Concerned Friends: A Voice For Quality in Long-Term Care

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Concerned Friends: A Voice For Quality in Long-Term Care

Concerned Friends is dedicated to reform of the long-term care system and improvement of quality of life for residents.

Every year our volunteers assist hundreds of families looking for help in choosing a long-term care home, or in resolving a problem within a home. We answer calls from across Ontario on our toll-free line. Our website has lots of helpful information about how the system works. We bring problems to the attention of the Ontario Ministry of Long-term Care, and we partner with other organizations toward improving the lives of all long-term care residents. Since 1980 our work has been supported entirely by supporter donations. If you would like to learn more about us and support the work that we do, please visit our website at www.concernedfriends.ca

04/02/2026

Join Concerned Friends on Thursday, April 23 from 7:00 to 8:00pm for our next installment of our Long-term Care Education Webinar Series.

Measuring Compliance with Ontario Long-Term Care Regulations
with Dr. Poland Lai

This presentation reports results from a project intended to examine why and in what circumstances long-term care homes comply with regulatory requirements, and when they do not.

Poland Lai is Associate Professor with York University's Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies. Dr. Lai’s research and teaching interests include the rise of the regulatory state, compliance and enforcement, and regulation inside government.

Please register at the link to secure your spot: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/QDJMvAtGSyea_26ZH_j2Cg

04/02/2026

Concerned Friends of Ontario Citizens in Care Facilities (Concerned Friends) welcomes the Government of Ontario’s efforts to build new Long-Term Care (LTC) homes through investments by the Building Ontario Fund and for providing an additional $139.4-million (2 per cent increase) in annual funding for sustainability of LTC. However, despite these commitments, we remain concerned that these investments are not enough to achieve significant improvement in the LTC sector. While we recognize these investments, they do not address structural issues in LTC including staffing, accountability, and care models.

Visit our website to learn more about our specific recommendations and calls to action: https://concernedfriends.ca/2026/04/long-term-care-funding-and-direction-is-lacking-in-ontarios-2026-27-budget/

Concerned Friends will continue to advocate for a system of LTC that provides evidence-informed, safe and quality care for Ontario’s increasingly complex senior population who require access to services that meet their diverse medical, mental health, social and emotional needs.

For more than 40 years, Concerned Friends of Ontario Citizens in Care Facilities (Concerned Friends) has been advocating for a system of long-term care (LTC) that provides evidence-informed, safe and quality care where clients have a full continuum of long-term care options, including small group long-term care settings, supportive housing and home-based care, must be adequately funded and monitored to ensure equitable access.

01/21/2026

Every year, as part of their annual budgeting process, the provincial government consults with the community on spending priorities. This year, like many others, Concerned Friends has used this opportunity to highlight the many challenges in long-term care and to advise the government on how to direct funds to achieve meaningful improvements.

In general, our submission focuses on the need for a major shift in long-term care from large, for-profit institutions to small not-for-profit home-like settings. We also talk about the need for increased investments in the workforce – everything from improved training and professional development to increased numbers of staff to meet the complex needs of residents.

You can view our submission at this link:https://concernedfriends.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2026-27-Concerned-Friends-Pre-Budget-Submission-FINAL.pdf

We’d love to hear your feedback. Send your comments to info@concernedfriends.ca.

01/14/2026

Concerned Friends is looking for dedicated individuals to share their skills and knowledge by joining our Board of Directors.

Do you have skills and/or expertise in the areas of: communications, fundraising, grant writing, law and/or policy development that you can utilize to support the organization’s mission and goals?

Do you have personal or professional experience with the long-term care system?

Are you interested in collaborating with other advocates to support ongoing change that benefits those living and working in long-term care?

Learn more at: https://www.charityvillage.com/job/director-4-positions-259603

Please share with your networks.

01/01/2026

Happy New Year from Concerned Friends! Sending best wishes for 2026 to all supporters, advocates, members, community partners and residents and families of those in Long Term Care.

12/24/2025

Happy Holidays from Concerned Friends! We wish you and yours a peaceful holiday.
Note: Our office will be closed from December 25 to January 4.

Looking forward to continuing our important work once again in 2026!

12/17/2025

Join us on Thursday, January 22, 2026 at 7:30pm as we host Dan Levitt, British Columbia Seniors Advocate. We are excited to have Mr. Levitt back to talk about his role, the work his office is doing to highlight and address systemic needs and issues for seniors, and the knowledge he can share with us in Ontario as we work to improve the lives of seniors here.

Please join us! Registration is free and all are welcome. Go to this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/MI8SZPbSQRW3X5-7q0ZMMA #/registration

12/16/2025

Our December 2025 newsletter is out now! Read about our work in 2025 and our plans for the year head. Go to: https://mailchi.mp/concernedfriends.ca/december-2025-newsletter

11/22/2025

November 22nd is Long Term Care Awareness Day in Ontario. Concerned Friends
honours the residents, families, and staff of Long-term Care Homes. Every day, these
homes see beautiful moments of care and respect. At the same time, we hope this day
highlights how we can work together to build an even-more accessible, caring and
inclusive system of care for our most vulnerable seniors.

On this special day, take a moment to learn more about long-term care in Ontario and
the advocacy efforts of Concerned Friends (www.concernedfriends.ca).

10/22/2025

We invite you to attend our Annual General Meeting being held

Thursday, November 6, 2026 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. via Zoom.

Share Your Ideas & Input: Help us continue Concerned Friends’ legacy and write our next chapter as an organization.

Join us for 3 discussion rounds as we gather input to guide and support our plans for 2026-2028.

Registration Details

Attendees must register in advance. After registering, you will receive an email with the Zoom log-in information. To register, go to: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/EqaE2oFsRWWfMSeBRomN6A

Note that only Members are able to vote during the meeting. If you are not already a member and would like to join, please visit: https://concernedfriends.ca/become-a-member/ to join as a member.

A full meeting package including the agenda, previous year’s AGM minutes, Financial Statement as of December 31, 2024, and the resolutions being put forward, will be provided at the meeting.

We look forward to seeing you at the AGM!

10/01/2025

Every year, on October 1, Canada celebrates National Seniors Day, an occasion to recognize and celebrate older adults.

Canadian seniors enrich and contribute to our families, workplaces and communities in countless ways, sharing their knowledge, experience and memories to ground and inspire us every day.

We celebrate the seniors at the helm of Concerned Friends and across our Concerned Friends community. We honour all older adults in our communities and especially those who are living in Long Term Care Homes across our province and country.

How are you celebrating National Seniors Day?

09/18/2025

Reframing Dementia: Challenging Stigma Through Film & Art is a double short film screening, art exhibit and catered reception on September 21, 2025 from 2-5pm at Betty Oliphant Theatre (404 Jarvis St, Toronto). Register for the event at
https://reframingdementia.eventbrite.ca/

This event is part of the Reimagining Dementia: A Creative Coalition for Justice’s “Taking It to the Streets” international grassroots campaign. Running from September 21-October 21, 2025, the campaign aims to shift the narrative about dementia from loss and decline, to hope and possibilities.

The Coalition is an international group that includes people living with dementia, carers/care partners, family , community members and allies who share a vision of care that promotes inclusion, relationships, creativity, joy and the possibility of growth for everyone. Founded in 2020, the Coalition has over 1,000+ members in 38 countries.

Address

130 Merton Street
Toronto, ON
M4S1A1

Website

http://www.concernedfriends.ca/

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