Thank you, Mr. Chair.
These amendments deal with provisions that would allow the disclosure of personal information to a person's next of kin or their representative. There have been some good arguments for it. However, we are proposing that it be deleted nonetheless, on the advice of the Canadian Bar Association's elder law and privacy and access law sections, for three reasons.
One, it's intended to apply to older adults and as such may be discriminatory. I'm getting closer to that every day.
Two, the list of people and organizations that may receive disclosure without consent is unnecessarily broad and unspecified.
Three, in particular, “next of kin or authorized representative” is problematic, as financial abusers of older adults are most often the next of kin or authorized representatives themselves.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.