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NWT
An important funding announcement made at the NWT Seniors’ Society annual general meeting on Sept. 25 in Hay River will give communities around the territory more resources to raise awareness of elder abuse.

Terry Rideout is chair of Hay River's Committee to Prevent Abuse of Older Adults. - Myles Dolphin/NNSL photo

Bea Campbell, the society’s president at the time, announced that $700,000 in funding had been approved by the federal government, the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada for a three-year project to continue the implementation of support networks across the NWT to prevent elder abuse.

The project, entitled 'Leading the Way, Networking to Prevent Abuse of Older Adults', will ultimately establish sub-committees in all 33 NWT communities. It will also conduct workshops and learning sessions, and provide online tools and training materials to help older adults live abuse-free lives.

“Substantial strides have been made over the past two years to raise awareness of the abuse older adults experience in our communities throughout the North,” Campbell said in a speech at the Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre. “The continuation of this work with this funding from the federal government will develop programs that can serve as a blueprint for other rural and remote regions in Canada.”

She was also speaking as co-chair of the NWT Network to Prevent Abuse of Older Adults, a group operating under the leadership of the NWT Seniors’ Society.

“Our goal is that abuse of older adults throughout the NWT is not tolerated and networks are established at the community and regional level to support older adults to be safe and secure in their home,” the group says on its website.

Campbell noted research in 2010 had yielded a frightening statistic on elder abuse.

“In 75 per cent of interviews, older adult abuse was identified as a problem in our communities,” she said, referring to a questionnaire completed by more than 500 respondents aged 50 and older in 11 communities across the NWT.

The network itself stems from the 'Making Connections: Building Networks to Prevent Abuse of Older Adults Symposium' held in late 2010.

“There was a genuine need to address elder abuse in the NWT and we asked ourselves, what we are going to do about this?” said Terry Rideout, co-chair of the network and chair of Hay River’s Committee to Prevent Abuse of Older Adults. “Last year we had a face to face with all the players and set up a network with the Seniors’ Society. We gathered information from other provinces and, from there, the plan was to set up sub-committees like this one in different communities to do work locally.”

Rideout said the funds will give the network a lot of support and planning, and that the priority right now is to educate people on elder abuse.

“When the information is out there, people are more careful,” he said. “I find prevention is a big part. All too often we do Band-Aid treatment, and not enough prevention. The funds will help us educate people and spread the word that elder abuse is wrong.”

Abuse can take shape in many ways – physically, emotionally, financially and sexually – and Rideout said resources such as pamphlets, placed in locations where seniors are most likely to go, will let them know that they’re not alone.

“There are people to listen, help and support them,” he said. “I believe in talking about it, whether it’s positive or negative. Elder abuse is present in every community. I’ve seen it many times myself. I got a lot of respect for elders and I think it’s sad the way society treats them sometimes. They’re due a lot of respect.”

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