Marie Beaulieu speaks during a federal government consultation on adopting a policy definition of senior abuse towards older adults in Canada. (July 2021)

The Honourable Deb Schulte, Minister of Seniors in Canada, launched a two-stage national consultation aiming to create a standard federal policy definition of senior abuse.

On June 29, 2021, the first phase involved inviting participants to a round-table discussion of the elements that should be found in a strategic definition of mistreatment, its significance in writing federal public policy on the subject, and its widespread effects in the field.

A series of questions guided the exchanges at the virtual round table. The content included the importance of this social problem in Canada, the use of a term other than ’senior abuse’ to define the problem, the distinctions in related concepts (exploitation, abuse, neglect, etc.), the importance of data collection to draft social policy on the subject, etc.

Within the second phase, an online consultation in the form of a survey is open to all individuals and organisations wishing to share their reflections. The survey is available until July 22, 2021, at the following link to the Government of Canada website.