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“This is all I think about, morning, noon and night,” said Burgoin. “I don’t think there are that many people at this stage of their life that are still married and together. And it seems to be black and white; there’s no bending of the rules. You’re separated, and that’s it. Suck it up.”

Photo by Julie Oliver / Postmedia

The reality of the couple’s possible separation came a week before Christmas, when they were living at a seniors’ residence in Stittsville. A room had freed up at Granite Ridge at the same time Mae’s name — but not Norman’s — reached the top of the waiting list.

Upon hearing the news, Norman, sitting at the kitchen table, said only, “Huh. So this is what society has come to. They’re going to separate us.”

With some reluctance, the family turned down Mae’s placement.

“Mom is still capable of taking care of herself,” explained Burgoin, “and if we took her out of the home and put her (in Granite Ridge), then my father would have had to go through CCAC (Community Care Access Centre, the provincial agency overseeing such matters) as a crisis placement, because he’s unable to care for himself.” That, she adds, would see him sent to one of two facilities: one on Carling Avenue and the other in Almonte.

“Our father would die. He would die just being separated from her and not having anyone there that he knew.”

Shortly after on Dec. 29, however, Norman was approved to move into Granite. With the level of care he needed, he had no choice but to go.

It’s a bitter irony that the efforts by the Davis children to keep their parents together has had a hand in Norman and Mae’s forced exile from one another.