Marie Josee Lafontaine
Marie Josee Lafontaine

Marie-Josée Lafontaine didn't just find herself in the senior care industry; she was born into it. Her childhood wasn't defined by typical playground routines. Instead, she spent her early years inside nursing homes, surrounded by seniors and immersed in care routines. "I was five years old when I started working with seniors," she says. "It wasn't formal employment, but it was part of my world. My upbringing revolved around care."

Lafontaine is now the owner of Scarborough Retirement Residence, a family legacy she carries forward with intention. Her father, Fred Lafontaine, opened Birkdale Villa, a retirement community in Canada, in 1971, offering an alternative to the long-term institutionalized care that was standard at the time. "There were no retirement homes before that, only nursing homes," she explains. "He wanted to do a better job at delivering care to those who required assisted living support."

Today, Lafontaine is a second-generation leader in senior care, but her approach is anything but traditional. At Scarborough Retirement Residence, she has developed a model she calls a "living lab", a space where ideas around innovation, conscious care, dignity, and presence are tested, refined, and lived daily. "I kept one home from our family portfolio," she explains. "I wanted a space where I could do things differently. A place where care is not just delivered, it's shared."

What defines her leadership is what she calls "soul-centered care." It's a philosophy that moves beyond person-centered care, which focuses on the age and the frailty of the person, the clinical checklists, compliance, and performance-based tasks typical of elder care facilities. "There's a huge difference between performance and presence," she says. "People feel the difference. You can perform tasks, but if you are not fully present, you are not really connecting."

This belief is embedded in how she trains her staff. She encourages her team not just to see residents as patients, but as whole individuals with decades of stories, pain, wisdom, and identity. "That five-minute moment of eye contact, of being fully there with someone, it changes the trajectory of their day," she says.

It's a deeply personal conviction, one informed by her own family. Her father, now 102, still lives in her community. "I once asked him what it felt like to be old," she shares. "And he said, 'It feels invisible.' That stayed with me. It broke my heart. And it's why I have committed my life to making sure no one in our care ever feels unseen."

Lafontaine's leadership is also distinctly feminine in its strength. "Leadership is not about control," she explains. "It's about holding space, listening deeply, and making decisions from a place of heart-centred coherence, not ego." She views leadership not as a status but as a responsibility to serve, to uplift those in her care, their families, and her team.

Scarborough Boutique Retirement Residence
Scarborough Boutique Retirement Residence

This ethos stands in contrast to the commodification she sees sweeping across the senior care industry. "Everyone wants a piece of the aging marketplace," she says. "It's become about real estate, occupancy, metrics. But what about meaning? What about soul?"

By 2030, nearly 21.4% to 23.4% will be over the age of 65, according to the research. As the country braces for this demographic shift, the demand for elder care will skyrocket. But for Lafontaine, the answer is not just about scaling more facilities; it's also in rethinking how we care. "You don't need to build 3,000 of the same homes to change the system," she says. "We need options based on interest, income, and needs. We need diversity in care and housing."

At Scarborough Retirement Residence, the result is a community culture where human dignity is non-negotiable. Staff are trained to see residents not just for their needs but for who they are beyond diagnosis. "We are not here to fix people," she says. "We are here to witness them, to hold space for their becoming, even in their nineties."

Mentoring others in the industry, Lafontaine often returns to a single guiding principle: "Design the system like you are going to inherit it." It's a mantra that pushes against short-term fixes and centers long-term integrity. "We are all aging. One day, this system will be ours. So let's build it with that in mind."

Though she's been in this field since childhood, Lafontaine is still evolving. "My father told me something powerful recently," she says. "He said, 'At 102, I'm still learning who I am.' That reminded me that we are all in perpetual becoming. Age doesn't end growth, it reveals it."

In an industry often governed by logistics and liabilities, Lafontaine offers a compelling counter-narrative: leadership that centers the soul, and care that acknowledges the sacredness of aging. Her story is one of legacy, but more than that, it's one of reinvention. And through her work, she continues to ask a radical question: What if we treated every elder not just as a resident, but as our future self?