Canadian care-home provider Revera to 'transition out' of managing retirement homes

Revera, once one of Canada's largest operators of long-term care homes, is rolling out plans to "transition out" of managing retirement homes across the country.

The company informed employees last week that three different Canadian companies will take over management of dozens of Revera retirement homes.

"Revera has made the decision to focus primarily on managing property/real estate and will no longer manage retirement residence operations in Canada," reads an Aug. 2 notice sent to union representatives for Revera workers.

In total, information distributed to unions suggests more than 80 seniors' residences are part of the proposed transfer, with more than half of that number in Ontario. The rest are in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C.

The facilities are in Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto, Ottawa and other cities.

The changes, expected to happen over the coming months, are "subject to customary regulatory approvals, including health authorities' standard due diligence reviews and approvals," the company told CBC News.

"Revera is shifting its focus to ownership of senior living real estate and will transition out of the operational management of retirement residences," the statement said. It said Revera "will maintain ownership of a number of retirement properties."

The company said there will be no changes to staffing at individual sites.

Revera is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, a federal Crown corporation.

A spokesperson for the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, the union that represents Revera workers at several retirement homes in Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer, issued a statement Tuesday.

"While AUPE looks into how contracting out the day-to-day management of these full-service long-term care worksites may impact our members, we will continue to ensure our front-line health care workers have the resources they need from the employer to safely support residents and are treated with the respect they deserve," the union said.

Montreal-based Cogir, which owns hundreds of apartments, rental condos and retirement homes, is set to take over management of more than 60 Revera properties. Revera already has an ownership interest in several of Cogir's properties in Quebec.

Optima Living is slated to take over management of some Alberta and B.C. retirement homes, while Levante Living will manage a dozen Ontario properties.

At the retirement homes now planned for new management, services vary. Seniors pay to rent suites, and some have more minimal supports geared toward independent living.

Some also offer more intensive assisted living or "memory care" with 24-hour services for people with dementia.

'Public-interest concerns'

Tamara Daly, a professor of health policy and equity at York University, said access to publicly funded care for seniors continues to be an issue in Canada, leaving some with few options but paying for higher levels of care in retirement homes.

"They're treated like tenants who live in apartment buildings who happen to be getting care, rather than people who have a variety of vulnerabilities who need a high level of care and support but who are unable to access it through our publicly funded system," Daly said.

"Despite the lessons of the pandemic, aged care remains a largely for-profit business in Canada, whether it's in the retirement home or the nursing home sector."

This sign was posted on the fence outside the McKenzie Towne Continuing Care Centre in southeast Calgary as a COVID-19 outbreak swept through the facility in the spring of 2020. (Jennifer Wiebe)

Thousands of vulnerable people in long-term care died after COVID outbreaks in Canadian facilities, including care homes previously operated by Revera.

In Calgary, the McKenzie Towne Continuing Care Centre saw one of Alberta's first significant COVID outbreaks when the pandemic struck in 2020, ending with 111 cases and 20 deaths. The facility was managed by Revera at the time, but is now operated by the company AgeCare.

People whose family members died from COVID in Revera's former long-term care homes filed proposed class-action lawsuits in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.

The retirement-home change comes after Revera announced an agreement in 2022 with another large for-profit long-term care provider, Extendicare, that saw Extendicare take over operations at 56 of Revera's long-term care homes in Ontario and Manitoba.

On Aug. 1, Extendicare announced that those transactions are complete. The company now manages 31 long-term care homes owned by Revera, and they also acquired Revera's 15 per cent interest in a portfolio of 25 more long-term care homes.

The transactions saw more than 6,000 publicly funded long-term care beds change hands.

Kevin Skerrett, an adjunct research professor at Carleton University's Institute of Political Economy, said the changes at Revera raise questions about the future for both employees and people who live in the homes.

"I think there's very serious public-interest concerns that have not yet been brought to bear in terms of these private actors having the freedom to decide whatever they want to do with these facilities," he said.

"I think as Canadians, we also want to be concerned about ... what does it actually mean for the services that are provided inside?"