Laura Tamblyn Watts, LLB
President and CEO | CanAge
Toronto, ON, CANADA
Nationally and internationally recognized expert on law and aging issues, with a specialty in law reform, policy, partnerships, and more.
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Biography
Laura Tamblyn Watts is a lawyer, advocate, researcher and media commentator. Her work focuses on law, aging, abuse, accessibility, law reform, governance and knowledge mobilization. She has previously served as Chief Public Policy Officer at CARP (Canadian Association of Retired Persons) for the past two years and as the National Director of the Canadian Centre for Elder Law. She currently teaches at the University of Toronto, where she is also a Fellow of the Institute for Lifecourse and Aging.
She is a past Chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s National Elder Law section, where she sits as a current Executive member. Laura is a Board member of the National Initiative for Care of the Elderly (NICE) network and facilitates the section on Law and Aging issues. She is an incoming member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), and a member of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada’s (IFIC) committee on Seniors and Vulnerable Investors (IFIC). She is one of two Canadian representatives on the North American Securities Administrators Association (NAASA) committee on Vulnerable Investors and a continuing member of the Ontario Securities Commission’s Taskforce on Seniors. Laura is also a board member of PACE Independent Living, a housing and services nonprofit which provides attendant care to persons with physical differences. Laura created and oversaw CARP’s research portfolio and is actively involved with a number of National Centres of Excellence and a wide variety of current research initiatives, including the NICE Network, AGE-WELL, and the Canadian Frailty Network. She helped to co-found Canada’s second low-income seniors’ legal services centre, SeniorsFirst BC, located in Vancouver. She received her undergraduate honours degree in Political Science from Queen’s University and her law degree from the University of Victoria. She was called to the BC Bar in 1999.
Areas of Expertise (7)
Financial Literacy for Vulnerable Populations
Plain Language Tool Development
Legal Research
Elder Law
Mediation
Advocacy and Government Relations
Law and Aging
Education (4)
University of Toronto: S.J.D. / Ph.D., Law 2019
University of Victoria: L.L.B., Law 1998
Queen's University: B.A., International Politics and Strategic Studies 1995
Université Canadienne en France: Certificate of Bilingualism 1991
Affiliations (10)
- Distinguished International Fellow - Stetson University, Center of Excellence in Elder Law
- Board Member and Affiliated Faculty - McMaster University, Gilbrea Centre on Aging
- AGE-WELL National Centre of Excellence (NCE) on Aging and Technology
- Lead – Legal Issues - National Prevalence Study on Elder Abuse and Neglect, Canada, Prof. Lynn McDonald - 2015
- Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) – current Board Member
- Family Councils Ontario –Past Board Chair
- National Initiative for Care of the Elderly (NICE network) – current Board member, Committee Chair, Law and Aging Chair
- PACE Independent Living Society –Secretary and Board Member
- Canadian Bar Association National Elder Law Section – current National Executive Committee member at large and Past-Chair
- Ontario Bar Association Elder Law Section – current and Founding member
Links (2)
Media Appearances (7)
Wait times for knee, hip replacements, cataract surgery worse in Manitoba for 4th consecutive year: report
CBC online
2019-03-27
Laura Tamblyn Watts, chief public policy officer for the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, said the results are shocking but not surprising. "We've been very worried at the downward trend in Manitoba and the results speak for themselves," she said. "But what it doesn't speak to is the pain and suffering that many people, especially older adults, are having to endure on a daily basis because of these wait times."
Advocacy groups say 2019 federal budget fails to safeguard employer pensions
Vancouver Courier online
2019-03-24
"We were very pleased that a number of our key asks from our national platform were picked up," says Laura Tamblyn Watts, public policy chief for CARP, which lobbies on behalf of seniors. "We are really hoping, however, for a pension insurance plan that insures 100 per cent of pension liabilities. And this should be fully funded by the plan sponsors."
Older adults should like federal budget: CARP
Blackburn News online
2019-03-19
Laura Tamblyn Watts, CARP’s chief public policy officer, said less clawback of the Guaranteed Income Supplement is also key for older adults who have very low income and must work to make ends meet. Tamblyn Watts said the budget is a step in the right direction. “This government has not done very much for older adults in the last three years but seems to be trying to make up for it in this budget,” said Tamblyn Watts.
Morneau set to table high-stakes election year budget as SNC-Lavalin scandal rages on
CBC online
2019-03-17
Laura Tamblyn Watts, national director of law, policy and research for CARP, an advocacy organization for older Canadians, said she has high hopes the Liberals will deliver in this budget. She said that after raising the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) soon after the 2015 election, the Liberals went "silent" on seniors' issues.
'Driver knew he was aggressive': Senior beaten by another passenger while taking transit for elderly, disabled
CBC online
2019-01-13
Laura Tamblyn Watts, an advocate for older Canadians, called the attack a "failure of the entire system," a system she says often puts costs ahead of safety when it comes to providing services for seniors and the disabled.
Powerful seniors’ groups lobby for emotion-focused care in nursing homes
Toronto Star online
2018-12-13
“We are looking at this across the country and working with local communities to see if the Butterfly Model or similar types of models would be the best fit,” said Laura Tamblyn Watts, national legal director of CARP, formerly the Canadian Association of Retired Persons.
Hey realtors and family members, stop pushing seniors to sell their homes
Globe and Mail online
2018-08-23
“What these numbers don’t capture is the pressure that people feel before they call it abuse,” Ms. Tamblyn Watts said. Some of this pressure comes from realtors in search of new listings – CARP hears a lot about this. Family pressure is a more complex issue, some of it resulting from the best of intentions.
Featured Articles (1)
Developing a Research Agenda on Resident-to-Resident Aggression: Recommendations From a Consensus Conference
Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect
L. Tamblyn Watts, et al.
2015 This article provides an overview of the development of a research agenda on resident-to-resident aggression (RRA) in long-term care facilities by an expert panel of researchers and practitioners. A 1-day consensus-building workshop using a modified Delphi approach was held to gain consensus on nomenclature and an operational definition for RRA, to identify RRA research priorities, and to develop a roadmap for future research on these priorities.
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