Status of Women Committee on Nov. 3rd, 2011

[The Chair, NDP, Niki Ashton]

I call this meeting to order, please.

We have one presentation in our first panel today. It is from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. We have with us Jacques Paquette, senior assistant deputy minister in the income security and social development branch, and Ellen Healey, director of the social programs division, community development and partnerships directorate, income security and social development.

I understand, Monsieur Paquette, that you will be making the presentation today. You have 10 minutes. Thank you for being here.

[Jacques Paquette, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Income Security and Social Development, Branch, Department of Human Resources and Skills Development]

First of all, thank you very much for inviting us to this committee. We're very pleased to be here, and I certainly commend the committee for the work it is doing on this issue of elder abuse involving mainly elder women.

Needless to say, the issue of elder abuse is growing and is of great importance to the Government of Canada and Canadians. That being the case, the Government of Canada has taken action to increase awareness of elder abuse, including financial abuse, and to address this issue.

Information and statistics on the incidence and prevalence of elder abuse are limited due to the lack of research on the reporting, as well as a lack of awareness of signs and symptoms. I believe you have heard that as well from other witnesses. Based on available data, it is estimated that between 4% and 10% of older adults in Canada experience some form of abuse, and it is also estimated that only one in five incidents of abuse is reported.

This situation is of growing concern with the proportion of seniors expected to rise. Today, one in seven Canadians is aged 65 or over. By 2036, nearly one in four Canadians will be a senior.

The oldest cohort of seniors is expected to grow significantly as well. By 2036, Statistics Canada projects, one in 13 Canadians will be 80 years old or over, compared to slightly fewer than one out of 25 in 2010. This fact is also of concern since those who are of advanced age are at the greatest risk, as they are more likely to experience disability, dementia, or dependence on others for care.

The federal government is committed to supporting seniors and curbing elder abuse in all its forms. Let me describe briefly some of the most significant actions undertaken in the last few years.

In 2007, the Government of Canada created the National Seniors Council. One of the council's first priorities was to prepare a report based on their examination of elder abuse through regional consultations. They reported two key conclusions. The problem of elder abuse was serious and more widespread than previously thought, and raising awareness was an important first step to combatting elder abuse. In fact, the work undertaken by the National Seniors Council contributed to the development of the federal elder abuse initiative.

The Federal Elder Abuse Initiative was $13 million, three-year special effort to provide a focussed and coordinated federal approach to help seniors and others recognize the signs and symptoms of elder abuse, and to provide information on available resources and support.

The Inter-Departmental Initiative was lead by HRSDC, in collaboration with the Department of Justice, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The cornerstone of the Federal Elder Abuse Initiative was a national elder abuse awareness advertising campaign, called Elder Abuse - It's Time To Face The Reality, launched in 2009, which included television, print and web components. The ad campaign provided information on the signs and symptoms of elder abuse and how to access local/provincial/territorial resources and services.

The campaign generated a lot of reaction and interest. For example, over 165,000 elder abuse information kits have been ordered through the 1-800-O-Canada number, and the web presence on seniors.gc.ca has received over 86,000 hits. Quantitative research conducted to examine the campaign's impact concluded that a significant increase in awareness had occurred. Fifty-eight per cent of respondents recalled the ad campaign. As well, the Department of Justice commissioned a public opinion poll which found that elder abuse awareness had increased by 11 percentage points since 2009, and that nine out of 10 Canadians, or 93%, said they were aware of the term “elder abuse”. As well, Canadians were more likely able to identify the various types of elder abuse than they were two years ago, and their ability to name various types of abuse had increased significantly.

The federal initiative also led to the development of a collaborative provincial and territorial resource document, and several provincial campaigns on elder abuse have been launched which complement the federal advertising campaign.

