Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'm very pleased to appear before the committee today to support Bill C-36.
CARP is a national non-profit, non-partisan organization with 55 chapters and over 300,000 members across the country. We focus on improving the quality of life for all Canadians as we age. A critical component of our mandate, therefore, is the right of all Canadians to be free of discrimination based on age and of its worst manifestation, which is elder abuse.
I followed the committee's deliberations at your meeting last week in preparation for today's appearance, and I would say that CARP members would be very encouraged by the all-party support shown for the proposal to increase sentencing for elder abuse convictions. On behalf of people they know who have been abused, and sometimes on their own behalf, they will take heart that Parliament is taking action to eradicate the scourge of elder abuse.
They will also be impressed by the common thread in your deliberations that the proposal, on its own, is but one element in a comprehensive strategy needed to prevent, detect, report, investigate, and ultimately prosecute elder abuse.
CARP has been on the record as calling for a single point of first contact, an elder abuse hotline, if there is evidence of abuse. To reflect our social responsibility, there should be a duty to report. Elder abuse is a public crime, not just a personal matter.
We believe that here is a need for greater caregiver support for the estimated 2.7 million Canadians who are now caring for loved ones at home, and we're calling for specialized investigative support and victim services and shelters for the elder victims of abuse. That is in addition to ensuring swift passage of Bill C-36.
There is no doubt that other levels of government must play a role. The investigation and prosecution of elder abuse crimes falls under provincial jurisdiction. The provinces and municipal levels can provide victim services and shelters for victims of abuse. Spending priorities at all levels of government can increase access to affordable housing, relieve caregiver pressures, and provide income support, all of which can help to prevent elder abuse. That is not to excuse elder abuse in any manner; it is to reflect on some of the pressures that can give rise to abuse.
To be perfectly clear, CARP's view of elder abuse is that it is a crime of predation, so we target the predators, whose crime is made worse because they're exploiting the power imbalance between them and their victims. More often than not, that power imbalance is given to the predators out of trust, familial love, or dependence. That's what makes them vulnerable. That's why, unlike other crimes, the vast majority are committed by those who are closest to the victims. That is why CARP supports Bill C-36, which targets precisely this exploitation and the differential impact due to age and other personal circumstances.
In fact, CARP recommended this provision to the then minister for seniors, Julian Fantino, at our first meeting, in February 2011. As he was a former chief of police, I knew he would immediately understand the operation of section 718 of the Criminal Code, which can increase sentencing for aggravating circumstances. Providentially, and sadly, we had occasion to put this discussion into sharp focus just one month later, with the case of a grandmother who was forced to live in an unheated garage through a Toronto winter.
Bill C-36 adds a clause to section 718.2, but it is instructive to note that the section was originally added to the Criminal Code to direct more severe punishment if the offence was motivated by bias, prejudice, or hate based on race, gender, religion, age, etc. In our opinion, that more directly targets the predator and his or her motivation. Bill C-36 adds the further circumstance of a differential impact due to age.
Taken together, we believe that the provisions can achieve the purpose of deterrence and prevention.
CARP takes the position that even one case of elder abuse is one case too many, but the numbers still bear mentioning. CARP member polling shows that approximately 10% of older Canadians experience some form of abuse, which is consistent with academic and Statistics Canada research. Based on the recently released census figures, there are 4.9 million seniors as of 2011. At 10%, potentially half a million Canadian seniors may be facing some form of elder abuse.
In just 10 years it's estimated that the 65-plus population will grow to 7.9 million. If nothing is done to reduce the incidence of abuse, three-quarters of a million seniors could face elder abuse.
This 10% figure is made worse by several factors.
First, U.K. research suggests that vulnerable seniors, defined as those who are dependent on others for care or who suffer from some type of disability, suffer much higher rates of abuse, at 25%.
Second, there's under-reporting. According to Statistics Canada, about 7 in 10 crimes against older Canadians are never reported to police. Studies of elder abuse in the U.S. show that as many as 90% of all cases of elder abuse go unreported.
Third, the thing that makes this worse is that it's largely a crime that takes place where a person is supposed to be the safest, among their family and friends. Family violence against seniors has increased by 14% since 2004. As the Minister of Justice testified, of the 7,900 reported acts of violence against seniors, roughly a third were committed by family and a third by their acquaintances.
I have a final comment on public awareness. Of course there is a great need for people to recognize what constitutes elder abuse, and, more importantly, what they can do about it. The public service announcements in the New Horizons program have gone a long way to promoting public awareness. Police and prosecutors need further training and resources to better investigate and prosecute abusers, but they are not going to get those resources allocated unless all levels of government make it clear that eradicating elder abuse remains a priority. That's why we cannot lose sight of the importance of a Minister of Justice standing up in Parliament and before this committee to proclaim our collective abhorrence of elder abuse, and for this committee to back that up with passage of Bill C-36.
While we're at it, let's rename the annual Elder Abuse Awareness Day and call it the Day to End Elder Abuse.
Thank you very much.