Status of Women committee  Thank you. Madam Chair, and members of the committee, Hello. I’m Police Constable Patricia Fleischmann and I am the coordinator for the Elder Abuse Unit. I am honoured to be here and to share what I’ve learned about this problem with you. My presentation relates strictly to

Status of Women committee  --while others might suggest justice practitioners go above and beyond and provide even greater accommodation in offering assistance. Indisputably, the criminal justice system will be tested in its recognition of and response to elder abuse, given changing demographics, governme

Status of Women committee  Unfortunately, what I have seen and read is that elder abuse sentences, when there are registered convictions, tend to be on the lighter side. Also, I have often seen these charges reduced, or perhaps a plea bargain is arranged and no conviction is registered. It is troubling to

Status of Women committee  I'm going to respond to that in a somewhat different way. Unfortunately, elder abuse as a crime is considerably under-reported. When it is under-reported, it is underinvestigated, and it follows that it will be underprosecuted. When reports are taken seriously at all times; and a

Status of Women committee  There certainly are projects specific to financial abuse, one in particular through the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly, which you may have heard of already. I am working on that project in Toronto, assisting and delivering the criminal justice portion of that par

Status of Women committee  The National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly, an organization whose acronym is NICE, is involved with many intervention tools for community service providers, including the police. The financial literacy part of that is currently available right now in Toronto as well as V

Status of Women committee  In relation to Toronto Police, that's all I can refer to. The numbers are very low. From my conversations with colleagues across the country and indeed around the world, this is something that is not particularly common. But I believe we will see more of it.

Status of Women committee  I think there is increasing awareness.

Status of Women committee  It's often said that with elder abuse, we are where we were with domestic violence back in the 1960s and 1970s. So perhaps it is a matter of time before we will get to the point where elder abuse is taken as seriously as domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault. When w

Status of Women committee  I think it's something that happens in all areas. We are talking about an understanding, an awareness, of the issues. We are talking about ongoing education and training. This is something that needs to be repeated as more information becomes available. As we learn new things, as

Status of Women committee  Many police services provide internal training. Certainly in Toronto I have spoken to our police recruit classes. I speak to our diversity class. I speak to our crime prevention class. At the Ontario Police College, over the last several years, there have been regular elder abuse

Status of Women committee  Absolutely.

Status of Women committee  I present at our internal courses and I talk about ageism. I share with them examples and I stress the importance of maintaining professionalism in their investigations. It is my hope that through sharing these examples, officers will realize that we cannot engage in these types

Status of Women committee  Every province has different provincial statutes. I believe in British Columbia, for example, there is a mandated response. I certainly can't speak to that because I'm not from British Columbia. I believe it relates to service providers and it may be for health care practitioners

Status of Women committee  It certainly would be helpful. But I should mention that in Ontario in July 2010, the Long-Term Care Homes Act was an amalgamation of three different provincial statutes. There is now mandated elder abuse reporting within long-term care. There is a section in that legislation tha