For example, the Government of Quebec, as part of its 40-point plan to fight elder abuse, developed a television ad campaign featuring Yvon Deschamps to draw attention to the problem of elder abuse. Beyond the advertising campaign, information and resource tools were developed. In January of 2010, funding was provided to six national professional organizations—for example, occupational therapists, dental hygienists, social workers, housing managers, nurses, and legal officers—for the development of tools to help front-line workers recognize the signs of elder abuse and find ways to address it.

The Federal Elder Abuse Initiative sunsetted in March, 2011, after having achieved its specific goals.

HRSDC is now targeting its efforts to combat elder abuse through the new horizons for seniors program. The new horizons for seniors program was created in 2004 to help ensure that seniors are able to benefit from and contribute to the quality of life in their communities through social participation and active living.

The program now pursues several objectives, including support for social participation and the inclusion of seniors and for expanding awareness of elder abuse, including financial abuse. Since 2007, 32 elder abuse awareness projects have been funded. As a result of these projects, over 170 tools have been created and disseminated, and over 31,000 seniors have directly participated or benefited from these projects.

Commitment to this program has been deep-rooted, as reflected through successive budget increases. The initial program funding was increased from $30 million to $35 million in 2007. In the last two budgets, annual funding increased by a total of $10 million, bringing the total of NHSP to $45 million.

The new horizons for seniors program is now HRSDC's main vehicle for addressing elder abuse. Calls for proposals have been the preferred tools to fund projects under this program.

The first call for proposals in 2007 focused on promoting awareness and increasing knowledge of abuse of older adults through development and dissemination of awareness and educational resources, tool kits, and communications products for seniors, service providers, professionals, community-based organizations, and the public. For example, la Fédération des aînés et aînées francophones du Canada has developed an awareness campaign and a number of workshops that are specifically suited to the needs of francophone seniors living in minority settings outside of Quebec.

The second call for proposals in 2009 focused on reaching out to ethnocultural groups, and on networking and information sharing among organizations and others active in the prevention of elder abuse. For example, the Ontario Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse developed a series of culturally appropriate tools for Spanish-speaking communities, along with a transferable how-to manual for other organizations wishing to address elder abuse awareness and prevention in any emerging ethnocultural community.

A current call for proposals builds on these results by moving projects to a broader reach. Projects will support cross-disciplinary work in community strategies that build on awareness, prevention, and intervention, while continuing to reach out to underserved populations and to train front-line personnel working with seniors, those who are best positioned to identify possible situations of abuse.

Given the nature and the complexity of the issue, all levels of government have a role to play in addressing elder abuse. The federal, provincial, and territorial forum of ministers responsible for seniors has recognized the importance of taking action on elder abuse and has made it one of their key priorities. In 2007, the ministers hosted an FPT elder abuse forum, held in conjunction with the third annual Canadian conference on elder law. The forum participants focused on identifying collaborative actions and partnerships across organizations and health, social, and justice systems that should be considered by communities and governments in order to better respond to elder abuse. Another forum in 2008 focused on the financial abuse of older adults. That was the forum on the financial abuse of seniors.

Five priority areas emerged throughout the discussion at both of these forums to address elder abuse and the financial abuse of older adults: education for older adults, training for professionals, legislative frameworks, public awareness, and access to information and specialized services.

One of the outcomes from these events was the creation of a series of seven education and awareness fact sheets on the prevention of elder abuse and, more recently, a new series of eight fact sheets for seniors on financial planning and protection from financial abuse. The FPT forum fact sheets were distributed throughout the country and were disseminated during World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, which is held annually on June 15.

More work is being planned to address elder abuse issues. The existing elder abuse TV ad is planned to run in late November 2011, and a new TV ad focusing on financial abuse is planned to air in early 2012. These advertising campaigns will be funded through the Government of Canada central advertising fund managed by the Privy Council Office.

Financial abuse is one of the most prevalent forms of elder abuse. It's not surprising that at their June 2011 meeting, the FPT ministers responsible for seniors identified financial abuse as one of its top priorities for this year.

