Elder abuse on the rise in Niagara

While Niagara Regional Police investigations into reports of elder abuse more than doubled in the past few years, there’s likely far more incidents going unreported, said Dion McParland.

McParland, who leads the Niagara Elder Abuse Prevention Network, said there are likely many more cases than the 100 elder abuse incidents Niagara police investigated in 2022 — up from 68 in 2021 and 49 in 2020 according to a report presented at Thursday’s police

services board meeting.

“When I look at my numbers, there are much more,” McParland said. “Elder abuse is so under-reported … I think the numbers are much higher than what we’re all seeing.”

While the police report partly attributed the increase in elder abuse investigations to greater awareness in the community, McParland said she too has been working to draw attention to the issue — providing education to numerous sectors of the community, from service organizations to financial institutions.

“People are just now getting a better appreciation of what it looks like in our communities. It’s a global issue,” she said, adding it has also drawn the attention of the World Health Organization.

“It’s always been there, but people are becoming much more aware and alerted to it,” McParland said.

However, she said there’s still a lot of work to do to shed light on the complex issue that can manifest itself in numerous ways such as neglect, emotional, financial and even physical abuse.

McParland said there’s also usually more than one form of abuse occurring concurrently.

“If there one type of abuse happening, there are others. They don’t happen in silos and if we just look at one, we’re not seeing all that’s going on for that older adult and what that vulnerability looks like.”

Elder abuse cases typical require trust or dependency between victims and perpetrators — such as family members or caregivers.

“When it’s someone you trust and know who keeps coming back to the well, so to speak, defrauding an older adult and playing on their vulnerability and their trust, then we’ve crossed over into elder abuse,” said McParland.

In some cases, she said the abuse elderly people can face does not warrant criminal charges, but can still have a devastating effect.

“There’s a grey area. Elder abuse is different than other types of abuse, it’s so multilayered and multifaceted. It’s very hard for the police especially because if it doesn’t fit into the black and white of the criminal code it really ties their hands,” she said. “I often get calls from family or neighbours with those concerns. They say they called the police, but the police didn’t do anything … I have to clarify that it’s not the police didn’t do anything, it’s just not clear how it fits under the criminal code at this time.”

In those cases, she said the focus needs to be on preventing the abuse from ever escalating to the level that it becomes a criminal offence, “and also stop it in its tracks so it doesn’t continue.”

Police services board member David Eke said the elder abuse report was one of several presented during the meeting that “directly address issues that are of concern to our residents.”

The Niagara-on-the-Lake resident said the reports “outline the necessary training and procedures that are in compliance with police service bylaws.”

“I raise these comments to inform and highlight to our citizens the policing actions that support and address their concerns and issues,” Eke said..

“I hope that many of our residents and citizens will read these reports to understand and educate themselves of the roles that police perform to keep them safe.”

While police also credited the increased number of elder abuse investigations to a provincial requirement for licensed long-term care homes to immediately report any alleged, suspected or witnessed incident of abuse or neglect of residents to police, McParland said that requirement should also be expanded.

She said reporting of suspected elder abuse is only required for organizations that receive provincial funding for the services they provide, or healthcare professionals who are required to report suspected incidents through their colleges.

“Other than that, there is no mandatory reporting,” she said.

McParland urged people to report suspected incidents of elder abuse to police, or Crime Stoppers for people who wish to remain anonymous.

She also suggested calling agencies associated with Niagara Elder Abuse Prevention Network, including the Alzheimer Society of Niagara at 905-6873914, Niagara Region Seniors Community Programs at 905984-6900 and Centre de santé Communautaire at 905-7341141.