Dementia is about to test whether Ontario really believes health care at home is a right, or just a slogan.

Across Canada, dementia cases are projected to triple in the next 25 years. Yet governments still pour about 87% of long-term care dollars into institutions and only 13% into home-based care. Families know what that means in real life: years of navigating a maze, then help that arrives late, underfunded, and exhausted.

This is not only a medical issue. It is a public service failure. When 82% of unpaid home caregivers are under 65, and almost half are under 45, dementia is also reshaping workplaces, household income, and the future of younger Ontarians who are quietly burning out while holding the system together.

Ontario needs to treat dementia home care as essential infrastructure, the way schools and public transit are. That starts the day of diagnosis, not years later when crisis hits. People living with dementia consistently say they want their family doctor involved through the whole journey and they want to stay home, surrounded by people they love. Public policy should be built around that simple truth.

The work of geriatric specialist Dr. Jenny Ingram points toward what this could look like. She helped secure funding for specialized Geriatric Assessment and Intervention Network teams in smaller and rural communities, and created a clinical research site so people with Alzheimer’s could access emerging treatments close to home. Her documentary “No More Silent Battles” follows four families as they wrestle with grief, bureaucracy, and moments of deep joy, and it lifts up the personal support workers who quietly make dignified home care possible.

Three hard lessons emerge. First, when home care is starved of funds, hospitals and long-term care homes become the default, not the choice. Second, under-supported caregivers leave the workforce or cut hours, which weakens the very tax base needed to fund care. Third, silence in politics keeps dementia outside the circle of universal, equitable services people assume their taxes already cover.

For Ontario, reimagining dementia home care as a core public service means redirecting new dollars into front-line home supports that start at diagnosis, backing family doctors to stay involved, and giving personal support workers stable, respected careers. It also means inviting communities to do what Dr. Ingram is doing with “No More Silent Battles”: gather, listen to families, and press legislators to act.

Ontario can keep asking families to fight this battle alone, or it can show up, stand with them, and finally build dementia home care into the public services every senior deserves.

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This article was created using research from the cited references below, a human editor and an AI-assisted workflow.