Seniors' Tour

Yesterday I had the chance to give 15 seniors a tour of Parliament. When I first met the group outside I was a little bit unsure about how the visit would go because everyone was either in a wheelchair, walker or had a cane; our Parliament visits are about 45 minutes long and involve a fair amount of walking and standing. To be honest, I was dreading this visit because I was unsure how I would balance the needs of the group while delivering the appropriate content. 

After the group passed through security we were ready to begin. I did my introduction and started to get to know the group a little bit better, I was very happy to discover that they were all extremely interested in Parliament and were genuinely there to learn and appreciate what I had to share. It was easy to make jokes with them and to get them involved in the tour. I had to get four of my colleagues to help bring the group up to the second floor so we split up into five groups and each took a few seniors up in different elevators. Once we got to the second floor we began to visit the different stops on the tour. 

When we were in the House of Commons some of the seniors were tired so they went behind the ropes and sat on the benches reserved for MPs. Most tour groups are not allowed to sit on these benches, however, the constable happily made an exception and the seniors sat on the benches while I explained what happens in the House of Commons. They had some really great questions and were all very interested in parliamentary process. 

We then moved on to the Library of Parliament and I could tell that this was their favourite space; they really appreciated the art and architecture and were truly mesmerized by the room. We completed the rest of the visit and then I escorted the group up to visit the memorial chamber. I thanked the group for their visit and they told me that they loved the tour and that I was a great guide. After the tour was over, I realized that I was very thankful that I was assigned this group because they were such a great audience and they listened carefully to everything I said. I could tell that they were very grateful for the opportunity to visit Parliament.

On the way out they told me they were impressed with how much knowledge I had about parliament and one of the group members proudly told me that she was 93 years old and very happy that she came to visit Parliament. This was definitely one of my favourite groups so far!