In a situation where someone doesn't have the ability to testify.... We see this not just with seniors but also with victims in general. It's about compiling data that shows all the signs that lead to this. You just listed a lot of those things. When we're looking at financial availability.... We're talking about pensions. How much access do they have to dollars that could support them? How much are they supported by external supports, even just community supports? When I look at the domestic violence world in Alberta, I see that there are a lot of supports, but specific supports for seniors are not identified or made broad enough, so they're not aware of them.
We're at a point where we need to take care of our seniors. Maybe we need to do more on our end to make sure they have access to those specific supports, because they don't always know how to go out and get them. As I said before, it's not always intimate partner violence. Sometimes it's interfamily violence, where you have kids stopping them from accessing those. It's about more funding to support seniors shelters—not that I wish we had more seniors shelters. It's about doing that work for them when they don't have the ability to do it at that stage of their lives.
