I’m really impressed with the level of energy and commitment around the Health and Wellbeing table and look forward to continuing collaboration between OLIP and OPH.

Marcela Tapia
Ottawa Public Health
All the WOW events that I went to were great – WOW does give a sense of a community trying to improve its attraction and retention!

Caroline Andrew
Professor, University of Ottawa
The WOW seminar on immigrant women’s nutrition and health was a step in the right direction towards closing the gap between academic researchers and service providers.

Josephine Etowa
Associate Professor, School of Nursing, University of Ottawa
Canada has been shaped by people who came from all over the world to build this country. WOW offers a platform for us to celebrate this history and the future it will help…

Alex Munter, Chair of the OLIP Council and President and CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and Ottawa Children’s Treatment Centre
In our city’s history, immigrants have always played an important role. They build our economic prosperity, diversify our culture, contribute to our social vitality.

Jim Watson
Mayor of Ottawa
The OLIP Council is committed to leadership.  In only a few years, we have a common vision and priorities, and are up to the task of implementing the Ottawa Immigration Strategy.

Salimatou Diallo
OLIP Council Vice Chair, Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario
The Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre is so happy to have joined the OLIP Health and Wellbeing Sector Table. It is clear that OLIP cares about immigrants and refugees and…

Wendy Tang, Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre
The work and expertise that OLIP brings to our community is so important as it helps us to build bridges and break down silos.  I look forward to our continued work together. 

Jim Watson, Mayor of Ottawa
I was happy to see integration to Algonquin territory and indigenous culture related programming in 2014 WOW. Please continue to involve local Aboriginal organisations and…

Linda Manning
WOW 2014 participant, Senior Fellow, University of Ottawa
The City of Ottawa will continue to play a lead role in the implementation of the Ottawa Immigration Strategy, just as we did in the founding of OLIP.

Steve Desroches
City Councillor and Deputy Mayor of Ottawa

Supporting Seniors to Age at Home

August 6, 2021

The Economic and Social Council of Ottawa Carleton (CÉSOC), in partnership with Jewish Family Services Ottawa and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, offers supports for immigrant francophone seniors to enable them to safely age at home through the program Healthy Aging.

It comprises of culturally and linguistically appropriate services offered by volunteers, community relations workers and case managers; provided in collaboration with many partners such as: Ottawa Sikh Community Services, the Somali Centre for Family Services, the Southeast Ottawa Community Health Center, Jewish Family Services, Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization, and the Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre.

Among the services accessible, seniors can find social activities like cooking, embroidery, sewing, and conversation tables in English and French to help them connect with other members of the community while developing new skills or learning a new language.

Information and training sessions are also available, enabling participants to learn or improve their technological skills through computer and software courses, along with workshops designed by experts to promote a healthy living, covering key areas like nutrition, hygiene, and physical exercise.

Furthermore, seniors can benefit from partnering with volunteers for friendly home visits or/and phone calls to create new friendships, as well as accompaniment for appointments (like medical or tax appointments).

The beginning of the pandemic greatly affected the contact with our seniors, because a large part of them do not have IT devices or they do not know how to use it. Luckily, using phones, CÉSOC has been able to stay in touch with them daily. In order to reduce the harmful impact of Covid-19 on the daily life of our beneficiaries and thanks from funding received from City of Ottawa, from United Way and from Ottawa Black Mental Health Coalition, we have been able to provide:

  • 45 tablets
  • 35 phones
  • 180 food hampers
  • 85 gift cards worth $200 each

The number of weekly activities has increased during the pandemic, showing, once again, the importance to provide services to a group extremely vulnerable.

More information can be found at https://www.cesoc.ca/ or by calling 613-248-1343, extension 301 or 1-888-402-1359.