Northern Ont. woman celebrating 105 years of life as Canadians are living longer

In February, Joyce Poupore celebrated another milestone birthday.

This year, the Thessalon, Ont. native turned 105-years-old.

Living to such an advanced age is an accomplishment in itself, but Poupore said she doesn't have any secrets that helped her live into her twelfth decade.

“I don’t know,” she said.

“I just live day to day and don’t worry.”

Her carefree nature mixed with a great sense of humour may have helped.

The 105-year-old's quick wit shone through when speaking with family, staff or CTV News reporters at her assisted living facility in Blind River.

105-year-old Joyce Poupore talking with CTV News in Blind River on March 18/23. (Cory Nordstrom/CTV News Northern Ontario)Upon being asked what her family has meant to her throughout her golden years Poupore scoffed.

“Oh, nothing, no they don’t come around very often,” she said with a smile.

“They’re too busy going to Bruce Mines and getting their toes done.”

The room then was instantly filled with the laughter, a regular occurrence when Joyce is around, said her daughter Nancy Chambers.

Chambers said the family is "grateful" to have had so many years with their mom.

Chambers told CTV News that longevity runs in the family, Joyce's sister lived to be 102 and their mother into her 90's.

Poupore was very active in her youth, with curling and dancing.

A 1940 nursing graduate, she always cared about health and hygiene said Chambers.

“She was diligent about not getting too close to people that were sick and washing hands our whole life,” she said.

That focus on health is something that's led to a growing number of centenarians said Lyndsay Suurna, a Professor of Gerontology at Sault College.

“We have better healthcare, better sanitation, better public health in general that has allowed us to achieve those higher ages,” she said.

With the average lifespan of Canadians being 82.96 years, a figure that continues to grow each year.

A recent report by National Geographic predicts that "80 will be the new 60" for the children of today.

And "by 2050, living to 100 could be the norm."

Suurna said she believes those predictions could come true.

“We’re getting better at treating diseases, we’re more keen on injury prevention and disease prevention,” she said.

"Hopefully we can kind of push off either maybe hopefully people will never develop these chronic diseases, or if they do they will be in an advanced stage at that point and can live quite a bit longer and have quality years of living.”

If that is the case, more families will be as lucky as the children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren of Joyce Poupore to experience many more years with their loved ones.