Justice committee  As I was just saying, the concept of vulnerability is a dangerous concept. If “seniors” is associated with “vulnerability” every time, something is wrong. If “vulnerability” is associated with “abuse”, something is even more wrong. I know seniors who are not vulnerable and I know vulnerable people who are not abused.

Justice committee  The idea of associating vulnerability with age from the outset irritates me.

Justice committee  You are right. I saw it in the summary, but I didn't see it in the wording of section 718 that we are trying to amend. I believe I was telling myself that the summary would not be in Canada's Criminal Code. At least, the tricky word “vulnerability” that we hear so much about will not be there, and I say...

Justice committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Côté. I would like to answer your question too. I would first like to clarify something that came up a number of times. When we talk about a relationship of trust in a senior abuse situation, we are not always talking about dependency. We must be careful not to reduce senior abuse to the dynamics between a natural caregivers and seniors losing their autonomy.

Justice committee  Mr. Goguen, you are asking what the strength of this bill is and how we can improve it. That reminds me of a principle in law called the Beccaria principle, which says that it is not important how severe the punishment is as long as it is prompt. So it is not about making sure that the sentence is severe, but rather that it is imposed consistently.

Justice committee  Thank you for your question, Mr. Jacob. You hit on a critical point in my view. I am going to share the findings of an American research team led by Terry Fulmer. She did a wonderful job of showing the importance of considering vulnerability, which is often linked to factors that are much more personal to the older person.

Justice committee  In fact, a review was done, and it looked at all the sections of the Criminal Code that could apply to situations involving elder abuse. I don't have it here, but it is available on the Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse's Web site. I think it would go a long way just to re-examine how each of those specific sections could be better applied to cases involving seniors.

Justice committee  I am inclined to look at it through the same lens as domestic violence in terms of what we learned from that issue. I have to say I graduated around the same time as Ms. Boivin, so we can recall where the domestic violence file was some 30 years ago. A key question was contemplated: did progress really depend on the creation of specific provisions or, instead, on the proper enforcement of existing provisions in all circumstances?

Justice committee  Thank you, Ms. Boivin, for your comments, which I sincerely appreciate. You are raising some points that I touched on during my 10-minute presentation. I wonder whether judges aren't already using their discretion to take into account the fact that the victim is a senior. I am troubled by the fact that so few cases ever make it to court.

Justice committee  Questions are welcome in both languages.

Justice committee  Thank you. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Justice committee  Ladies and gentlemen members of the parliamentary committee, good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to participate in your work from afar, thanks to the technology that connects the Université de Sherbrooke to Ottawa. I appreciate modern means of communication. As the Research Chair on Mistreatment of Older Adults, I am very happy to speak to Bill C-36.