Chinese Only Elderly Care Homes, BC and others, who owns them
*research: Queenie Choo
B.C. health authorities intervene in three China-owned senior care facilities after reports of neglect
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Health authorities have imposed outside management at a trio of senior care homes on Vancouver Island in an uncommon intervention, two years after Ottawa approved the sale of the facilities to a Beijing-based company.
Citing neglect of residents and chronic staffing shortages, the region’s medical health officer has appointed an administrator to run the Comox Valley Seniors Village and the Nanaimo Seniors Village, while health authority staff were sent in to run part of the Selkirk Seniors Village in Victoria.
All three care homes belong to the Retirement Concepts chain, the largest private provider of residential long-term care beds in British Columbia. The chain was sold to China’s Anbang Insurance Group in a deal approved by Ottawa in 2017 despite widespread concerns about how foreign ownership might affect the quality of care.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said the decision to send in outside staff to oversee units within the facilities is an extraordinary move. He added that it has been five years since any care home in the province has been put under the supervision of an administrator.
“These are very unusual steps,” he said an interview. “This is urgent action that we take because of our concern for residents.”
Retirement Concepts officials could not be reached for comment about the provincial intervention.
At the time of the sale, the federal government offered assurances that care levels in the homes would be maintained. The minister who gave the sale the green light, Navdeep Bains, said “the new owners agreed to maintain at least the current levels of full-time and part-time employees at facilities operated by Retirement Concepts.”
Azim Jamal, the former owner of Retirement Concepts, also said at that time there was no reason for Canadians to be concerned. “There will be no changes to our team or our day-to-day operations.”
The Hospital Employees Union, which represents close to 2,000 workers in Retirement Concepts care homes, opposed the sale, warning that public health care services should not be controlled by offshore interests.
Jennifer Whiteside, secretary-business manager of the HEU, said the intervention was unprecedented. “It speaks to the depth of the crisis that is being experienced by the people who live in, and the people who work in, those facilities," she said.
Anbang, a holding company with a murky ownership structure, had emerged from relative obscurity to snap up companies and properties around the world. It has faced repeated questions in the United States about who actually owns the giant firm and what ties it has to the Chinese state.
Accountability became more opaque in 2018 when the Chinese government assumed control of Anbang, announcing that chairman and key shareholder Wu Xiaohui was being prosecuted for economic crimes.
Now, the Chinese government is in talks to sell, in part or in whole, its 98-per-cent stake in Dajia Insurance, the successor firm of scandal-hit insurer Anbang, according to a report by the Financial Times.
The health authority appointed an administrator to oversee the Comox Seniors Village on Sept. 30. The facility was flagged by the Vancouver Island Health Authority as “high risk" last spring.
“The categories and continuance of contraventions are occurring across multiple areas including care planning, staffing and record keeping," Charmaine Enns, medical health officer for the health authority, wrote after an investigation. “This represents a widespread, systemic failure on the part of the Licensee that will not be remedied by isolated responses to single contraventions.”
In October, the health authority announced it was sending health workers into Selkirk Place “to support the operator in providing safe, dignified care to the residents,” while a review of the facility continues.
The Nanaimo Seniors Village was put under administrative control after a Nov. 19 report by the new medical health officer, Paul Hasselback, found that significant problems emerged over the summer.
“I am of the opinion that the operator of Nanaimo Seniors Village has been either unable or unwilling to meet the minimum requirements,” he wrote.
In response to multiple complaints from families with residents in the Nanaimo facility, the investigation found the facility was in contravention of its licensing requirements mostly because of staffing shortages. The investigation also concluded that complaints ranging from neglect to physical abuse were substantiated.
Jean-Luc Ferland, a spokesman for Mr. Bains’s Innovation department, said the allegations are concerning and added the federal government would monitor commitments around the number of jobs and facilities.
Ms. Whiteside, the union secretary-business manager, is calling on Ottawa to answer for the deterioration of care that has put hundreds of elderly residents at risk. “Is that the kind of business model that we should have to provide care to frail seniors?”
Mr. Dix, who was not in office when the sale was approved, said the federal government was responsible for that decision. But, he added, staffing shortages are widespread in care facilities across the province, and his government has invested cash and increased regulation to ensure standards of care are being met.
He said when his NDP government took office in 2017, there were 75 care facilities where staffing was significantly below provincial standards, while currently there are seven.
Third China-owned senior care facility in B.C. placed under government management amid concerns over health, safety of residents
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A third facility owned by British Columbia’s troubled operator of for-profit seniors’ care homes has been placed under government management because of current risks to the health, safety and dignity of more than 200 residents.
The Vancouver Island Health Authority’s chief medical officer has appointed an outside administrator to run the Selkirk Seniors Village in Victoria. Two other care homes owned by Retirement Concepts are already under the agency’s administration – an exceptionally rare intervention.
Both the federal and provincial governments vowed strict oversight of Retirement Concepts after the chain was sold to China’s Anbang Insurance Group in a deal approved by Ottawa in 2017, despite widespread concerns about how foreign ownership might affect the quality of care.
The federal government has refused to say if the company is in compliance with the terms it imposed at the time of the sale. But on Thursday, B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix says it is clear Retirement Concepts is not meeting provincial standards for health and safety.
“There are no excuses. The people who are charged with administrating Retirement Concepts, they are responsible for following the law,” Mr. Dix said. “The goal here is to bring them back into compliance with the law in B.C. so that seniors are protected.”