The FPT forum will be looking into existing resources and materials to help safeguard the elderly from financial abuse and raise their awareness of the risks and responsibilities related to assigning powers of attorney and entering into joint accounts. The forum will work with relevant stakeholders to identify gaps in understanding and to develop information resources geared towards raising awareness among seniors and front-line workers of the benefits and risks of naming a power of attorney or opening a joint account.

HRSDC continues to pursue new avenues. For example, we had a preliminary discussion with the Canadian Bankers Association on how front-line workers in the financial sector can help protect seniors from fraud and financial abuse, and we are supportive of exploring partnerships to advance work in this area.

In the Speech from the Throne, the Government of Canada committed itself to proposing tougher sentences for offences involving the abuse of elderly persons.

We recognize that more work is needed to better understand elder abuse and its impacts. The need for baseline information and hard data on elder abuse is real. HRSDC is supporting the national initiative for the care of the elderly, as well as a two-year research project on defining and measuring elder abuse and neglect. The result of this research will lay the foundation for future work on the measurement of elder abuse and neglect.

We will continue to work with other federal departments and agencies, the provinces, the territories, professional associations, and non-government organizations to take steps to detect and prevent the exploitation of older Canadians. This was...I was going to say that this was a brief overview. Well, that was an overview. I will be happy to answer your questions.

[The Chair, NDP, Niki Ashton]

Thank you very much, Mr. Paquette.

We will begin a seven-minute round.

Ms. O'Neill Gordon.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to welcome our guests. It certainly is great to have you with us today.

Our committee holds this topic very dear to our hearts and so does our government. We have heard many witnesses speak about the different aspects of this great cause. Our government, with the introduction of the new horizons programs, has put many dollars towards this, some $45 million. I have seen many different uses of it in my riding, uses that are very beneficial to the seniors.

I have to say that one of the most beneficial ideas that came about was making people aware of the problem, particularly with the ads. I'm wondering if you could share some other ideas that might be even more beneficial from a justice or legal point of view.

[Jacques Paquette]

I'll say a few words about the new horizons for seniors program, and then I will invite my colleague to give some examples of projects that are pursuing this objective.

The program works at two levels. The first is what we call pan-Canadian projects. These are at the national level. These are only on elder abuse. Usually we call for a proposal. We have projects that are bigger; the level of funding can be up to $250,000 per year over three years.

The other component is the community projects. These are the small projects, usually up to $25,000. The program pursues several objectives. I like to refer to this, because elder abuse is one of the objectives, but we also use that program to work on prevention. We know that isolation puts seniors at risk. Developing projects that will connect seniors is, to our mind, going to support the objective we want to achieve. We know that in many cases the solutions come from the communities. People know their communities. When we talk about being able to see where elder abuse happens, that's really the place it should happen, not thousands of kilometres from the place.

Maybe I could invite Ellen to give you a couple of examples of the projects that are doing this at the local level.

[Ellen Healey, Director, Social Programs Division, Community Development and Partnerships Directorate, Income Security and Social Development, Department of Human Resources and Skills Development]

You asked for specific ideas. I was just going through the project list of things that we funded in the past. I'll just point out a few things that jump out at us.

One is work with kids. We had a project in which seniors worked with young adults, putting on skits and theatre performances that could actually animate what abuse is. That is seen as a learning opportunity that's a little bit more direct and perhaps a little bit more in tune with the target audience.

We've had a number of smaller projects in which we've seen seniors helping seniors.Working at the community level, they come together and conduct workshops for other seniors on things such as personal safety in the home and safety measures when dealing with family members. Again, it's about looking for those senior volunteers, perhaps in the service-providing organizations, who can turn around and provide that immediate assistance in a community setting. These ideas are coming up from the community to build that capacity and those resources for the longer term.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

As well, when we see community projects, we also see a lot of positive action. They become more involved within the community. That's one thing our government is working for with the new horizons program, because we want to see seniors working together and doing initiatives that make life better for them.

