Elder Abuse a Hidden Crime

Bruce Campion-Smith, wrote an article that was published in the Toronto Star on November 17 concerning the release of the Parliamentary Committee on Palliative and Compassionate Care report in Ottawa Canada last week. The article titled: Elder Abuse: A 'Hidden Crime': MP says - looked at the recommendations in the Parliamentary committee report and the comments made by Frank Valeriote (Lib) MP Guelph.

The article states:

A criminal crackdown and greater public awareness are needed to combat the growing problem of elder abuse in Canada, which leaves thousands of seniors “wounded and frightened” every year, a new study says.

Just as society turned a blind eye to child and spousal abuse decades ago, abused seniors are suffering from the same neglect today, warns an all-party committee of MPs.

Their report issued Thursday calls for a “cultural transformation” to ensure that elder abuse is seen as “absolutely unacceptable.”


The report estimates that 400,000 seniors have been abused in Canada, often by someone they know — a family member, caregiver, neighbour or landlord.

Frank Valeriote MP

The article then quotes Valeriote who stated:

“I’m shocked at the lack of awareness. If we can build awareness and just make it wrong, the way we did with spousal and child abuse then people will be more apt to break the cycle of silence,” Liberal MP Frank Valeriote said.

“That’s why there is so much abuse and it’s so unreported. Seniors are vulnerable psychologically but they’re also dependent . . . they don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them,” said Valeriote, one of the co-chairs of the committee that wrote the report. 

“There’s all sorts of abuse. Landlords are abusing older people that are living in squalor conditions,” he said.

The report makes a number of recommendations to curb senior abuse, which it calls a “too often hidden crime.”

It urges Ottawa to establish a new office dedicated to combating elder abuse and suggests funding to better research the reasons behind the problem. 

It also recommends legal services for low income seniors and emergency shelters to provide safe, short-term refuge. 

It also suggests that the courts aren’t taking the problem seriously as it urges a “shift in perception” within the legal system. Rarely are abuse cases successfully prosecuted and when they are, “token” penalties are handed out.

“It is essential that Canada comes to the point where violence and abuse against elderly persons is no longer tolerated even tacitly,” it says.