How to make conversations with aging parents a little less awkward [Video]

Talking to aging parents and family members about their future can be tricky, but Megan Johnson says the sooner, the better.

The Halifax-based research assistant, 36, is a secondary caregiver to her father, who is in the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Navigating tough conversations was only more difficult after the diagnosis, she said.

“It’s easy early on to brush off the conversations and say, well, that’s a future problem,” said Johnson, who is also a member of the Canadian Caregivers Advisory Network.

Canada’s population is rapidly aging. According to Statistics Canada data from 2021, the number of people 85 and older is expected to grow by three times in 2050. And by 2065, the country will be home to over 87,500 centenarians, projections suggest.

As people live longer, it’s creating what Laura Tamblyn Watts, the CEO of Canada’s national seniors advocacy organization CanAge, calls a “club sandwich generation” of caregivers.

“We have about six generations going now,” she told The Sunday Magazine’s Piya Chattopadhyay, noting that caregiving is no …