Meet the centenarians: Canada's oldest age group is also its fastest-growing

Vi Roden said she reads an average of 50 books a year, attends history lectures at her local seniors centre, and does yoga twice a week.

Vi Roden said she reads an average of 50 books a year, attends history lectures at her local seniors centre, and does yoga twice a week.

She's 101, and still lives in her own condo in West Vancouver, B.C.

"It never occurred to me that I would live this long," said Roden, a former Air Force typist who was 65 when she founded a charity for survivors of sexual abuse. "I don't know why, but I think it's because I just enjoy every single day."

Joseph Novak, a 100-year-old Second World War veteran who lives in Whitehorse, lost his eyesight about a decade ago and spends his days listening to music and audiobooks.

Margaret Friend, 101, who lives in a long-term care home in Hamilton, was one of 14 children. Although she has dementia, she easily rattled off her siblings' names — and noted that she was the only one left.

Lives as long as those of Roden, Novak and Friend, their challenges and joys, were once unlikely. But now they are part of a striking demographic phenomenon — Canada's centenarian population is soaring.

Statistics Canada data show the country's population of people aged at least 100 more than tripled between 2000 and 2023, up from 3,393 to 11,705. That makes centenarians the fastest growing age group in Canada, and the agency says their numbers are poised to rise almost ten times higher over the next half-century.