Provincial Learning Event: End Ageism Now

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Age is often understood as sufficient justification for treating people unequally and limiting their opportunities for meaningful contributions.  Ageism, unlike other forms of discrimination, is socially accepted and usually unchallenged. 50% of the population hold biased attitudes towards older people. We must all be role models to change these attitudes.

Moving towards age equality requires a shift in terminology that shapes our understanding of age as a potential problem creating an impact on how older people are viewed. Adopting laws and policies prohibiting age discrimination is essential for moving forward.

This webinar will discuss the importance of “Ending Ageism” and some of the critical strategies to strengthen the rights of older persons, including the role we all must play to ensure that all people enjoy their human rights in their older age on an equal basis with others.

Speakers:

Margaret Gillis
Founding President – International Longevity Centre

Margaret Gillis is the founding President of the International Longevity Centre Canada, part of a global alliance of 16 Centers dedicated to the needs and rights of older people. An award-winning executive and innovative leader, Margaret played a key role in establishing the Age-friendly Community program in Canada and internationally, this program is now in over 900 Canadian communities and 26 countries worldwide. Other career highlights include a joint government-NGO project to protect seniors in disasters which was recognized with an individual award by Her Majesty the Queen.

Margaret has strong credentials regarding human rights, working with and speaking at the UN General Assembly on behalf of older people, as Chair of the National Advocacy Working Group at the Global Alliance on the Rights of Older People (GAROP) and at the Working Group on Mainstreaming Aging at the UNECE. With a background in health promotion, protection and programming for the aged, women and children, Margaret is committed to improving the rights of older people.

Ms. Frances Zainoeddin
Vice Chair – NGO Committee on Ageing

Ms. Frances Zainoeddin left Australia in 1970 to work at the United Nations, New York – initially in the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs – and ended her career, 31 years later, as Deputy Budget Director of the United Nations Programme Planning and Budget Division.

Upon retirement, Ms. Zainoeddin joined the NGO community in order to further promote the ideals of the United Nations, with a specific interest in gender and ageing issues. Her knowledge of the United Nations system, policies and procedures, has been particularly useful to NGOs that participate in deliberations in intergovernmental meetings.

Ms. Zainoeddin is currently Vice-Chair of the NGO Committee on Ageing and is also a member of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women. She was a key participant in the establishment of the Stakeholder Group on Ageing in 2013, as part of the Major Groups and Other Stakeholders involved, as civil society participants, in sustainable development issues and was actively engaged in the United Nations intergovernmental negotiations leading up to the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, ensuring inclusion of the concerns of older persons. She is the UN Focal Point in New York for the Stakeholder Group on Ageing.

Ms. Zainoeddin is also actively involved in issues concerning the rights of older persons, particularly in the context of efforts being made by the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing at the United Nations to elaborate a convention to protect and promote the rights of older persons.

Register now.