Thank you, Madam Chair; and thanks to the members of the committee. Good afternoon.
I'd like to acknowledge that I am on the same land as Marilee, my good colleague. It is the unceded ancestral lands of the Algonquin Anishinabe peoples, and I am just so privileged to live here and speak from here today.
My name is Mike Villeneuve. I am the chief executive officer of the Canadian Nurses Association.
I am joined today and will share my time with Miranda Ferrier, who is the chief executive officer of the Canadian Support Workers Association.
As you have noted, it is a special week for nurses as we celebrate National Nursing Week and recognize the courage and commitment nurses have shown during the COVID-19 pandemic. I don't need to tell you that it's not quite the cake-and-parties nursing week that it sometimes is, but that's the reality we're living today.
I give a special acknowledgement to indigenous nurse colleagues as we celebrate national Indigenous Nurses Day today.
Turning to the subject at hand, CNA strongly believes that as a society we need to assume a stance of zero tolerance for elder abuse. It's an unacceptable reality that, as Canada's population ages, it will require more forceful interventions. As you know, a lot more of us are heading into that age curve.
As patient advocates, nurses have a responsibility to both prevent harm and provide early intervention to protect older adults. Through their time spent with patients and families across the entire continuum of care, nurses are well positioned to help identify and address elder abuse.
Rigorous practice guidelines and screening tools, training, and effective monitoring systems and structures to make health care workers feel safe in reporting abuse are just some examples of important elements that need to be put in place.
Nursing is a self-regulated, autonomous profession. A major condition of this privilege is to protect the public and the profession by having nurses adhere to strict professional codes of practice that are underpinned by dignity and respect for patients.
The care provided by nurses and personal support workers, PSWs, in long-term care is deeply integrated and we really can't talk about one without the other when it comes to older adults in long-term care, so I am happy to now turn over the rest of my time to my colleague, Miranda Ferrier.
Thank you very much.