to hear from the seniors on where we can improve our services, and what their needs are," Pon said.
Local senior Solange Lajoie shared her frustrations with the minister about determining if someone is eligible for the self-contained units or seniors' lodge living.
"I truly feel that it's unfair, because there are a lot of people who are allowed to apply for the subsidized senior housing that have more assets, more money in the banks where they can hide it, and are still able to get in. Whereas if you get a pension, that's called an income on your tax returns, because you have this income, you're disqualified to be able to apply to get into this subsidized housing," she exclaimed.
One suggestion Lajoie offered to address the issue was an interim senior's housing facility for those who don't qualify.
"If we're not capable of going into these subsidized housing, there should be some other kinds of housing built for seniors where they may pay to stay there," expressed Lajoie.
MD of Bonnyville Reeve Greg Sawchuk noted it's a topic that comes up again and again in the community.
"They've said that they're going back and looking at it, but short of diving into everyone's financial details, I'm not sure how they would do that any different than they are right now. The fact is there's still a waiting list, and a lot of people would like to move in there," he explained.
The minister said her and her team will be looking into ways to address the concerns raised during the Bonnyville meeting, along with others she heard throughout the tour.
While it's not a topic unique to Bonnyville, Lajoie was glad to share her concerns with Pon.
"I think it's good to be able to express our frustrations and needs. I consider them needs because we're at the stage in our life where it's time to downsize, leave our home, and we don't really have many options that are open to us because of our situation."
Ahead of the provincial budget, Town of Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewski believes it's important for ministers to hear the prevalent issues for the local community.
"I think it's something that she's heard across the places she's visited before, the themes are all the same, it's just a matter of the realization that simply cutting (funds) and things like that, there are other implications," he detailed.
Sonja Stryski, president of the local senior’s centre, described the minister as approachable.
"I'm appreciative to know that somebody... knows we're here, they're thinking about us, and to take the time to actually come out to the boonies and away from the city," she said.
Pon noted the group raised some good questions.
"Some of them, like how to make our processes more efficient, and the other thing is about regulation of policy. Some of them were probably set up many years ago, and our team is currently reviewing all of the program policies that are outdated, what we can do to amend that, and make them meet today's needs for the Albertan seniors in Bonnyville."
In order to make decisions in the future and improve the lives of residents, Pon stressed how crucial it is to hear feedback from residents.
"Our job as a government is to understand, and to listen to our seniors, stakeholders, and company leaders. What are the real issues? To me, listening is the number one thing. When you make a change to a policy and amend regulations, or anything when you want to do a new project or new service, our user is the senior. Our wonderful Albertans."
Residents being able to have discussions face-to-face with ministers was important to Sawchuk, especially when it comes to using the services provided by the province.
"That she was at least able to listen to some of their concerns, and she seemed very open to going back and working with her government and the folks there to try and solve the issues."
Bonnyville was among one of the last stops the minister made. The tour kicked off in Whitecourt on Sept. 15, and ended in Smoky Lake on Sept. 19.
Now that it's over, Pon and her team will sit down to figure out what their next steps will be and how to address the issues brought up in the different communities.
