Much of the witness testimony that we've had has been supportive of the legislation with regard to this being an enhanced factor at the point of sentencing. But a number of the witnesses, while supporting the legislation, have said that what is needed is a comprehensive strategy with regard to elder abuse.
Elder abuse itself, as you all know more than most of us, may manifest itself in psychological terms, in emotional terms, in financial terms, in physical abuse, and so on.
One of the witnesses who appeared on behalf of CARP, the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, in calling for a comprehensive approach, made a number of recommendations. I'm just going to identify them for you and ask for your response to those recommendations, or to any others that could compose part of a comprehensive approach.
The recommendations included the following: an elder abuse hotline; a duty to report; added caregiver support; specialized investigative support for existing criminal offences, some of which you mentioned, Maxine, in terms of maybe training law enforcement officers and the like; victim support services; elder shelters; and so on.
I'll just leave it at that and ask for your comments on any of these specific recommendations as part of a comprehensive strategy or on any others that you might suggest, and on whether we need to work together in terms of all levels of government—federal, provincial, and the like—for these purposes.