Building an anti-oppressive gerontological social work community of practice in Canada in collaboration with researchers, practitioners, and older adults

To ensure social workers are adequately prepared to work in the context of the aging and increasing diversification of the Canadian population, we propose to host a symposium that brings together established researchers, emerging scholars, practitioners;educators, and older adults. The impetus for this gathering is the preparation of a second edition of Hulko, Brotman, Stern and Ferrer’s popular and nationally adopted 2020 Routledge Press text on anti-oppressive social work (AOP) practice with older adults, their families, and communities. Our book filled a gap as it was the first Canadian text on aging to use a critical AOP lens, focus on direct and indirect practice, and showcase the voices and experiences of older adults from equity-denied groups. While creating and marketing the first edition, we identified the need for a community of practice (CoP) as those working in this field are widely dispersed and have limited access to research and education on aging and older adults. Our intention is to grow a CoP like those that are emerging in other countries, and in doing so amplify the work of Black, Indigenous, racialized, and queer scholars whose work often gets overlooked and encourage them onwards as the next generation.