The committee is also aware of the active involvement of local detachments and elder abuse awareness initiatives. Is this involvement mandated nationally? Does RCMP headquarters involve itself in this awareness initiative?

[Jacques Paquette]

I was going to say that I understand the RCMP is going to appear before the committee right after we do, so maybe they will be in a better position to provide additional information, unless, Ellen, you want to come in.

[Ellen Healey]

Our program doesn't mandate that they be involved, but as I mentioned earlier, community projects come up at the local level and, in some cases, they seek partnerships with local service providers. In some communities that's a natural fit and they involve them from the get-go in the project development, but we don't mandate that.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, NDP, Niki Ashton]

You have two minutes left. Would anybody else like to take it on?

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

Thank you very much.

Again, to our guests, thanks very much.

Mr. Paquette, I was curious when you talked about financial abuse being one of the most prevalent forms of elder abuse. Anecdotally, I get that, but I'm trying to understand it. What research did you do to determine that, or how did you choose to ultimately focus on that particular aspect of concern when you ran your TV ads and your promotion?

[Jacques Paquette]

I would say two things.

First, that information is based on some preliminary studies that have been done, as well as on some of the surveys that have been done with people. That is what they have identified most often as being the most important or as occurring most often. We always have to be careful with the statistics. As we said, statistics are kind of difficult sometimes because we need to do a lot more research.

Also, on the other side, part of one of the projects that we're funding is that we don't consider there to be a single, well-approved definition used by everybody--

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

We found that as well.

[Jacques Paquette]

--so when we look at some of the reports we're getting, it's sometimes difficult to compare them and be sure that our numbers are right.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

In fact, I might add that when we've had various guests appear and we have talked about various studies, you'd think there would be, as a baseline, an absolute common definition of elder abuse, and . I gather.... Again, we all have a sense of what that is, but I don't have a feeling that there's one--quote--version. Maybe that's reality, because that can expand and change as well, but I think that is part of the challenge.

Do I have time for—

[The Chair, NDP, Niki Ashton]

Actually, we're past the time.

[Ed Holder, Conservative, London West, ON]

Then I'll have a chance a little later on.

Thank you.

[The Chair, NDP, Niki Ashton]

That's perfect.

Thank you, Mr. Holder.

We'll move to Ms. Freeman.

[Mylène Freeman, NDP, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair

Thank you very much for being here, Mr. Paquette and Madam Healey.

I'd like to commend you on the success of the crucial first steps that HRSDC has been taking to empower seniors.

This committee has heard that a lack of social housing for senior women is a contributing factor in senior abuse. Which program that you would have funded would have contributed to creating a housing strategy for senior women?

[Jacques Paquette]

For homelessness, because that's the angle, there are two programs being supported by the portfolio of this department. One is the homelessness program per se, and the other is specifically housing. Housing is under the responsibility of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

I think that my colleague, the director general responsible for the homelessness program, appeared before this committee at one point and explained some of the efforts that were conducted to address homelessness for women. Some specific projects have been put in place to try to address that issue, because, as you said, that's one factor.

[Mylène Freeman, NDP, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

It's definitely a contributing factor. Thank you.

We have identified the fact that in some provinces long-term care facilities are not subject to inspection or minimum standards of care. This is also a contributing problem. Which programs from new horizons or FEAI have implemented inspections or standardization of care?

[Jacques Paquette]

Well, absolutely not...what I would say is that the question you're raising concerning long-term care facilities is the responsibility of the provinces. I would think that the responsible provincial Minister of Health, for example, would be the one that would be looking into this.

[Mylène Freeman, NDP, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Right. So if we wanted to legislate minimal standards, we'd have to speak to Health Canada.

[Jacques Paquette]

No, what I'm saying is that this is a provincial authority, so I don't think Health Canada can legislate the management of long-term care facilities that are falling under provincial—