DEMANDING ACCOUNTABILITY

Hours after Elizabeth Wettlaufer, the Ontario nurse who murdered eight nursing home patients between 2007 and 2014, was sentenced to 25 years in prison, CARP publicly called on Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, demanding to know how such an atrocity could happen.

The letter to the premier (which was co-signed by CARP and the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly) pulled no punches. It called for an immediate public inquiry to investigate “the systemic failures that permitted these heinous crimes to occur and to go completely unnoticed until Ms. Wettlaufer confessed.” The letter demanded that the province look into the long-term care homes where the murders took place, the long-term care inspection process, the College of Nurses disciplinary process, the Office of the Chief Coroner’s report system and the duties of third parties to report abuse.

On Aug. 1, the government announced it had appointed Justice Eileen Gillese to lead the inquiry. Gillese will provide recommendations to improve the safety and well-being of residents.