‘ It’s wildly underreported’

Up to one in 10 Canadian senior citizens experiences some form of elder abuse, according to Statistics Canada.

“What’s scary about that number,” said Wanda Morris, of CARP Canada, a non- profit organization that advocates on behalf of Canadian seniors, "is that we believe it’s also wildly under- reported."

Quebec has a hotline in place for elder abuse: 514489- 2287 or 1- 888- 4892287.

In most cases, the person being abused knows the abuser or is even a direct family member.

The same way someone might not report a case of spousal abuse to avoid their partner facing repercussions, a senior might not want to report his or her children, nieces or nephews. For those being taken care of at home, they might fear that reporting it could mean being moved into a residence, and would rather put up with the abuse.

“It’s a very complex issue,” Morris said, adding that financial abuse is the most reported form.

Often the most vulnerable seniors are those who don’t have strong social circles — seniors whose friends have all died or who are estranged from their families.

“Loneliness is the worst malady,” said Ann Soden, lawyer and founder of Montreal’s Elder Law Clinic.

Soden often works with clients who have been deemed incapable despite not actually being so. She says it can happen when a person is evaluated when they’re depressed or sick.

Many just need to be followed to see if they will improve, Soden said.

It’s not rare for people to be re- evaluated and deemed capable or at least much more capable than they were first given credit for.

Soden said many seniors fear being looked at in a negative light if they admit to feeling incapable in some way, but it should be the opposite.

“It’s a sign of great wisdom when a person says they need help at a certain point because they can’t handle it on their own anymore,” she said.

Incapacity mandates, sometimes called protection mandates, are documents that allow seniors to name the person who will be put in charge of their personal protection and administration of their property in case they one day become incapable. Choosing the right person is a critical decision, Soden said.

As of April 2015, there were more than 12,000 incapacity mandates in effect in Quebec, according to Quebec’s public curator spokesperson Pierre- Luc Lévesque. In the last year, 14 cases of possible financial abuse were investigated. Six proved unfounded; the others showed abuse or are still being investigated.