Within communities, volunteer organizations experience difficulties engaging younger cohorts, threatening the continuity and quality of many community supports and services. Different generations may hesitate to interact with one another due to fear and misperceptions based on age. Generations are also often segregated from one another due to poor community design, and community decision making often does not include all generations.

As the population ages, the fair distribution of resources between the generations may come into question. The media contribute to these challenges by distorting the state of intergenerational relations and communicating negative messages, according to the report.

Next Steps

The summary report brings together a diversity of views on the key issues of labour force participation and intergenerational relations. The report, however, is only the first step, according to the NSC. The next important step is formulating the findings into concrete recommendations that the federal government can use to design policies on labour force integration and intergenerational relations.

The NSC consultations and report show a willingness on the part of government to engage stakeholders on pressing issues of demographic change. The crucial work will be translating the diverse finding into real solutions and getting the federal government to act sooner rather than later.

Click here to read the full report

Keywords: labour, ageism, workplace, community