I can speak to the fact that, one, we don't have a specific universal definition of elder abuse. That in itself in data collection makes that challenging.
On the other, I'll speak locally, provincially and nationally in that there are no clear policies and protocols in tracking issues of elder abuse. For example, in the province of Ontario, there are only two pieces of legislation that actually mandate reporting elder abuse, the long-term care act and the retirement home care act. In many spots across the country, there is no mandatory reporting of abuse of older adults.
So it's a combination of that and no specific protocols being put in place for agencies and services to collect that data. In talking to different police services, their challenge is that, again, if you look at the Criminal Code act, what would be forms of abuse or breaking the law in that? There are many forms of elder abuse that occur that do not, quote, “break the law” within the Criminal Code act. From police service to police service, it's about how they track information and how they see situations occurring—i.e., if they connect age to it or if it's just a broad base that there was fraud or burglary or assault or something like that.
That's where some of the challenge is. Some of the services may not actually have it age-connected as opposed to just event-connected.