Seniors in Williams Lake and other parts of the province will be gathering tomorrow to have their voices heard.
Called the Seniors Tin Cup Rally, the focus of the event is to bring awareness for livable wages for elderly population.
Past President of the Williams Lake Old Age Pensioners Organization, Tina Derksen, said almost a quarter of seniors were living below the poverty level.
She said the awful thing about it is that even if seniors financial income is not that low there are things that are just fiscally unavailable to them.
“For instance hearing aids. They run in the range of 5 to 7 thousand dollars and they need to be replaced every 5 years or so, that’s in addition to the batteries that have to bought,” Derksen said. “Some of the vaccinations like shingles which is an issue for a lot of seniors are not covered. The other thing is dental care which is becoming to come in but it’s too little too late right at the moment. It’s income based so they have to qualify and it’s just the basic services.”
Derksen noted another issue faced by seniors is when they lose a spouse they lose a lot of their income.
“If their spouse had CPP that’s going to be a huge adjustment for them. The loss of income at that point in your life is devastating, it really is too hard for a lot of people. Those are a lot of things that are on senior’s minds and the fact that is they had a little bit more in the way of funds that they could manage their lives a little bit better.”
Derksen says they held a rally in Williams Lake in June that only had a few participants, under 20.
“But people came and just wondered over and asked if they could take a poster and walk with us and we certainly didn’t expect that to happen but it was really gratifying and the number of people who drove by and honked their horns in support was also very cheering.”
The Seniors Tin Cup Rally for liveable pensions will be held starting tomorrow morning at 11 on the sidewalk in front of Herb Gardner Park and Frescho.
‘We invite everyone to come down and give us your support and I think we need to keep reminding politicians that seniors do matter,” Derksen said.
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