Quebec OKs cameras in long-term care homes
Quebec unveiled new rules Tuesday governing the use of surveillance cameras in the province’s long-term care facilities and an advocate for Ontario’s elderly says the Ontario government should consider doing the same.
The new Quebec rules, which come into effect on March 7, give the green light for long-term care residents to install cameras or use smartphones for video surveillance, with or without permission from the institutions. But the cameras can only be used to monitor the residents’ well-being and must not be used to spy on roommates or others.
The Quebec regulations make the rules clear for everyone on a subject that Canadian law is otherwise largely silent on, said Jane Meadus, a lawyer with Torontobased Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE).
“It would be very helpful. We certainly see that things are all over the map,” Meadus said. “We’ve had people (in Ontario) who were told by homes, ‘You can’t use (cameras),’ and I think the Quebec government has decided to clarify that. They said, ‘Yes, you have the right and these are the situations.’ They gave it some parameters and that’s a good thing.”
The Quebec regulations say residents need permission from any roommates before installing cameras and require the institution to post signs saying that the area may be under video surveillance, without identifying where the cameras are.
Francine Charbonneau, Quebec’s minister responsible for seniors, said the new rules balance patients’ right to have their security monitored while protecting the reputations of staff.
More Ontario long-term care residents and their families are turning to video surveillance after a number of high-profile incidents of elder abuse, Meadus said.
Last year, a personal support worker at Ottawa’s Garry J. Armstrong long-term care home was convicted of assault after he was caught on video repeatedly punching a resident with dementia. In another case, at the city-run Peter D. Clark home, a PSW called an elderly woman her “bitch” and saying, “Why is it taking you so long to die?”
Both incidents were recorded by cameras installed by the residents’ family members.
Using video surveillance is legal in Canada, although the Canadian Criminal Code makes it illegal to record audio without the consent of at least one person in the conversation. That’s a problem if the resident is not in the room at the time or is unaware their family has installed a camera, Meadus said.
“It has to be used for the safety of the person. It’s not there, for example, to see if mom has a boyfriend. You have to make sure you’re using it for appropriate purposes.”
ACE posts advice about video surveillance on its website. Its position is that residents and families have the right to record video, regardless of what the institution says. If the resident isn’t mentally capable, the decision on video surveillance belongs to his or her substitute decision-maker, she said.
Regulations like Quebec’s “ensure everyone is playing by the same rules,” she said.
In some cases, families install video cameras secretly, but Meadus cautioned that will only work once. In one case, a secret video camera recorded workers disconnecting a resident’s call button at night. The video evidence was given to the institution and the workers were disciplined. After that, workers blocked the camera with a pillow, she said. Still, an open camera can catch offences as workers become used to it or forget it’s there.
A spokeswoman for Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Eric Hoskins said the ministry has no plans for a similar regulation in Ontario. However, it is open to discussion, she said.