BC Care Providers Association (Burnaby, BC): Sustaining Senior Care as the Province's Population Ages

Introduction

The British Columbia Care Providers Association (BCCPA) was founded in 1977 and currently supports over 500 members across the province in providing a high quality of life to seniors accessing a variety of care and support services.[1,2] Through research, education, advocacy and partnerships, the BCCPA is the leading voice for organizations that provide both publicly subsidized and private-pay support for seniors. The BCCPA uses their strength in numbers to voice concerns to local health authorities and the BC government, valuing respect, integrity and transparency.[3]

Members of the BCCPA support over 19,000 seniors annually in long-term care and assisted living facilities, as well as 6,500 independent living seniors. Members also deliver nearly 2.5 million hours of home care services every year.[2] There are four key components of the care continuum for seniors: independent living, home health care, assisted living and long-term care.[4] Independent living is a good choice for seniors who feel confident living alone safely, but would enjoy the amenities provided in a retirement community. Home care allows seniors to get services they require at home, ranging from private-pay companionship to publicly subsidized care. Assisted living is an option for seniors who are able to live independently and make decisions, but need support with cooking and personal care. Long-term care homes are primarily suitable for seniors who require 24-hour professional assistance, whether that be due to physical needs or advanced mental impairment.[4]

It is important to support a variety of types of care for seniors, as their unique needs vary over time. Consequently, care providers and caregivers have their own individual needs that must be addressed to shape a sustainable future for the care sector. This Community Knowledge Publication (CKP) documents the rising demand for care providers as BC’s population ages and identifies which BCCPA strategies are most effective, including a working practice model that other BCCPA member sites and care providers across BC could learn from. It also provides an evidence base for policy advocacy on senior care workforce sustainability, useful to provincial decision-makers, health authorities, and seniors-advocacy bodies.

Background: Key Local Challenges

There are multiple key challenges currently impacting BC’s seniors living, wellness and care sector.

Demand outpacing long-term care supply

The population of seniors in BC is growing at a rate that the existing supply of care facilities is not yet equipped to support. Since 2015, the population of seniors over 75 in BC has increased by 50% and this population is projected to rise by nearly another 50% in the next decade.[5] Although many seniors will be able to live their entire lives in their own home, about 35,000 seniors aged 75+ in BC currently require the intensity of care provided in a long-term care facility.[5]

Unlike other health services, no jurisdiction in Canada has set a benchmark for a reasonable wait time for a person requiring long-term care. From 2016 to 2025, the number of people on the waitlist for long-term care increased by 200%.[5] A decade ago, there were 77 long-term care beds for every 1,000 people aged 75 and older; today, this number has dropped to only 58 beds.[5] Seniors who are unable to access safe and affordable support services are often forced to enter long-term care prematurely, adding to the stress on long-term care capacity.

Workforce shortages

British Columbia is facing significant workforce shortages with ‘nursing and residential care’ being the second fastest growing sector in the province. It is projected to add almost 30,000 jobs from 2023 to 2033.[6,7] Staff turnover is one of the major problems in the care sector, with long-term care workers lasting an average of just 18 months.[8]

The BCCPA conducted a survey in 2025 to gather input from 64 operators across Long-Term Care, Assisted Living and Independent Living. Data shows that filling nursing vacancies is the most challenging, with 75% of the sites struggling to fill Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) roles.[9] Despite the Health Care Assistant (HCA) workforce being 5 times larger than the LPN workforce, vacancies for LPNs are the highest at 133.0 Full-Time Equivalents.[9] The FTE unit converts the total hours worked by employees into the equivalent number of full-time staff. LPN programs take 1.5 to 2 years due to advanced medical training, whereas an HCA certification can be completed in under a year.[32] These differing educational timelines may contribute to the striking number of LPN vacancies.

Operators in rural areas like Interior Health and Island Health, outside the major urban centres of Vancouver and Victoria, are the most impacted by staffing shortages. To fill the gap, BCCPA relies on overtime and agency staffing; however, the BC government cut funding in late 2025 for overtime and agency nurses that were introduced at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.[10] Health authority standards, which set the number of staff working at any time of day, will be difficult to meet without provincial funding.

