The Globe and Mail – For 43 years, my wife and I have cared for our daughter

The first time I changed my mother’s diaper and my adult daughter’s diaper within an hour was probably the moment I realized that I was a “caregiver” and not just a son and father.

Caregiving is the next frontier in Canadian public policy. It is vital to our economic productivity and development as a country. Caregiving is part of the infrastructure that Canada needs to maintain, just as much as roads and bridges or railways and public transit systems.

A national caregiving strategy for Canada was proposed last winter. At the Canadian Caregiving Summit, held in Ottawa on Nov. 3 and 4, caregivers, health care leaders and policy makers joined together to continue to build the growing care movement.