RTOERO’s Future of Aging Summit brings together thought leaders, changemakers

RTOERO will host its first Future of Aging Summit from May 15 to 17, 2024, in Toronto, Canada. The international conference will bring together experts and thinkers from various sectors, all with a common focus: improving later life.

“Through this summit, our goal is to continue to foster an interconnected network of people across sectors who, like us, believe in a better future—together and want to help create it,” says Martha Foster, chair of RTOERO’s Board of Directors.

The three-day event features a diverse lineup of international speakers, including a film screening of Your 100-year life and Q&A with director Theo Kocken, plus keynote talks from:

• Ritu Sadana, head of ageing and health with the World Health Organization
• Tomson Highway, award-winning Cree playwright, author and musician
• DY Suharya, the regional director of Alzheimer’s Disease International for the Asia Pacific region who was recently recognized by the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing as a Healthy Ageing 50 leader

Attendees have access to breakout sessions covering a range of topics, including:

• Redesigning communities for a highly-aged society
• Finding solutions through age-tech
• Ageism and discrimination
• Rethinking retirement policies
• The silver workforce
• Climate change, emergency and older adults

The Future of Aging Summit is part of RTOERO’s Vibrant Voices Advocacy focus. Together with partners, RTOERO advocates for critical policy improvements to address urgent needs now and create a more secure and compassionate future for everyone.

“As a national non-profit membership organization of workers and retirees from the education sector in Canada, our commitment to social good runs deep,” says Jim Grieve, CEO of RTOERO. “We see ourselves as facilitators and changemakers—because we can all be—in big and small ways. Everything is connected.”

The summit is designed for policymakers, researchers, engineers, designers, planners, community organizers, advocates, and anyone else focused on supporting healthy aging, ending ageism and building age-friendly societies. RTOERO members will be provided with a code to access the virtual keynotes at no cost. They are welcome to register for the event at the non-profit rate if interested. For more information, see the summit website: agingsummit.ca.