• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.69-79
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• 2010

Canada is a democratic country, yet it keeps a social democratic system in which the government is in charge of welfare of its people. And this is one of the most significant features about the country. Her public and private pension system has been effective since the 1920s, securing its people's fundamental income. In particular, the public medical system applies to its every citizen and performs its role. This system is called the National Medical System as well as "MEDICARE" named after its related law. However, there has been a significant change in the national medical and welfare policy due to the budget deficit. In other words, the policy was mainly implemented to welfare facilities in the past, but the policy changed to a welfare policy for the elderly with a concentration on the support for self-reliance of senior citizens since the reform. The purpose of this study is to provide data and implications for Korea through the analysis of the current situation and distinct features of the housing welfare system in Canada. This study has researched the literature on the subject with an analytic focus on three aspects that are the fundamental frame of the system, essential content (support for self-reliance and facility composition), and distinct features of the housing for the elderly. In other words, they are, first, how the fundamental frame of the housing welfare system for the elderly is composed; second, how the service for self-reliance welfare and facility service are composed; and third, what their scale and distinct spatial features of general houses for the elderly with self-reliance are. A comparative study was conducted in detail on courses and characteristics of the housing welfare system for senior citizens in Canada and the USA of North America. In particular, it reveals the scale and distinct spatial features of public houses for the elderly with self-reliance in British Columbia (BC) which is one of the main provinces of Canada.