Vancouver Coastal Health is turning to small care homes with the goal of creating about 200 beds by 2029. Each converted neighbourhood house will have a capacity of up to 10 residents.[8] This new model of long-term care can potentially reduce staff turnover based on positive feedback from workers about reduced physical strain. Although, it is crucial to support existing care facilities that have hundreds of beds.

Complexity and personalization of care

Research on the care for seniors consistently points to a home-like environment being the best place for seniors to age.[8] The desire to live at home is also clear, with 80% of Canadians aged 50+ planning on aging independently in their own house.[11] Nevertheless, unexpected physical and mental health issues often make it necessary for seniors to adapt their goals of independent living to support their evolving needs. For some seniors, moving to a retirement community or assisted living facility could be a good option to maintain a healthy social life.[12] Both loneliness and social isolation are risk factors for mental health conditions later on in life.[13] The household-style model discussed previously is especially well-suited for seniors with types of dementia because daily routines, like making a morning coffee, play out in a normal manner.[8,14] This is why the continuum of care is necessary to bridge the gap between independent living and long-term care.

Caregivers and care providers are faced with the challenging task of personalizing care, while often being overworked. This personalization can include culturally sensitive care, accounting for diverse values and beliefs when it comes to aging.[15] The 2025 National Caregiving Survey, completed by over 2,600 caregivers and care providers across Canada, revealed the mental toll of the role. Negative impacts on well-being such as stress, fatigue and burnout were reported by 77% of participants. This statistic is reflected in quotes from care workers: “I know I’m not alone in the feeling, but I’m drowning.”[16] Furthermore, 73% of paid care providers have considered changing careers due to low compensation and understaffing,[16] an indication that the complex nature of care work is an issue closely connected to the workforce shortages.

Overall, deciding the best type of care for each aging individual is a multifaceted process where finances, family situations and cultural beliefs must be taken into consideration.

The Affected Community and Its Needs

Care providers are often called “formal caregivers” because they are trained, supervised, and usually paid to provide care. They differ from caregivers or “unpaid caregivers,” who provide care because of their relationship as a family member or friend to a person who requires care.[17,18] The BCCPA primarily advocates for care providers, but many resources discussed in the next section are available on the BCCPA’s website for caregivers to utilize. In addition to the time commitment of caring for a person, many caregivers are responsible for administrative tasks, like making appointments and managing finances for the care recipient. Half of caregivers struggle to find information and advice about their role.[17] A common theme amongst caregivers is the desire to be widely recognized for their unpaid, yet essential, work. Bhavini Patel highlights the value of caregivers to society in her advocacy work: “Supporting employees through the realities of caregiving is key to retaining high-performing talent who will go above and beyond when they feel understood. Caregivers build valuable, transferable skills, and with an aging population and increasing pressure on the healthcare system, we need workplaces, HR teams, and insurers to work together to keep people–especially women–in the workforce.”[16]

BCCPA’s programs and initiatives also support individuals wishing to pursue a career in senior care. Canada’s care workforce greatly relies on newcomers, with nearly one in five care providers not being a Canadian citizen.[16] BCCPA’s conferences are held at a variety of locations across BC, from Vancouver to Surrey to Whistler. This helps make knowledge about senior care accessible for a wider audience, as seniors make up 25% of BC’s rural population compared to 19% in urban BC.[30] Additionally, seniors living in rural areas have an estimated overall wealth that is two thirds less than their urban counterparts.[30] This financial situation presents challenges in accessing quality care and makes supporting rural communities a focus of BCCPA’s Training Pathways initiative.

The needs of those providing and receiving care are closely connected: “If the caregiver is not doing well, then the person receiving care isn’t doing well either.”[16] Therefore, BCCPA’s initiatives supporting care providers are also supporting the growing demographic of seniors requiring care. The average age of residents in publicly-subsidized long-term care in BC is 83, with females making up the majority with 63%. Of those residents, 62% have mild to severe dementia and 78% are unable to voluntarily control bodily functions.[5] If the supply of long-term care beds cannot keep up with the population growth over the next decade, the impact will extend to emergency rooms, hospitals, and family physician offices.

