Squamish strengthens supports for older adults with Age-friendly initiatives

ByPatrick Dunne
Squamish is working with Elders and community partners to make public spaces more accessible and culturally safe for older adults.

The District of Squamish is taking steps to ensure its public spaces, programs, and services meet the needs of older residents, with a renewed focus on accessibility, equity and cultural safety. 

The goal: To create an action plan that adds an age-friendly lens to their planning, policies and procedures through extensive community engagement. To achieve this outcome, the district worked with older adults, Squamish Nation Elders, and diverse groups such as the Sikh and South Asian community, 2SLGBTQIA+ seniors and people experiencing homelessness.  

“This age-friendly plan will help us improve infrastructure and public spaces so that Squamish is easier to navigate for older residents,” said Keely Kidner, Equity and Inclusion Advisor with the District. 

The work was made possible through a $25,000 Age-friendly Communities planning grant from BC Healthy Communities (BCHC). The grant provided resources for innovative engagement, hiring community coordinators and ensuring the plan was developed through an equity lens. 

To bridge cultural and language gaps, the district hired a youth coordinator from the Sikh community who helped gather feedback at the local Gurdwara Sahib (Sikh place of worship), adapting surveys into Punjabi and supporting dialogue with elders. Similar outreach with Squamish Nation Elders led to new priorities around cultural safety, now embedded in the community’s planning framework. 

Community engagement at the Gurdwara Sahib in Squamish helped ensure the voices of Sikh Elders and families were reflected in the district’s age-friendly plan.

“Our plan has an added section on cultural safety. We are excited to build deeper relationships with Squamish Nation Elders and to make our spaces and programs more welcoming to people from all backgrounds,” Kidner said. 

Partnerships were also strengthened with organizations that support older adults, including the Men’s Shed, Squamish Public Library and WestWinds Senior Living. Vancouver Coastal Health provided additional expertise and support. 

Community members have already suggested practical ideas, such as traffic calming measures and more frequent consultation sessions. Officials say these conversations represent the start of a long-term shift toward a more inclusive and accessible Squamish. 

Events like seniors’ barbecues and engagement at cultural gathering spaces have helped strengthen trust, which District staff say will carry forward into future planning. 

“We’re thrilled to see how Squamish used its Age-Friendly Communities grant to engage with diverse voices and build cultural safety into its planning. These are the kinds of inclusive, community-driven approaches that create healthier, more welcoming places for older adults to thrive,” said Alyssa Roehrich, AFC Program Lead at BCHC.