Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We are in agreement with this amendment, since this motion seeks to amend the French short title of the bill to substitute the use of “personnes âgées” for “personnes aînées”, and therefore the short title would read “Loi sur la protection des personnes aînées au Canada”.
In testimony before this committee there were certain witnesses, such as Madame Marie Beaulieu, who expressed concern with equating vulnerability solely with age. Doing so would be derogatory, because we all understand that a senior is not vulnerable simply because of age. I'm getting to understand that more and more as I age myself.
This is not what Bill C-36 proposes, and the short title of the bill as introduced reflects what is clearly stated in the bill, which is that the impact of a crime on a victim can be exacerbated because of the combination of a victim's age and other personal circumstances. This said, we do not object to this amendment, given that the use of “aînées” in the French short title would be consistent with the French titles of other federal initiatives, such as
…the Initiative fédérale de lutte contre les mauvais traitements envers les aînés and the programme Nouveaux Horizons pour les aînés.
I think again, in trying to be consistent on our consistencies, we are in agreement with this amendment.