BCCPA's Programs and Initiatives Addressing Local Challenges

Membership and Annual Events

The BCCPA has three membership categories: Service Provider Members, Commercial Members, and Associate Members.[19] Most members fall into the Service Provider category, encompassing care providers who work in long term care, assisted living, independent living, or home health areas. Commercial Members are those who offer products or services to care providers, like insurance and safety equipment. Finally, an Associate Member can be a not-for-profit organization or an individual whose work aligns with the BCCPA’s. Membership fees scale by category and operational size, from a few hundred to several thousand dollars annually.[19] An annual member survey is conducted to gather insights on satisfaction with BCCPA’s initiatives and services. The takeaways from the survey are provided to members only.[31]

The benefits of a BCCPA membership include an exclusive Jobs Board and significant discounts for events such as ‘Care to Chat’ and the Annual Conference.[20] September 2025 marked the 13th season of BCCPA’s Care to Chat series, which brings together the key stakeholders in BC’s senior living and care sector. The BC Minister of Health, the Honourable Josie Osborne, was featured at the opening event of the season.[21] The BCCPA’s 48th Annual Conference in 2025 reached a record 650 attendees, consisting of service providers, commercial partners, exhibitors, and community organizations from across Canada.[22] This premier event is an opportunity for education and networking. The 2026 conference theme is ‘Take Me Home,’ which focuses on the goal that seniors feel at home, even if the place they reside is no longer their own house.[22] This theme acknowledges the challenge of personalizing care and highlights the key feelings of safety, dignity, and belonging in creating an environment that feels like home.

Operational Programs (Energy Savings, Lunch + Learn)

Another interesting initiative is the Energy Savings Program, where BCCPA partners with FortisBC to help operators find strategies to significantly lower energy costs. In 2024, 14 BCCPA member sites were able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy use.[3] This program allows more money to be invested on care and services, addressing operational sustainability and the supply-demand challenge.

For non-members, the BCCPA offers free Lunch + Learn webinars that connect industry experts. Topics of these online sessions in 2025 included ‘Leveraging Technology to Support Better Sleep and Care’ and ‘Appropriate Use of Antipsychotics in Long Term Care.’ [23] Recordings of past Lunch + Learn sessions are available for public viewing on BCCPA’s website.

Training Pathways for the Care Workforce

As one of BC’s leading supporters of fully funded health care training programs, BCCPA helps secure grant funding to support career pathways in the care sector. The training programs directly respond to the workforce-shortage challenge and have supported more than 400 individuals to gain the skills and experience required to work in the care sector.[24] After participants receive job-specific training and graduate from the program, BCCPA helps set them up with a position at one of BCCPA’s member organizations. Programs to choose from include the Practical Nurse Access Training Program, Health Care Assistant Training Program, and the Activity Assistance Training Program.[24] BCCPA’s goal of creating a reliable supply of qualified staff is essential to deliver long-term workforce solutions, especially in rural and underserved communities. Data on the post-graduation employment in member sites or retention of trained staff over time is not published by BCCPA.

BC Care Awards and the Rosemary Heights case

The 12th Annual BC Care Awards, organized by the BCCPA, took place in February 2026 and highlighted outstanding individuals in seniors’ care.[25] Exceptional care providers were celebrated from a variety of care providing categories that the BCCPA supports: home health, assisted living, and long-term care. Additionally, ‘Workplace of the Year’ was awarded to Rosemary Heights Seniors Village, Retirement Concepts in Surrey, BC.[25,26] They provide independent living, assisted living, and complex care; this unique continuum of care allows seniors to age in one place and couples to live on the same site, even if they require differing levels of care.[27] The BCCPA recognized Rosemary Heights Seniors Village’s shift away from a ‘top-down’ approach. Staff were invited into open conversations and given a voice in decisions that impact their work and the senior residents. Empowering and supporting staff allows them to provide attentive care to the residents, addressing the complexity and personalization of care issue. The positive impact of this cultural shift is associated with a 15% lower turnover, which is crucial for the sustainability of workplaces in the care sector amid workforce shortages.[26] The adoption of staff-empowerment and the potential to implement the cultural shift on a wider scale are two elements of the RE-AIM framework, discussed further in the Author’s Note. Other nominees for the ‘Workplace of the Year’ award included Good Samaritan Canada, Wisteria Place, and Optima Living.[33] These organizations have adopted a similar staff-empowerment approach as Rosemary Heights, illustrating a long-term response to the staffing turnover problem described earlier.

AI Use Statement

For this Community Knowledge Publication, I used ChatGPT Deep Research to support initial source discovery. All sources surfaced by AI tools were independently verified by me before being included in this publication and I wrote all the CKP text myself.