This committee has also heard from Dr. Lynn McDonald, from the national initiative for the care of the elderly. She was given a half a million dollars from HRSDC, which is great, to create the tool for defining and measuring elder abuse.
She said, though, that without a study of prevalence, she has no idea how to best put this tool to practice. She says the last study of prevalence was done in 1999, and it wasn't very good from a research perspective. I noticed that you also stated in your presentation to the committee that there's a lack of research being done in terms of seniors' abuse. Dr. McDonald said, and I quote: “If we don't know the nature of the problem, we don't know what type of treatment to offer people. If we don't know the nature of the problem, we don't know who is eligible for services”.
Do you know when there will be a study of prevalence for elder abuse in Canada?