TORONTO—Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands (NEMI) Mayor Al MacNevin was presented with a 2018 Ontario Age-Friendly Community recognition award by Minister Dipika Damerla, Ontario Minister of Seniors Affairs, at the inaugural Age Friendly Community Symposium held in Toronto on March 26. The award recognizes NEMI for its efforts in moving forward initiatives identified in its Age Friendly community plan under the ‘Implementation and Evaluation’ category as established by the Ministry of Seniors Affairs.
“NEMI is a great place to live and age well and I am proud that our efforts have been recognized at the provincial level,” said Mayor MacNevin. “The most important part of the award to me is that it shows that we are acting on our plan and actually implementing programs for seniors, developing trails to encourage active living, and targeting the specific needs of seniors in our budgets and activities.”
The Town of NEMI completed its age-friendly community planning process in January 2016. The resulting plan, prepared by McSweeney and Associates, focuses on addressing seniors issues such as community supports, accessibility, social participation, transportation and housing. The municipality is using the plan to focus its efforts on meeting the needs of seniors by improving the physical environment and varied services required to support seniors in the community.
Formal recognition from the province of Ontario makes the Town of NEMI eligible for the national recognition through the Public Health Agency of Canada and from the World Health Organization to join its global network of age-friendly cities and communities.
