NDP want public inquiry to look at other long-term-care issues, including beatings
An Ontario NDP motion to expand the scope of a public inquiry into safety and security in the province’s long-term-care homes has passed despite Liberal opposition.
The motion is non-binding, but the NDP vows to press the government on it.
Families supporting the motion attended Queen’s Park Thursday. Among them was Tammy Carbino, whose father James Acker was brutally attacked by a fellow resident at St. Joseph’s Villa in Dundas in February and died in April from his injuries.
In August, the province launched a public inquiry into the policies, procedures and oversight of longterm-care homes. It focused on issues that may have led to the assault and death of residents under the care of nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer, who murdered eight elderly residents. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The NDP motion is to expand the inquiry’s focus to include quality of care, staffing levels and government funding of long-term-care homes.
In the legislature, NDP leader and Hamilton Centre MPP Andrea Horwath referenced the beating of James Acker among other cases of violence and neglect.
Carbino told The Spectator she left feeling “pretty discouraged at the way the minister” (Minister of Health Eric Hoskins) responded in Question Period and for insisting the inquiry is looking into the broader issues.
Carbino said 22 families were there and they all found it “disconcerting and, to be honest, pretty insulting.”
Despite that, she vowed to keep fighting to improve the system.
“I will forever be haunted by the images of my father’s beaten face … and it breaks my heart I couldn’t give him a happy home in his final months. I’m determined to make it better for the next family.”
Hoskins defended the inquiry’s scope. Led by Justice Eileen Gillese, it will have a broader scope than a police investigation or prosecution, he said.
“It will not only look into what occurred, but also look for any underlying issues that need to be addressed to ensure that the objectives of the Long-Term Care Homes Act were and are being met and will make recommendations as to how to address them,” Hoskins said.
Although the motion is nonbinding, NDP spokesperson Steve Piazza said it did express “the will of the legislature.”
The NDP will now keep on the government to expand the inquiry, he added.
cfragomeni@thespec.com 905-526-3392 | @CarmatTheSpec With files from The Canadian Press