Justice committee  I can only speak from an Ontario perspective on that, because it is different from province to province and territory. In Ontario, the long-term care act is very vague in the level of social work service within the legislation. Basically, there is no specific mandate that long-term care homes have to have a social worker on staff, and in fact, the majority of them don't have a social worker on staff, so they would hire out.

Justice committee  It has made it challenging because typically services that would go out to home visits or see people face to face have become much more limited. In that sense, then, that direct connection with the individual.... Many older adults don't have computer capacity at home, so the contact may be over the telephone as opposed to a virtual meeting like this.

Justice committee  Again, I'm going to speak in a regional manner. In the province of Ontario, as an example, there is no adult protection legislation, and I appreciate that it's a provincial level, not a federal level. What it does indicate is that there is no capacity through law, through legislation to then set up agencies that can actually go out and assess and respond to potential elder abuse situations.

Justice committee  I'll take a moment to respond to that and use this as an example of how collaboration has happened. Our local elder abuse network in London, Ontario, played a significant role in moving London forward, about six or seven years ago, to become an age-friendly city. That process, and continued process, is an example of where multiple individuals, older adults themselves, community members, neighbourhoods, agencies, health care agencies and social service agencies came together and have really worked on a variety of pillars, including housing, transportation, health, social services, income, and so on, in trying to find ways of agencies working more closely together, responding collectively and giving the lead to older adults to let us know in a community what their needs are.

Justice committee  I can speak to the fact that, one, we don't have a specific universal definition of elder abuse. That in itself in data collection makes that challenging. On the other, I'll speak locally, provincially and nationally in that there are no clear policies and protocols in tracking issues of elder abuse.

Justice committee  Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before this committee and for inviting us to provide a social work perspective on this important study on elder abuse. My name is Patrick Fleming and I am here on behalf of the CASW. I work at the London Health Sciences Centre in the geriatric mental health program.