Summary#

Bill 101, the Advocate for Older Adults Act, 2023, would create a new law, not amend an existing Act. It would establish an independent officer of the Legislative Assembly called the Advocate for Older Adults. The stated goal is to identify and address systemic challenges affecting older adults.

• The Advocate must monitor services for people aged 65 and older, analyze Ontario government policies and issues affecting their welfare, and advocate for older adults and family members who care for them.
• The Advocate must independently advise the Minister, public officials, and people or bodies that fund or deliver services for older adults.
• The Advocate may make recommendations and public reports, refer an individual matter to the responsible body with that person’s consent, and establish an advisory council. If created, the council must include older adults and family caregivers, and exclude service funders and providers and their representatives.
• The Advocate may request information, excluding personal information, from service funders or providers only after an earlier request went unanswered within a reasonable time or the Advocate considers earlier information incomplete, false or misleading. A recipient with custody or control of the information must provide it within the reasonable time limit the Advocate sets.
• The Advocate must prepare an annual public report. No person may take a measure that adversely affects someone because they assisted the Advocate.

What it means for you#

• Older adults and family caregivers: The Advocate must consider their interests and may promote awareness of systemic challenges and available resources. The bill does not create a right to a particular service or require service providers to follow the Advocate’s recommendations.
• People with an individual concern: The Advocate may refer a matter to the responsible person or body, but only with the individual’s consent. The bill does not set up a required complaint or investigation process for individual cases.
• Service funders and providers: They may have to provide requested information if the bill’s conditions are met and they have custody or control of it. The Advocate cannot use this power to request personal information.
• Ontario government and public officials: They would receive independent advice from the Advocate. The Minister may also require a report on the matters covered by that advice.
• Legislative Assembly: It appoints the Advocate. Unless the Assembly unanimously decides otherwise, the appointee must be selected by unanimous agreement of a panel with one member from each recognized party, chaired by the Speaker as a non-voting member. The term is five years, with one possible reappointment.
• General public: The Advocate may report publicly and must publish an annual report online. The Act would start on Royal Assent if passed.

Money#

No publicly available information.

• The bill creates an office but gives no cost estimate or details on its funding or staffing.

What is unclear#

• The bill does not define “systemic challenges” or set out how the Advocate would decide which issues to examine.
• It does not set out rules for receiving or prioritizing concerns, timelines for the Advocate’s work, or a process for challenging the Advocate’s decisions.
• It does not require governments or service providers to act on the Advocate’s advice or recommendations.
• The bill applies specified parts of the Ombudsman Act with changes. The supplied material does not include that Act, so the effects of those provisions cannot be verified here.
• The bill uses “reasonable time” for information requests but does not set a fixed number of days.

Case for#

• A separate, independent officer could examine patterns across services, rather than focusing only on individual complaints.
• The Advocate must monitor services and advise public officials and service funders or providers, which could bring systemic problems to their attention.
• The information-request power could help the Advocate examine issues when earlier requests were ignored or the information provided was considered unreliable.
• An advisory council, if established, must include older adults and family caregivers.

Case against#

• The Advocate can recommend changes, but the bill does not require governments or service providers to make them.
• The information power is limited: it cannot reach personal information, and it can be used only after an earlier request was unanswered or the Advocate considers the response incomplete, false or misleading.
• The bill does not specify the office’s budget, staffing or work priorities, so its capacity and public cost are unknown.
• The bill gives the Advocate room to decide which issues matter and what information is adequate, while leaving key terms and many work processes unspecified.