Evidence of meeting #7 for Status of Women in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was seniors.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
All right. Thank you for that.
Ms. Walsh, if I may share some time here, would you feel the same? Would you feel that there are some circumstances where jail is the answer?
5:20 p.m.
Associate Professor, As an Individual
I have a hard time saying that jail is the answer.
5:20 p.m.
Associate Professor, As an Individual
Yes, I guess ever. What I'm saying is looking at some of the root causes of why people are in jail, especially aboriginal people...we've just talked a lot about structural inequities and poverty, and jail may not be the answer for most people; it may be the answer for some people.
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
As a final comment, if I may say so, it has been my experience with many of our guests thus far that the discussion of having sufficient funds for various things has come into play. Mostly it's about studies. Some--and I appreciate Ms. Dumont-Smith--are about education, both culturally and on the kinds of things that are specifically necessary. But it's actually mostly about studies.
I wonder at some point. I asked this of various needy and very worthwhile organizations in my own community: what happens if the money runs out? I'm not suggesting that's our case here. That is not the case. We have unlimited taxation in this place--
5:20 p.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP Niki Ashton
I'm sorry, Mr. Holder, but I have to ask you to wrap up. We're way past time.
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
I apologize.
We'll have to chat again. I thank you for your thoughtful testimony. I think this was helpful.
5:20 p.m.
NDP
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Ms. Dumont-Smith, I'm so thrilled to hear that the new horizons funding for the Grandmother Spirit project was a success for the community and a useful tool to launch meaningful dialogue. That's wonderful to hear.
You spoke, though, about abuse relating to medication. I want to hear a little bit about that. To me, this is a health issue. This is an issue where, as taxpayers, we're spending a lot of money on medication, and clearly you have evidence that it is being misused.
5:20 p.m.
Executive Director, Native Women's Association of Canada
Well, when I first did that paper on abuse of aboriginal elders in 2002, that never came about. We only discovered that through our Grandmother Spirit project. It was the elders who were part of that advisory group who told us this was happening in their communities.
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
You only discovered that through the new horizons project?
5:20 p.m.
Executive Director, Native Women's Association of Canada
Yes, that's very recent data, and that's from the elders themselves.
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Okay. How are you going forward with that piece?
5:20 p.m.
Executive Director, Native Women's Association of Canada
Well, the funding for this project has ended, and I'm hoping.... Our health staff are always looking for new project funding so we can address these issues, so yes—
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
But with project funding, my understanding is that the abuse of.... Give me an example of medication abuse. From your previous comments, I can't get it. Is somebody drugging grandma so they can empty her bank account, perhaps?
5:20 p.m.
Executive Director, Native Women's Association of Canada
Yes--or take her things. The problem of alcohol and drugs--especially drugs--in the communities is no secret. It's rampant. It's not the street drugs now; it's the prescription drugs.
I was at a meeting last week in Quebec and it's a problem everywhere. It's mostly the young folk who are consuming any kind of medication they can to get high. OxyContin is one that's at the fore, and there are all the other medications. That's what's happening. That's the reality in 2011 in our aboriginal communities. They're stealing money to get the drugs--
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
And then they're stealing the drugs, because there might be an individual who is an elderly person and who needs the OxyContin for a particular reason. I just don't understand how a study is going to help solve that problem. Could you help me understand that?
5:20 p.m.
Executive Director, Native Women's Association of Canada
Well, I don't think I was saying.... I'm saying that we have to raise the awareness of aboriginal elder abuse in communities. We need money to do that. We need money to have campaigns—
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
I hear you, but we had a number of testimonials from various witnesses last year. I'm sure you're aware that in 2008 the Government of Canada launched the federal elder abuse initiative, and we invested $13 million in a successful multi-departmental initiative for enhancing and increasing the awareness.
We heard testimony last week and the previous week from people who were saying holy smokes, when those advertisements came out on television, they couldn't handle the demand on the lines for help, which speaks to the fact that there's a large problem out there, one that we're trying to grapple with and determine, and it's not just in the aboriginal community. There's a lot of elder abuse. It also speaks to the impact of that advertising campaign.
5:25 p.m.
Executive Director, Native Women's Association of Canada
Well, I have no doubt that the campaign worked, but did it work in the aboriginal community? That's my question.
5:25 p.m.
Executive Director, Native Women's Association of Canada
I don't know that. Maybe it was very effective in a non-aboriginal.... Did it work? We don't know that.
5:25 p.m.
Associate Professor, As an Individual
May I make a comment?
I think raising awareness does not mean that you've prevented the problem. People are coming forward, and you're able to intervene, but you're not—
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
5:25 p.m.
Associate Professor, As an Individual
Yes, but it doesn't mean that you've measured the extent of the problem or that you've put in interventions that do reduce the problem.
I think it's a great campaign--that it's finally on the agenda of most people, or that they have some greater understanding. Because, like my colleague said, many people in general--or older people--don't even understand what elder abuse is. That's one thing that was really important with that campaign: people are more able to recognize it.