The City of Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada, is a small city with big ambition, big ideas and big opportunity. With one third of the residential population over the age of 60, Summerside not only strives to be a great place to live but also a great place to grow old in. In 2014 Summerside joined the WHO Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities with the commitment to make Summerside an age-friendly city.

In August 2025, the City created the Seniors Engagement & Equity Directive (SEED) Committee in August 2025 to ask local seniors about their needs, concerns, and challenges, and then to recommend actions Council can take to best support older residents in our community. This work resulted in a comprehensive report on the City’s previous work on this priority, as well as summaries of recent senior engagement opportunities. This report identified opportunities for provincial and federal advocacy, and a list of recommendations for City Council to consider. This report was recently adopted by City Council.

2013 Work
An Age-friendly Cities Committee with key stakeholders from the City of Summerside was set up in November 2013.  It comprised lay individuals and professionals from the community.  These included older adults, health care professionals, an academic,  social service professional, business owners, and a City Council representative.  8 representatives from the City supported the 8 sub-committees (reflecting each of the 8 WHO Age-friendly City domains) to provide guidance and act as a resource in their areas of expertise. The Committee consisted of 45 percent older adults.

We developed a baseline assessment on the age-friendliness of Summerside. Consultations with  older adults have included 10 focus group discussions and 15 one-to-one interviews.