Status of Women Committee on Nov. 3rd, 2011

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

Ms. Healey, do you have any idea what dollar amount of that budget was put toward elder abuse advertising in particular?

[Jacques Paquette]

It's very much in line with what was done during the federal elder abuse initiative, so we're probably around the $4 million mark for the campaign. There are the two campaigns, because as I said, there is one round in November, and there will be another one in January. January's will specifically target financial abuse issues.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

Financial abuse? That's the upcoming ad campaign?

[Jacques Paquette]

There is one in November, which is the rerun of what we have. January's will be a new one specifically targeting financial abuse issues.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, NDP, Niki Ashton]

We're over time, actually. Thank you very much, Ms. Ambler.

That concludes our panel.

Thank you very much, Ms. Healey.

Thank you, Mr. Paquette. Did you have something to add?

[Jacques Paquette]

Yes. We'll leave behind a little card that we produced. I'm speaking to the MPs, in a way. You might find it useful. There are two pages here showing all of the elder abuse provincial resources, and when people are coming to your offices and you're wondering who to refer them to, you might find that useful.

[The Chair, NDP, Niki Ashton]

That's excellent. Thank you. We'll take it from here; I'm assuming it's bilingual. If I can grab it, the clerk will take it and we'll disseminate it.

Thank you very much.

We'll break for a few minutes for our next panel.

[The Chair, NDP, Niki Ashton]

I think we can get started. Our witnesses and our guests who are here today seem to be ready.

I'd like to begin by welcoming our two panellists from the RCMP, Brenda Butterworth-Carr, chief superintendent and director general of the national aboriginal policing services, and Barbara McMorrow, constable, policy and program analyst, national aboriginal policing services, contract and aboriginal policing.

I understand, Ms. Butterworth-Carr, that you will be making the presentation. You have 10 minutes. We're looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you.

[C/Supt Brenda Butterworth-Carr, Chief Superintendent, Director General, National Aboriginal Policing and Crime Prevention Services, Royal Canadian Mounted Police]

Madam Chair and members of the committee, thank you very much for the opportunity to come and speak with you today.

As indicated, my name is Brenda Butterworth-Carr. I have approximately 24 years with the RCMP, and I'm currently the director general of the national aboriginal policing and crime prevention services.

The RCMP recognizes that elder abuse is an unfortunate reality in our society. With an increasing aging population, this issue is and will continue to be a focus of our organization.

What are we doing about it?

In 2008, the Government of Canada announced the RCMP's national crime prevention services as a partner in the federal elder abuse initiative.

The RCMP coordinates activities in support of this initiative in three important ways: one, developing prevention, public awareness, and internal police awareness programs; two, conducting research, needs assessments, and environmental scans; and three, identifying tools, information, resources, and best practices to enhance our police tool box, which assists our officers in dealing with elder abuse.

At the national level, the RCMP also provides support to RCMP divisions across Canada.

The RCMP has over 750 detachments, and it is our members at the local level who conduct investigations into reports of elder abuse in our communities. They also carry out elder abuse awareness initiatives pursuant to the RCMP's crime prevention mandate. The following are a few examples of what is carried out at the divisional level.

In Newfoundland, they partnered with the local seniors resource centre, health care agencies, and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary to develop a publication titled, Looking Beyond the Hurt: A Service Provider's Guide to Elder Abuse. The guide informs professionals on the dynamics of elder abuse as well as the support and services available within the community.

In Manitoba, the RCMP collaborated with the Winnipeg Police Service and partner agencies to develop the "It's Everybody's Business" video, which is designed to get the word out that the prevention of elder abuse really is everybody's business. Manitoba RCMP also partnered with seniors and students to develop the Seniors are Cool program. The program promotes discussion with students on issues such as abuse and neglect and focuses on what students can do to promote respect for older adults.

Within the Yukon Territory, the RCMP created a family violence manual that includes information on the many forms of elder abuse, such as psychological, financial, and sexual abuse, as well as various forms of neglect.

While the RCMP takes great strides to promote elder abuse awareness and prevention, we recognize that we simply cannot do it alone. We stress the importance of establishing networks and/or formal partnerships with external community partners that can assist us in conducting research on elder abuse and delivering prevention and awareness programs.

I'll take a moment to highlight two such partnerships.

In 2009, the RCMP was one of three partners in a national project entitled, “Seniors Learning and Knowledge Exchange Program: A National Senior Abuse Response/Prevention Project”. The RCMP elder abuse coordinator was the lead police representative for the project. Upon completion of the project, the RCMP then initiated dialogue with other specialized senior abuse units within seven other partnering police agencies.

The RCMP is partnering with the National Institute for the Care of the Elderly, also known as NICE. NICE is a non-government agency made up of an international network of researchers, practitioners, students, and seniors dedicated to improving the care of older adults in Canada and abroad. The RCMP has reviewed and approved three tools developed by NICE for distribution to front-line RCMP officers across the country. They include: the Elder Abuse Assessment and Intervention Reference Guide; the Resources for Older Women guidebook; and the officers' investigation guide, Theft by Persons Holding Power of Attorney.

In addition to the programs and initiatives I have touched on, both the RCMP's internal and external national websites host information dedicated to the general awareness of the forms, signs, and impact of elder abuse. We also prominently feature information on elder abuse during Elder Abuse Awareness Day in June of each year.

