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Elder financial abuse a major issue
71 per cent of 500 older adults surveyed said elder abuse is a problem in the NWT

Sarah Ferguson
Northern News Services
Published Monday, June 13, 2011

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
A vast majority of NWT residents 50 and older who responded to a recent survey reported elder abuse is an issue in their communities.

NNSL photo/graphic

Melissa Hardisty-Beaverho is a rehabilitation aide for the elders care home in Fort Simpson and is spearheading efforts to stop elder abuse in her community. - NNSL file photo

Seventy-one per cent of 500 interviewees from 11 NWT communities made the claim, according a 2011 report published by the NWT Seniors' Society, titled Making Connections: building networks to prevent abuse of older adults.

Angus Mackay, director of educational programming for the NWT Seniors' Society, said elder abuse encompasses a variety of acts, including physical, mental and sexual abuse, but he emphasized the most prominent form suffered by the elderly in the NWT is financial abuse.

"We have heard many firsthand accounts of elderly members of the community whose relatives take advantage of their pension cheques, or who are victims of phone scams, Ponzi schemes or who are given counterfeit money in exchange for real money," he said. "It's a subtle form of abuse, so it's hard to track it statistically because it doesn't get reported."

Mackay said, in response to those statistics, the NWT Seniors' Society has declared the week of June 12 to 18 NWT Elder Abuse Awareness Week.

In the past, the NWT would recognize World Elder Abuse Awareness Day to focus on the issue of elder abuse in the territory. However, during a symposium held in Yellowknife last December to promote awareness of the abuse of older adults, it was decided to extend the day to one week, said Mackay.

"Participants in the symposium kept asking us, 'Why is just one day being devoted to elder abuse when it is becoming a growing issue in the Territories?' We felt compelled to extend the event," he said. "When it comes to elder abuse in the Territories, and in Canada as a whole, there is no record of how the elderly are affected by the abuse that they suffer."

Ruthie Goose, community health representative for Tsiigehtchic, said it is important to acknowledge elder abuse happens in Northern communities.

"Many elders are abused in their own homes, or even by family members. They get bullied, and sometimes out of fear, the elder will do nothing. It's a cycle, and the cycle can only be broken by promoting community awareness," she said.

As a precursor to Elder Abuse Awareness Week, Goose said workers at the Tsiigehtchic community health centre and the residents of Tsiigehtchic gathered at the end of April to pay their respects to 26

elders in the community.

"We wanted to keep things positive," she said

Goose said her community also held a luncheon for the elders and called it "The Celebration of Life."

"We went door to door with handmade invitations, gathered biographies of the elders, and the biographies were read aloud in front of the community; after that, each elder was presented with an engraved plaque," she said. "We wanted the elders (in the community) to know that if they are being abused, we are here to help."

Melissa Hardisty-Beaverho, rehabilitation aide at the Fort Simpson long term care centre, made an extra effort to involve her community with Elder Abuse Awareness Week.

"I wrote letters to different businesses and organizations in the community to remind them that making everyone aware of elder abuse is a community effort, and the response has been very good," she said.

Hardisty-Beaverho said Elder Abuse Awareness Week events were to begin on Sunday in Fort Simpson with a "feed the fire" celebration. This week's events will also include a tea and muffin gathering, bingo for the elders, a luncheon hosted by Dehcho First Nations and several other gathering opportunities.

"We need to make everyone aware that elder abuse exists; it has a long history, even if nobody talks about it," she said.

To aid in the fight against elder abuse, Mackay said the NWT Senior's Society is working to have the GNWT enact legislation similar to Newfoundland's.

"Recently, Newfoundland passed legislation to begin recording data relating to elder abuse, and we are attempting to follow suit, and get the word out. We want the North to start doing the same when it comes to its elderly population," Mackay said. "We have reason to believe, based on accounts we have been collecting, that the percentage is higher here in the North, but as of now, we have no hard data to confirm that claim."

Ultimately, Mackay said it would be beneficial for the GNWT to have access to ongoing funding from the federal government to address the issue of elder abuse, and collect more data on the issue.

"What Elder Abuse Week does, besides promote community awareness about the issue, is raise awareness about the need to collect data on this matter," Mackay said.

Approximately four to 10 per cent of the older population across Canada has been abused, Mackay said, citing an unpublished report released by National Seniors Council.

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