Looking back on the past year, one word keeps coming to mind: growth. It's been a year where the investment others have made in Family Councils Ontario has translated into a real, tangible expansion of what we're able to offer families and residents across this province.
That growth begins with the pilot project funding we received from the Ministry of Long-Term Care, and I want to start by expressing our deep gratitude for it. Funding like this doesn't just pay for programs on paper — it changes what's possible day to day. It allowed us to grow our team this year, bringing on new capacity in places where we'd been stretched thin for far too long. And with that growth came the ability to say yes to more requests, show up in more places, and be more responsive to the families who rely on us.
One of the things I'm proudest of is where that increased capacity has taken us — literally. With more people and more resources, we've been able to get out from behind our screens and into communities directly, delivering presentations, coaching, and hands-on support in person. That has meant a real, deliberate push into rural and northern communities that have historically been harder for us to reach and, frankly, have been underserved for too long. If there's a throughline to this year, it's been about closing that gap and making sure geography isn't the reason a family council doesn't get the support it deserves.
Growth this year hasn't only been about where we go, but about who we see when we get there. Through our continued Innoweave-guided work, we've spent real time and energy exploring the experiences of diverse caregiver populations — not as an abstract goal, but as a practical discipline that shapes the resources and materials we build. We want the people who use our tools to see their own experiences reflected back at them, not a one-size-fits-all version of caregiving that doesn't match their reality. That commitment is why we're proud to be supporting research projects specifically focused on improving the resident and caregiver experience, including work centring Indigenous foodways and the lived experiences of Black, African, and Caribbean caregiving communities. These aren't side projects to us — they're central to what equity in this work actually looks like.
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Research project title: Co-designing roadmaps for promoting culturally relevant food in long-term care homes for the African, Caribbean and Black populations in Canada Article: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40795-026-01331-2 Research project overview: https://www.ccaeresearch.ca/project/2652/ |
This was also a year defined by connection and shared learning. Our June 2025 conference brought people together in a way that reminded all of us why this work matters. Alongside it, a series of webinars extended that same spirit of knowledge-sharing to people who couldn't join us in person, and our Innovation Summit gave us space to think beyond the day-to-day and ask bigger questions about where this sector — and this organization— is headed.
None of this happens in isolation, and none of it happens without partnership. I want to acknowledge the continued collaboration we've built with organizations like Eldorado, CLRI, and OARC this year. Working alongside partners who share our commitment to advancing public policy and system planning means the impact of our work extends well beyond what FCO could achieve alone — and that collective push toward better outcomes for residents and their families is, at the end of the day, the whole point.
As you read through this year’s Annual Report, you'll see this same thread of growth running through every department update: more funding translating into more reach, more reach translating into deeper relationships, and deeper relationships translating into work that actually reflects the needs of the people we serve. Thank you for being part of that growth with us this year — there's a lot more ahead.