If we look at the prevalence of elder abuse, some of the witness testimony, such as CARP's, when they came before us, said that the incidence was 10%, drawing on academic studies, Statistics Canada, and the like. Of course, it may be higher, first because of under-reporting, and second because the Statistics Canada data and the data they drew upon from the academic study were from some four years ago, and Dan Albas seems to have even more recent data. And of course we have to bear in mind that this is a growing demographic, so the incidence of elder abuse is only going to grow.
I want to deal with the specific issue of the vulnerable, the issue Mr. Goguen brought up. Here, the incidence is much higher. Defining the vulnerable as those who are dependent on others for care or who suffer from some form of particular disability, the incidence here seems to rise to something closer to 30%.
Now, my question, seeking to elicit comment from all of you because of your experience and expertise, has to do with the systemic causes or contributions to elder abuse amongst the vulnerable. I'm speaking about situations mainly in the health care system, where we may have poorly developed or poorly coordinated home care services, or hospital overcrowding, or low support for caregivers, or insufficient resources for caregivers, or inadequate options for long-term care and the like.
All of you are involved in one form or another in the delivery of social services, so my question to you is this. Much of what I've just talked about in terms of systemic contributions to elder abuse amongst the vulnerable really lies very much in the area of provincial jurisdiction—along with, of course, the federal role in subventing the kinds of services that the provinces can't provide. You're from different provinces here—we have Quebec, we have Ontario, we have Alberta. Do you find that these causes are becoming exacerbated, or are they being improved, and how can they be addressed and improved, etc.?