Thank you, Chair. That's a wonderful question.
In 2008, Statistics Canada did a very comprehensive feasibility study to look at senior abuse and elder abuse to figure out how to fill a critical data gap. In having many discussions across the country with different experts, we found that a key issue was the definition of “senior abuse”. Is it over 55, over 65? That was a key barrier that needed to be ironed out.
Second to that was what would be included in a concept of elder abuse. The data that I discussed most recently was looking at police-reported data that relied on Criminal Code definitions. Elder abuse, as an entity, has not been embedded in the Criminal Code. Understanding relationships and trust, how are emotional abuse, physical abuse and psychological abusemeasured?
Third, how do you measure it amongst a population that is in an institution, a senior who is hard to reach, who also might be suffering from a cognitive disability and who cannot report on what they're experiencing? Do you do a proxy interview? Do you interview their family members? There are many barriers and challenges. That's not to say one shouldn't measure it, but to create...an overall prevalence of seniors in an institution and their levels of abuse is challenging.