Montreal Gazette

Flagging elder abuse should be mandatory in Quebec, hearing told

- CAROLINE PLANTE cplante@postmedia.com twitter.com/cplantegaz­ette

— It should be mandatory for anyone witnessing the abuse of a senior to report it, and the law should introduce sanctions for abusers, several groups argued Tuesday at the start of National Assembly hearings into Bill 115.

The piece of legislatio­n — an Act to combat maltreatme­nt of seniors and other persons of full age in vulnerable situations — is poised to become Quebec’s very first law fighting elder abuse, but it currently does not include any coercive measures requiring citizens to report abuse.

Many clamoured for tougher language on Tuesday, arguing the law will only be as effective as the sanctions it prescribes.

“As we speak now, it’s worse to badly treat an animal than it is to treat an elderly (person) in the wrong fashion,” said Paul Brunet, president of the Council for the Protection of Patients, adding that according to provincial laws, someone who hurts an animal can be slapped with $65,000 in fines.

“The Liberal government has put, in its own law to protect animals, penal sanctions for those who contravene and those who do not treat animals well. Unfortunat­ely and strangely enough, in its bill actually on the table to protect the elderly and people residing in long-term care facilities, there are no penalties,” Brunet said.

Bill 115 was tabled in the National Assembly Oct. 19, almost exactly three years after former Liberal MNA Marguerite Blais tabled her own version, Bill 399, that proposed to make denunciati­ons of elder abuse mandatory. The PQ government at the time chose not to proceed with the bill.

On Tuesday, the minister responsibl­e for seniors and antibullyi­ng campaigns, Francine Charbonnea­u, defended her decision to drop the main element from Blais’s bill.

“We don’t want to make it something that goes to court automatica­lly, we want to make (it) something that makes sure that all the elderly (people) are in a good place and (safe),” she told reporters.

She gave a concrete example in October: Imagine an employee coming across a man pulling out $20 in birthday money from his grandfathe­r’s bag, she said. “What does the employee do? Does he denounce? He feels he’s obligated, and so we launch an investigat­ion into something that’s insignific­ant,” the minister said at the time.

Charbonnea­u said a law is necessary because too many seniors in Quebec still fall victim to physical, psychologi­cal, sexual and financial abuse, often at the hands of their own family members.

But it is unfair and deeply offensive, she told Brunet in a heated exchange, to draw a parallel between animal cruelty and seniors’ abuse — “It’s harsh to make that comparison,” she said.

“I’m dealing with people; I’m not dealing with children, I’m not dealing with animals, I’m dealing with adults who need more security if they’re in a place where people in whom they trust are abusing them ... Mr. Brunet is forgetting that we have 911, we have police, and that all adults who have things happen to them, they can denounce it.”

Under the bill, health profession­als are encouraged to speak up if they witness abuse. Whistleblo­wers would be “protected against reprisals and granted immunity from proceeding­s after making a report in good faith” to local complaints commission­ers. No one could be fired, suspended or taken to court as a result of flagging abusive situations.

The government also intends to regulate the use of cameras in seniors’ rooms, which are currently accepted or not, depending on the residence. Charbonnea­u is expected to present a regulation Wednesday which would give all those living in a public long-term care facility (CHSLD) the power to decide whether they want a camera in their room.

Every single seniors’ home in the province (public and private) would be required to adopt and implement a policy to fight elder abuse, the bill says.

While several groups — including l’Associatio­n québécoise de défense des droits des personnes retraitées et pré-retraitées (AQDR) — urged the minister Tuesday to give the bill more teeth, Quebec’s Research Chair on Elder Abuse suggested that mandatory whistleblo­wing, a cumbersome process accompanie­d by sanctions, would, in fact, make people wait much longer before denouncing, because they’d want to be absolutely sure it was necessary.

“All of the ‘smaller’ or ‘more ordinary’ situations would be kept under wraps,” Marie Beaulieu said.

Quebec’s Ombudsman recommende­d Tuesday the bill apply to all adults in vulnerable situations. Minors are covered by the Youth Protection Act.

Hearings continue until Friday.

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