Methods have been developed and used to access seniors' opinions on issues affecting them, in order to influence policies at Municipal, Regional, Provincial and National levels. For example, focus groups have been organized to elicit feedback from seniors on the Strategic Plan for the City of Windsor; Health Canada recruited the Council to assist in holding feedback sessions on new directions for funding.
Council members are represented on various community committees to bring the views, needs, and concerns of seniors to programs and systems development.
Needs Assessments: A three year project was founded by Heath Canada to assess the needs of seniors in the Windsor - Essex County area, through random sampling of approximately 2,000 individuals, using senior peer interviewers. From this, several programs were developed; for example, the Retirement Resources Project. The survey also assisted other community groups in developing programs bases on identified needs.
The Council has been involved in designing assessment tools and focus groups to explore specific issues affecting local and provincial development.
The Council encourages research at the Post - Secondary Education level. Members offer their expertise in research design and issues of aging, as well as their vast network of potential subjects and interviewers.