Jennie Deneka, the chief operating officer for the firm that operates the Retirement Concepts facilities, said in a statement Thursday that the company is working to raise below-average wages to address its chronic staffing challenges.
“We recognize the appointment of an administrator at three sites is unprecedented,” Ms. Deneka said. "It speaks to the staffing crisis that is impacting our sector and the impact it was having on us as the largest care provider in the province. We acknowledge that wage parity is a factor on our ability to recruit and maintain staff, and we are working to close that gap.”
At the time of the sale, the federal government offered assurances that care levels in the homes would be maintained. The minister who approved the sale, Navdeep Bains, said “the new owners agreed to maintain at least the current levels of full-time and part-time employees at facilities operated by Retirement Concepts.”
A spokesman for Mr. Bains, Jean-Luc Ferland, would not say if Retirement Concepts is in compliance with those terms, saying only that the the department is monitoring the terms closely.
In his report released on Thursday, medical health officer Murray Fyfe said Health Authority officials have repeatedly intervened, and have provided additional staff, but still management at the Selkirk care home has failed to protect seniors in care.
“Based upon the number and nature of contraventions outlined in the Final Investigation Summary, it is my opinion that action is required to protect the health, safety, and dignity of persons in care at Selkirk Seniors Village,” he wrote. The infractions involved neglect – not meeting the needs of residents for bathing, wound care, comfort, and supervision.
“It was apparent that the Licensee has not demonstrated an understanding of their role and responsibility in ensuring that sufficient strategies and actions have been implemented to guarantee appropriate staffing is in place at all times,” he wrote.
The Health Authority appointed an administrator to oversee the Comox Seniors Village on Sept. 30. The facility was flagged by the Vancouver Island Health Authority as “high risk" last spring. The Nanaimo Seniors Village was put under administrative control after a Nov. 19 report found similar problems leading to neglect.
The Hospital Employees’ Union, which represents many of the workers in Retirement Concepts’ 20 B.C. care homes, says the company has exacerbated the labour shortage by paying less than other care homes, and the solution is to have standard wages and working conditions across the long-term care sector.
Two of the senior living facilities under the Retirement Concepts umbrella, in Courtenay. Photo by Scott Strasser.
21 retirement homes in B.C. now ‘owned’ by Chinese government
Anbang Insurance Group — the parent company of 21 senior living homes in B.C.
More than 20 private retirement communities in B.C. are reassuring their tenants and staff that the Chinese government’s recent takeover of a large insurance conglomerate will not impact their day-to-day operations.
The Chinese Insurance Regulatory Commission took over control of the Anbang Insurance Group on Feb. 23. The insurance regulator cited fraud charges against Anbang’s former chairman Wu Xiaohui and risk of insolvency as reasons for the government’s control.
Anbang is a Beijing-based equity and insurance firm that owns billions of dollars worth of properties and assets around the world, including Canada.
Now, the biggest retirement and senior housing chain in B.C. — which has been underneath Anbang’s ownership for just over a year — is trying to reassure its stakeholders that the takeover will not affect its autonomy.
Anbang acquired Retirement Concepts last year for roughly $1 billion. The company owns 21 private retirement homes in B.C.
Following last week’s seizure of Anbang, the labour union that represents Retirement Concepts employees expressed concerns that the acquisition could affect the chain’s employees in B.C.
The BC Government and Service Employees Union Local 0402 (BCGEU) represents more than 850 workers at nine Retirement Concepts sites.
The union is among the groups that has criticized the federal Canadian government for allowing the sale of Retirement Concepts to Anbang last year.
BCGEU president Stephanie Smith said the union will be “keeping a close eye on the situation” as it unfolds.
“We will continue working in the best interests of our members and for the vulnerable clients they serve,” she said in a statement, acquired by Black Press. “We want to ensure that both our members’ jobs and services to seniors are protected.”
In response to the takeover of Anbang, Retirement Concepts issued a statement to reassure tenants, staff, and union representatives that the changes will not impact its day-to-day operations or staffing levels.
“As announced by the Chinese Insurance Regulatory Commission, an Interim Management Working Group will temporarily oversee management of Anbang for a one-year period,” reads the statement.
“This temporary change in management at Anbang will not impact the operations of Retirement Concepts, its staff or residents.”
The statement goes on to say that Anbang will remain a private, independent company under the Chinese government’s control and that “its business and operations are stable.”
“Retirement Concepts communities are provincially regulated and we are required to report out monthly to ensure we meet the highest standards for residents, and this will not change.”
Senior living communities in B.C. under the Retirement Concepts umbrella include:
Vancouver Island:
- Beacon Hill Villa, in Victoria
- Selkirk Seniors Village, in Victoria
- The Wellesley, in Victoria
- Comox Valley Seniors Village, in Courtenay
- Casa Loma Retirement Village, in Courtenay
- Nanaimo Seniors Village
- Stanford Seniors Village, in Parksville
Lower Mainland:
- Auburn Seniors Residence, in Chilliwack
- Dufferin Care Centre, in Coquitlam
- Guildford Seniors Village, in Surrey
- Langley Seniors Village
- Maple Ridge Seniors Village
- Peace Portal Seniors Village, in White Rock
- Renfrew Care Centre, in Vancouver
- Rosemary Heights Seniors Village, in Surrey
- Waverly Seniors Village, in Chilliwack
- White Rock Seniors Village
BC Interior:
- Kamloops Seniors Village
- Williams Lake Seniors Village
- Summerland Seniors Village, *Okanagan
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