Our Vision
Our vision is to transform senior living by fostering a vibrant community where every resident enjoys autonomy and receives personalized support. We envision a future where aging is embraced, enabling seniors to thrive in an environment that honours their life stories, promotes healthy living, and enhances their overall quality of life.
Our Constitution
The Golden Age Village Foundation of British Columbia (GAVFBC) is dedicated to establishing a multicultural Elderly Care Centre in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, designed with a village-style setting. Our mission is to provide compassionate, culturally responsive care that honours the diverse backgrounds, traditions, and needs of seniors, underserved communities, and those requiring culturally informed support. Through assisted living, rehabilitation, wellness programs, and long-term care, we strive to promote dignity, connection, and holistic
well-being, ensuring every senior feels valued, respected, and truly at home.
Mission
According to Statistics Canada (2021), approximately 51,890 Vietnamese-speaking individuals live in British Columbia, with a significant portion residing in Vancouver. Among them, 4,220 are seniors aged 65 and older.
Despite the many senior centers in Metro Vancouver serving South Asian, Japanese, and Chinese communities, there is currently no dedicated center for Vietnamese-speaking elders.
Many Vietnamese seniors continue to live with their children, often spending long, lonely hours at home while their families are at work. After a busy day, their children return home to care for their elderly parents, some of whom have medical conditions that make it unsafe for them to live alone.
The challenges are even greater for those who move into regular nursing homes. Language barriers and cultural differences make it difficult for Vietnamese elders to communicate, leading to feelings of isolation, confusion, and distress. Many experience delirium or psychotic reactions in unfamiliar environments where they cannot make themselves understood.
These elders who came to Canada and contributed to this vibrant country deserve better. Their children, who carry the values and traditions of their heritage, deserve better.
Our Vietnamese community deserves better. If we work together, advocating, fundraising, and supporting one another, we can make the Vietnamese Golden Age Village a reality.
A Letter to You
Every one of us has parents, grandparents, or knows someone caring for an elder. But what happens when these elders have no one to turn to? When they are alone, without family, or separated from their loved ones?
Too often, a sudden health crisis leaves them hospitalized, vulnerable, and disoriented. When they are discharged, they realize, sometimes painfully, that their families cannot meet their care needs. Many have no choice but to enter long-term care, not out of love but out of necessity.
Families are often unprepared, overwhelmed, and unfamiliar with elder care systems, their rights, and the options available to them.
For many Asian elders, the situation is even more heartbreaking. Unlike Canadian-born seniors, they find themselves in an environment where they cannot communicate, understand, or be understood. Stripped of their voice, they become invisible, isolated from their culture, their community, and everything familiar.
These are the same elders who once sacrificed everything to give their children a better life, believing they would be cared for in return. Yet in today’s fast-paced world, their children struggle to balance work and caregiving. Despite their love, they cannot always be there.
Elders who once thrived in communal living now spend their days alone, their children away at work, their cultural ties severed. When illness or disability strikes, their suffering deepens.
The reality is harsh. Elder care facilities are scarce, waitlists stretch for years, and when a spot does open, it is often in an unfamiliar, unsuitable location. Many elders, displaced and disoriented, fall into despair. Some develop delirium. Others, tragically, pass away, not just from illness but from heartbreak.
Recognizing this urgent crisis, we came together to find a solution. This is why the Golden Age Village Foundation of BC was created, not for personal gain but to ensure our elders live with dignity and care.
Our mission is clear. We are building a multicultural Elder Care Centre and Village where elders can live among their language, culture, and community. This is not just a dream. It is a necessity.
In December 2024, the Vietnamese BC Friendship Foundation officially became the Golden Age Village Foundation of BC, reaffirming our commitment to culturally inclusive elder care. We have engaged with the Honourable Adrian Dix, former Minister of Health, and continue to push for urgent action. But we cannot do this alone.
Since 2024, we have gathered thousands of petition signatures, but we need at least 12,000 before we can formally present our case to the Ministry of Health. This petition serves one purpose. To secure a dedicated elder care center.
This is our moment to stand together for our parents, our grandparents, and the elders who once cared for us. Let’s not wait until it is too late.
Join us. Support the project. Sign the petition. Donate to the cause. Volunteer with us. Be the voice for those who once spoke for us.
