Older Adults Centres’ Association of Ontario (OACAO) Aging Well Conference 2026

By: Krisanne Bautista, Project Coordinator/Teaching Assistant at YRES

On Monday, November 2, 2026, Omar and I led the Reimagining Safety: Senior Centered Scam Prevention workshop at the OACAO Aging Well conference for senior citizens in Hilton Hotel, Mississauga, with a full house of 27 participants. With us were Moxi and Filipe, who were also YRES representatives at the event. 

The OACAO Aging Well conference is held every year, supporting senior citizens across the province, and connecting them with different for-profit and non-profit organizations that offer relevant services for seniors. This was a 3-day long event that was filled with social activities, amenities, and development workshops like ours. Our scam prevention workshop in particular equipped senior participants with practical tools to identify, prevent, and respond to sophisticated modern scams, delving into topics like AI voice cloning, fake government calls, and fraudulent emergencies. 

The workshop session was incredibly well-received. Participants were highly engaged, eager to contribute to the discussions, and receptive to what we had to share as instructors. Omar and I found ourselves enjoying our time with the seniors. If I were to put it in Omar’s words, “These seniors are the ideal students: they actively want to learn more about the topic and participate in the activities.” Even well after the workshop ended, we would receive verbal affirmations from attendees sharing that our workshop was very well done, and was much needed for the senior population.

During the workshop, we handed out YRES feedback forms to get a gauge for how effective these sessions are for participants. Out of the 27 attendees, 21 individuals filled out and handed in our forms. Overall, from a range of 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied), attendees reported a 4.43/5 overall satisfaction, with 95% of submissions rating the session out of 4 or 5. 100% of those who answered would recommend this workshop to a friend or family member, and 88% expressed that if location were not a barrier, they would be interested in participating in a free, friendly workshop series designed to help adults 55+ understand AI, stay safe online, and discover new ways it can enrich their everyday life.

In 2027, we plan on running more of these AI scam prevention workshops across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), hopefully also reaching under-served groups like veterans and newcomers. It’s clear that seniors feel the need to be more educated on these topics. We aim to help provide them with this basic, practical knowledge, and continue to support their journey navigating AI and tech.