Home is more than just a postal code, or four walls and a roof. It is a feeling. It is the deep exhale at the end of a long day, the quiet certainty of safety, and the preservation of dignity. For our seniors, this sanctuary isn’t a luxury — it is essential for their well-being. Yet, across Alberta, that fundamental promise of dignity is being eroded … piece by piece.

Earlier this week, Postmedia reported that at the Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre, unthinkable has become unbearable: mice have infiltrated the rooms of our elders, turning spaces meant for peace into battlegrounds of anxiety.

A volunteer recently shared a haunting image that should keep health officials awake at night. She described a bed-bound resident, frail and unable to move freely, clutching her blankets white-knuckled in terror as mice scurried across the floor of her room.

She was trapped: a prisoner in her own bed.

Six months ago, NDP health critic Sarah Hoffman rightly called this a “failure of dignity.” Six months later, the scratching in the walls continues. The mice remain, bold and undisturbed.

This isn’t an isolated incident of bad luck; it’s a symptom of a deeper rot. We need only look back to 2013, at........

© Edmonton Sun