By Joseph Mathieu
Photos by Chris Roussakis
One thing was clear at the 15th annual College and University Retiree Associations of Canada (CURAC) conference, hosted recently at Carleton University: learning knows no age limit.
Bringing together nearly 70 delegates from institutions across the country (and one from the University of California at Berkeley), Robert Morrison and David Holmes organized the three-day event to coincide with Carleton’s 75th anniversary year celebrations.
“It brings quite an impressive group of people together,” said Morrison, vice-president of the Carleton University Retirees Association (CURA). “Some are quite distinguished academics, important people in their communities, who founded programs from all across Canada. It gives us a chance to share.”
Roundtables covered the conference’s themes of the economy, health and higher education. Several speakers shared their research and knowledge for the delegation of retirees.
Labour economist Ross Finnie from the University of Ottawa examined post-graduate earnings in eight different categories, from health and engineering jobs to careers in social sciences and humanities.
Ian Lee of Carleton’s Sprott School of Business gave a provocative talk about the Trump presidency and Canada’s economy before the CURAC annual general meeting.
An evening banquet was hosted by Carleton History Prof. Matthew Bellamy, who gave a humorous talk called Under the Influence that chronicled the history of beer in Canada, from the first days of Labatt to our current country of beer lovers.
The final presentation of the conference was from Tim Pychyl, director of Carleton’s Centre for Initiatives in Education (CIE), who presented a paper about Older Adults Education (OAE) in Canada. Pychyl used the findings to showcase how retirement in 2017 is a new beginning.
In the 1930s, when the average lifespan was 62, it made sense to retire at 65. Nowadays, 65 is the average of learners in the CIE’s Learning in Retirement (LinR) program. The number will only increase as studies suggest that between 2005 and 2036, the number of older adults will increase from 4.2 to 9.8 million. At its inception, LinR had 63 registrations in its six-week lecture programs. Last year, the program had 2,882 people signed up.
“Today’s older adults want creative challenges, intellectual stimulation, pleasure in learning, and the ability to contribute to their community,” said the paper. To get a “sense of successful aging,” older adults are finding their way back to the classroom to participate in research, work on outreach activities, attend talks and events, and even engage in intergenerational learning.
The topic of health was prominent as well. Jeff Turnbull, chief of staff at the Ottawa Hospital, touched on society’s collective responsibility for healthy living for older adults.
Two speakers took on individual health issues. William Dalziel of the Regional Geriatric Program of Eastern Ontario touched on the realities and myths for older adult health, and Yoni Freedhoff, founder and medical director of the Bariatric Medical Institute in Ottawa, explained how exercise and proper diet are the best practices to return any older adult to a stronger mind and body.
The 16th annual CURAC Conference will take place from May 23 to 25, 2018 at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
Tuesday, May 30, 2017 in Feature Stories
Share: Twitter, Facebook
