Thank you very much for inviting me. It's a great pleasure to appear before you.
I come out of 25 years of working in the violence against women sector. Latterly in my retirement, I have started to work on issues relating to seniors because I am one, so part of this is out of self-interest as well.
In 2002, the Ontario government, as a result of advice from the private and public sectors through the Round Table on Elder Abuse, launched the first strategy to combat elder abuse in Canada. ONPEA was given the responsibility of implementing the strategy. Its key elements include education for front-line staff, strengthening community resources, and coordination of public awareness to raise awareness with respect to elder abuse.
Seven regional consultants are our key resources. Of the seven, two are francophone consultants and one is a multicultural consultant.
They support local elder abuse committees and networks. They strengthen partnerships among them. They facilitate and undertake education and training initiatives for professionals, volunteers, and seniors. They promote information sharing. They also are helpful in developing model protocols and assisting in grant writing.
Ontario’s regional abuse consultants are organized by region, namely: northwest, northeast, west, central west, central east, east, and the Greater Toronto Area.
In addition to implementing the strategy, ONPEA supports a growing number of vital projects and research. In your packet, there should be a very long list of many of our initiatives. More can be found on our website at www.onpea.org. I would like to briefly highlight three.
One is that we support 55 regional networks in Ontario. This is a collaborative approach. I'm sure you are hearing a lot about regional networks. They are local. They are comprised of health services, social services, police, seniors, and justice, and they are really, if you like, the front window of services to the elderly. I'll talk a little more later about this, but most of these networks are unfunded and operate through the good graces of a lot of community support.
The second thing I want to talk about is the Senior Safety Line, which was launched in 2009 through an Ontario Trillium grant. This line operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in over 150 languages, and is answered by professionals. It is a partnership that we have with the Assaulted Women’s Helpline.
It’s the only line of its kind in Ontario and it's running at capacity. This is due to the fact that we have only one dedicated line. In the three years we've been in operation, we've received over 10,000 calls, and we can't grow any more without adding capacity. The safety line funding runs out in a few months and needs support now, not only to fund a second line, but just to keep the current one going.
Calls are primarily from seniors--very often, women. We had anticipated that calls might be from referral sources, but they're not. They're from women themselves.
We have a huge database that can connect these seniors with resources all over the province.
The last thing I want to highlight is something called “Free From Harm”, which is a best practices guide for women who have experienced abuse, which we released in 2007.
Its undertaking was compelled by social and cultural impacts of an aging population, the demonstrable need for improved public awareness of elder abuse generally, and the unique characteristics and needs associated with older women and the services provided to them.
The goal was to produce a guide. It was a collaborative effort among ourselves, the Ontario Seniors' Secretariat, and the Sheridan Elder Research Centre.
The initial years of the undertaking were spent examining the literature. We held consultation sessions all across Ontario with older women, most of whom were survivors of abuse. We held regional consultation sessions across Ontario with more than 100 representatives of community agencies that work with older women, had discussions with several key informants, and got input from a 21-member steering committee.
The proposals were grounded in two fundamental principles. The first was that issues having to do with abuse of older women are rooted in matters of interpersonal power and control. The second was that community coordination was an essential component of an effective approach to the abuse of older women. Older women should be able to access services and support programs at many different entry points, including services in both the violence against women sector and the seniors sector.
Ontario, like every other province, is facing a growing elderly population. By 2026 in Canada, one in five will have reached that age. We do not have any specific definition, but we do use the World Health Organization's definition of elder abuse, which basically defines abuse of older adults as “a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring in any relationship where there was an expectation of trust that causes harm or distress to an older person”.
It's plain that abuse can take many forms other than physical; it can be sexual, psychological, emotional, or financial, or neglect or a violation of human and civil rights. It can take place in the home, in a residential setting, and in the community.
Financial abuse is by far the most common. According to Statistics Canada, it's estimated at between 4% and 10%. You've heard that statistic. We know that it's under-reported. We know it's higher. Two-thirds of those who reported physical abuse indicated that they were abused by a family member. The incidence for women is higher than it is for men. When family members were reported as the abuser, it was most often carried out by adult children.
We use the age of 65 in our study. That's our point of departure, although we recognize that we may have to look at that in the future. We did that because, by reason of their age and isolation, women are more likely to be susceptible to the conditions of abuse. By reason of their numbers alone, older women are statistically more likely to be subjected to abuse. Women represent the majority of seniors living alone, a status that frequently results in social isolation and the potential for neglect or harm.
The literature identifies many factors that prevent women from coming forward. We've already spoken about some of them, but if it is abuse grown old, it's often normalized in the mind of the woman. She doesn't see it or define it as abuse.
Another major barrier is the lack of access to accurate information and to the support services that are available. This is particularly true in immigrant communities. Many older victims do not seek services from agencies, such as police or health care professionals, and when they do seek help, they are sometimes faced with having no service available in their community or with service providers and systems that are not prepared to meet their needs. Hence, they do not continue to seek service.
Older women face economic barriers. While abused women of all ages can face financial barriers, older women may have already been living below the poverty line.
For those living in rural communities, transportation can be a major factor in seeking services, attending community programs, or even seeing their doctors.
Recently we have become aware that many seniors lack the resources to have land lines. If they live with children, those children take the cellphone when they leave for work, leaving the senior even more at risk.
Again, it is important to recognize the diversity of older women in looking at their unique needs. In each community, there will be additional obstacles that older women face. For francophone women and French-speaking immigrants, the availability of French language services may pose difficult challenges that further isolate them.
However, the good news is that despite the numerous obstacles and barriers they face, the strength and resilience of older survivors is important to recognize. Many older people are independent and active, make changes in their lives, and are making contributions to their community and to the economy of this country. The current perspective on aging is one of liability, and this negative view needs to be altered to a much more realistic view.
What's needed? We've grouped them into five: research, raising public awareness, professional training, community coordination, and enhanced support.
What are the most important? We believe that education must take place across the lifespan, starting in primary school. We believe that professional programs in colleges and universities in nursing, medicine, social work, law, and law enforcement should include education and training on the abuse of older women, and appropriate responses.
We believe that long-term funding must be made available to establish and maintain programs to support older women on an ongoing basis--as opposed to grants, which are great, but they do run out—such as our provincial safety line.
Lastly, we call for an aging strategy for Canada that highlights the challenges for older women. However, the strategy must be comprehensive and cut across the silos to include other levels of government and the private sector. We want to create communities that capitalize on the strengths of our changing age structure and provide supports for those requiring assistance.
Thank you.
