ABOUT US
The Council of Senior Citizens’ Organization of British Columbia (COSCO BC) has promoted the well-being of seniors and our families for over 75 years. We advocate for policies that allow seniors to remain active, independent, and engaged in society. COSCO BC is non-partisan but politically active – we advocate for seniors’ needs no matter who is in power. As an umbrella organization with about 70 affiliated member groups, together with over 100 individual associate members, COSCO BC collectively represents more than 85,000 older adults located in all parts of the province. We are the largest seniors’ federation in BC.
COSCO executive members at Labour Day table September 2025, Barb Mikulec, Janis Kaleta, Linda Forsythe, Leslie Gaudette, Marion Hartley and Agnes Jackman
First established in 1950 when the Canadian Pacific, Canadian National and British Columbia railway employees joined together to provide an effective voice for decent pensions and social benefits, COSCO was registered as a society in 1981. We are a seniors-led organization that is volunteer-driven, with activities coordinated through an elected board of directors. Delegates and associate members meet monthly in a hybrid format with the option to meet virtually and in-person.
In addition to other activities, COSCO:
- Advocates for a quality public health care system accessible to all, and universal Dental and Pharmacare plans.
- Works to ensure that current and future seniors’ housing will include a range of appropriate affordable and accessible options.
- Works with community partners to promote safe, affordable, accessible and efficient transportation.
Supports measures to achieve income security for all seniors - Combats elder abuse in all its forms.
- Publishes a quarterly newsletter with articles on topics of interest to seniors, available to everyone at www.coscobc.org.
Our major provincial affiliates: the BC Retired Teachers Association, the BC Government Retirees’ Association, the Municipal Pension Retirees’ Association and BC Federation of Retired Union Members are connected to national groups including ACER-CART for teachers and the Congress of Union Retirees of Canada (CURC).
Nationally, we are affiliated with the National Pensioners’ Federation, are a founding member of the Canadian Coalition Against Ageism and are represented on the Public Awareness Committee of the Canadian Medication Appropriateness and Deprescribing Network which aims to ensure safe medication use among seniors.
Inaugural meeting of the Canadian Coalition Against Ageism held in Toronto, November 2022
Internationally we have joined the Global Alliance on the Rights of Older Persons (GAROP) to promote work on the UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons which is now being drafted.
COSCO Members Leslie Gaudette and Kathleen Jamieson join the Canadian Contingent to the United Nations in May 2024 to participate in meetings that are now leading to the drafting of a UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons.
ADVOCACY
COSCO President Leslie Gaudette joins Jewish Seniors Alliance ED Jeff Moss in meetings with BC Conservative and BC NDP caucuses on Home Support campaign
A key pillar of our current Strategic Plan is to strengthen our community leadership and advocacy presence across all levels of government.
In 2025 we celebrated our 75th Anniversary through organizing a major conference on Human Rights and Ageing: Advocating for an Equitable Future which brought together our wider networks from across the province and some from across the country.
Conference Chair Terri Van Steinburg with Anthony Kupferschmidt at the COSCO Conference
We learned that while ageism must be addressed, its root cause is often inequity. The related Impact Report and video undertaken by the SFU Gerontology Department concluded that “COSCO exemplifies a hybrid advocacy model, operating between grassroots mobilization and formal policy engagement. Its combination of moral authority, institutional knowledge, and participatory practice presents a replicable framework for senior-led policy influence”.
BCRHN Executive Director Paul Adams talks with Parliamentary Secretary Susie Chant at COSCO Conference with Dr. Mei Fang, conference planning committee member on right side.
COSCO submits our key issues each year to the budget consultations for the Federal and Provincial governments. Our Election Committee identifies our ‘asks’ during provincial and federal election campaigns and we plan to extend this to the municipal elections this fall. We develop resolutions for the National Pensioners’ Federation’s Biennial Convention which we hosted in Richmond in October 2025.
Major areas of advocacy action in 2025 included:
- Health Care, where we monitor and advocate on a range of issues including letters on the dental plan and other priorities
- Home support coalition led by the Jewish Seniors Alliance, including meeting in Victoria with provincial caucuses for NDP and Conservative parties.
- Life Labs rallies with the BC Health Coalition held in Burnaby and Victoria
- Vacancy Control Coalition and advocate for the need for more social housing at lower rents
- Transportation issues include access to bike lines for mobility devices and support for public transit in all parts of the province
- HandyDART coalition: we’ve written letters written and presented to Translink Board to promote in-sourcing of HandyDART drivers to Translink.
- Council to Reduce Elder Abuse (CREA), including planning for the CONNECT conference held in Feb 2026
- Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) consultation on issues seniors have with communications companies
- CCAA and GAROP – wrote letters to politicians in support of the UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons and included a half day session on Ageism and the Convention in the conference.
RENEWING AND REFRESHING OUR MEMBERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
A second strategic pillar is to expand the reach and diversity of our membership. In 2025 we welcomed 13 new affiliate member groups including many from rural and remote areas of B.C. Our major affiliates are often organized into local branches. We collaborate with the SFU Gerontology Research Centre on the role of Seniors Centres and Social Isolation which involves many of our member organizations. We are connected with a range of multicultural groups, and continue to build relationships and partnerships with important allies including the BC Health Coalition, the BC Society for Policy Solutions, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, along with several Transportation and Disability Groups, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the BC Elders Communication Centre Society.
L-R: Dan Levitt, Terri Van Steinberg, Linda Forsythe, Barb Mikulec, Leslie Gaudette, Wilf Broderick, Anthony Kupferschmidt, and Agnes Jackman. Louise Holland, COSCO Health Chair, joined the meeting on Zoom.
This past year (2025) we’ve also worked on COSCO Infrastructure and Governance, to revamp delegate meetings and purchased an OWL to improve quality and ease of setup for hybrid meetings. Communications included four issues of the COSCO News, plus a Federal Election special. We’ve established significant social media presence on Facebook and LinkedIN together with regular website updates. Finally, we now have an email list where anyone can sign up to receive occasional emails.
We coordinate with the COSCO Seniors’ Health and Wellness Institute which provides free workshops to seniors groups on 47 topics that are available individually or as series including Personal Planning, Diseases that target Seniors, Heath & Wellness, Advocacy &Care, Safety and You are What you Eat with some available in other languages. Stay on the Road is a popular workshop conducted together with ICBC for those approaching 80 and wanting to learn more about driver assessment. COSCO BC and the Institute share tables at a wide range of community events.
TO LEARN MORE
Please visit our website at coscobc.org, and follow us on Social media including Facebook and LinkedIN. Seniors organizations and individuals are invited to join with us to form a united front and a strong voice to ensure the rights of seniors are protected. To book a workshop please visit seniorshelpingseniors.ca