The RCMP national crime prevention services have also developed the Seniors' Guidebook to Safety and Security, which you have all received a copy of today. The publication was recently updated to include more in-depth information on the subject of elder abuse, and it will be going to print shortly.

While the list of initiatives l have touched on today is not exhaustive, l hope it has given you some insight into the importance the RCMP places on the issue of elder abuse.

l thank you again for inviting me here. l look forward to answering your questions.

[The Chair, NDP, Niki Ashton]

Thank you very much, Ms. Butterworth-Carr.

We'll go to our first round of seven-minute questions.

Ms. Bateman.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much for being here with us today. You've provided us with excellent material. I really want to know when this is coming out in print, because this is a very useful document.

I have a number of questions and I will get in as many of them as possible.

First of all, the other day a witness said that the federal government is doing a great job of raising awareness through what we're doing on elder abuse--we had done a national advertising program--but that sometimes officers, when they receive a call, aren't ready to handle it. I'm wondering, for the benefit of the committee, if a senior calls a local RCMP detachment in Manitoba, where I come from, or anywhere in this good country, what happens? Can you walk us through what the officer does and how the officer helps a senior?

[C/Supt Brenda Butterworth-Carr]

Madam Chair, in response to the question, essentially if someone makes a complaint to any detachment within RCMP jurisdiction, they are asked a number of questions to determine the basis for the initial complaint. Through the course of that, once a determination is made, then a response is formulated. So every single call that's ever made to a policing detachment within the RCMP jurisdiction is in fact responded to.

As for members not being aware of what to do, I'm certainly unaware of that, but I do know that the responsibility is to respond to the complaint accordingly.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Okay. I'm heartened to hear that, because we had testimony just the other day from Jean-Guy Soulière, president of the National Seniors Council, who was concerned about that. I'm delighted to hear that your officers are briefed.

How are you educating the officers? Is this part of their normal training?

[C/Supt Brenda Butterworth-Carr]

We actually implement training at what's commonly referred to as Depot Division, in Regina, Saskatchewan, where we have our primary training facility. All RCMP cadets receive elder abuse training as part of the family violence initiative or the training modules that we have in the applied police sciences. They would in fact receive that in their initial training stages.

Of course, this particular module speaks to and teaches our cadets at that level how to appropriately respond to elder abuse through role-playing and with guest speakers. We have elders who actually come in on site, and members are given that first-hand experience and interaction with elders.

The cadets also have a number of reading assignments that are attached to this particular teaching module, so it's a combination of both. We have a significant number of hours dedicated to that.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

I'm so very glad to hear that they are given the tools to support the elderly.

I'm very interested in how, in your presentation, you spoke about the work you're doing in partnership with the National Institute for the Care of the Elderly and that in fact you are offering staff time to review and approve the tools they are developing. You mentioned some of them.

We understand there are about 15 federal departments and agencies working on this issue. Could you briefly talk about some of the agencies and departments you're working with in support of the federal government's elder abuse initiative?

[C/Supt Brenda Butterworth-Carr]

I'm just looking for the material to ensure that I'm providing an appropriate response.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

No worries.

[C/Supt Brenda Butterworth-Carr]

We actually sit with a multitude of representatives from each of the following departments and agencies within crime prevention services, which is the unit that I'm actually responsible for at a national level.

We participate in the federal, provincial, and territorial working group on family violence, which is led by the Department of Justice. We participate in the Family Violence Prevention Federal/Provincial/Territorial Working Group, which is led by the Public Health Agency of Canada. We participate in the family violence initiative interdepartmental working group, which is led by the Public Health Agency of Canada. We participate in the family violence sub-working group on aboriginal family violence, led by PHAC. We participate in the family violence initiative DG steering committee. We also participate in a sub-working group on honour-based violence, led by the Department of Justice.

Of course, there is another multitude of committees with which we interact, those involving: Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada; the Correctional Service of Canada; first nations and Inuit health; the Public Health Agency of Canada; Statistics Canada; Human Resources and Skills Development; Status of Women; Citizenship and Immigration Canada; Public Safety; the Department of Justice; the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation; the Department of National Defence; and provincial and territorial governments.

So I think that ultimately we participate absolutely everywhere we possibly can to ensure that we're leveraging partnerships to address this important issue.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thank you so much.

You spoke in your presentation about the Seniors Are Cool presentation or collaboration in the RCMP Manitoba detachments, for which they collaborated with the police service. Could you just talk a little bit about how you've engaged youth in this important initiative?

[C/Supt Brenda Butterworth-Carr]

Essentially, in one of our training pieces we have youth as part of a consultation piece, to ensure positive interactions between youth and our elders. The Seniors Are Cool program itself involves seniors and students and a presentation to students on seniors.

It explores the students' perceptions of seniors and what being old means to students, so it's very much an interactive dialogue among members, seniors, and students who are participating. It also promotes discussion on the meaning of bullying and explores the notion of abusing others for personal gain or neglecting the needs of others. The program focuses on what students can do to promote respect for older adults within our communities.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

What is the age target--

[The Chair, NDP, Niki Ashton]

Actually, Ms. Bateman, we're over time.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Okay. Thank you so much.

[The Chair, NDP, Niki Ashton]

Thank you very much.

We'll go now to Ms. Freeman, who will be sharing her time with Ms. Mathyssen.