DSS: Latest news
DSS: Recent news
BCCPA’s Pride post recognizes DSS and our work! 🥳 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️
“With June being Pride month, BC Care Providers Association (BCCPA | EngAgeBC) celebrates older adults in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and recognizes both the achievements they have made, and the barriers they continue to face. … [link to post]
“Dignity Seniors Society can help support service providers to provide better culturally appropriate services and spaces for members of the 2LGBTQIA+ community. They can help through training, but also provide some resources, including:
“Through our (BCCPA) Route65.ca platform, operators can indicate that they are 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusive. In addition, BCCPA’s Aging with Pride page also includes many resources that can help organizations strengthen 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusivity or help support clients. These include information and referral organizations, resources for operators, as well as resources for 2SLGBTQI+ people and their families.
“From all of us at BCCPA, Happy Pride Month!” 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️
DSS's "We Are Familee" project highlighted by United Way BC
First, DSS extends a belated Happy B.C. Seniors' Week - honoring the wisdom, strength, and contributions of older adults across British Columbia! 🥳 🙏
In October 2002 a proclamation was declared in perpetuity that the first week of June every year shall be known as "Seniors' Week." This is a time to celebrate seniors and their many contributions - providing an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the integral part seniors play in communities across British Columbia.
In 2025 Seniors' Week runs June 01 - 07.
On the DSS front ...
DSS supports 2SLGBTQIA+ seniors’ to aging in place via our Aging In Place program, and in long-term care facilitates via our We Are Familee program (both programs employ a Rainbow Circle model, in which we match 2SLGBTQIA+ seniors with trained, 2SLGBTQIA+ volunteers). [Learn more about DSS's projects here.]
Our work was highlighted in the following article
[United Way BC, 2025-Jun-04] Finding Community Again: John's Story. After facing cancer, poverty, and isolation, John found hope and community through a United Way BC Healthy Aging funded program. His story is a powerful reminder of how connection, compassion, and culturally safe support can transform lives. [link]
That heart-warming and inspiring story features Dignity Seniors Society (DSS) and our We Are Familee pilot project!
DSS Board Chair Darren Usher also presented this work at United Way British Columbia's Project Impact Healthy Aging Showcase, held 2025-Jun-04 the Collingwood Neighbourhood House Annex in Vancouver.
This inspiring event shone a spotlight on the incredible work of community agencies participating in Project Impact - a transformative evaluation course that challenges leaders in the Community-Based Seniors' Services (CBSS) sector to evaluate and measure their program impact. After months of training and evaluation, our dedicated partners (including DSS! 🥳) shared their journey, insights, and learnings.
[United Way BC, 2025-Jun-04] United Way BC's Project Impact Healthy Aging enhances seniors' wellbeing. Empowering Non-profit Agencies to Improve Services for Seniors Across BC. [link]
Presenting agencies:
Castlegar & District Community ServicesCedar Grove Church
COSCO - Council of Senior Citizens’ Organizations
Dignity Seniors Society
Lower Similkameen Community Services Society
Nikkei Seniors Health Care and Housing Society
Sunshine Coast Resource Centre
Dignity Seniors Society: Call For Board Directors
Dignity Seniors Society (DSS) provides information, advocacy and collaborations that strengthen 2SLGBTQIA+ seniors’ wellness, connections and supports.
Join our Board of Directors and employ your strategic and analytic skills to make decisions and contributions that both direct DSS’s trajectory, and make a difference in your community! 😀
Website: https://www.dignityseniors.org
E-mail: volunteer@dignityseniors.org
Social media links at the top/bottom of our website
Poster (please share and post)
DSS is dedicated to affecting systemic change
that creates culturally appropriate services
for 2SLGBTQIA+ seniors across British Columbia.
We acknowledge that our current work is primarily conducted on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations and that our Board members live and work on unceded territories across British Columbia.
We acknowledge the colonial harms inflicted on Indigenous Peoples and commit to genuine and ongoing work to forge real understanding, and to challenge the legacies of colonialism. We value the unique cultures of all First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples, and particularly support all efforts of reconciliation for our Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer community members.
DSS Spring 2025 Newsletter
Hot off the press! View our Spring 2025 Newsletter here ( pdf copy )! 📰
A note from the Chair of DSS:
Living under the dark clouds of ignorance & hate
Our newsletters are designed to inform you of all the good work we're doing and bring hope and positive news to our communities. But I start this newsletter with a different tone, reflecting the current political events of our neighbors to the South.
I, and many of my colleagues and friends, have spent most of our careers trying to push the needle to a point where society values all of its complexity and gives voice and space to everyone including our 2SLGBTQIA+ plus communities. To experience a Western democracy enact binary legislation is nothing more than shocking for us, which - in the words of my dear friend and DSS board member Dr. Victoria A. Stuart , Ph.D. - is tantamount to "trans genocide" (transgenocide).
I urge community members to rally in support of our trans and nonbinary communities, for it is only through mutual liberation that we can all achieve social equity and be valued as part of a complex social system.
…
Funding Announcement: WAGE
On 2025-Jan-31 Dignity Seniors Society (DSS, participating online) joined many other organizations in Montreal to hear Lisa Hepfner (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth) announce up to $41.5 million for 106 projects across four different 2SLGBTQIA+ funds.
This funding will advance equality for 2SLGBTQIA+ communities across Canada and address the rise in hate.
DSS is honored to be chosen as one of the recipients of Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) funding and thank them for their continued support of our important work.
Click here to read the full announcement.