Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Elders make a difference in our communities every day. Elders are deeply involved in our communities and their contributions benefit NWT residents of all ages. I’m really pleased to see so many MLAs wearing purple here today to raise awareness of elder abuse.
June 15th is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day and I’m going to do my part today to raise the awareness of elder abuse. Elder abuse is a significant threat to the older residents of our NWT communities, as Members well know, and it is a problem in both small communities and larger centres.
For many years elder abuse remained a private matter, hidden from view and not talked about. Thankfully, in the last 30 years or so, elder abuse has become increasingly more important to our society and it’s now seen as a public problem that needs attention.
The World Health Organization report called Missing Voices stated that abuse, neglect and financial exploitation of elders are much more common than societies admit. The same report demonstrates clear links between elder abuse and disempowerment and discrimination of elders.
Elder abuse is defined as any kind of physical, sexual, psychological or economic abuse, as well as neglect. Perhaps surprisingly, male elders are almost at the same risk of abuse as female elders. Elders are taken advantage of because they are physically frail or have diminished mental capacity. Family members extort money from their elders or force them to sign over property. It’s very unfortunate, Mr. Speaker, but elders are an easy target.
Elder abuse does not discriminate. It happens in institutions as well as private homes and to elders of all races. Our elders should be respected and honoured. They hold the wisdom, the history and the knowledge of our communities and our territory. We must not ignore elder abuse, and understanding it gives us the power to fight it. Society has recognized that elder abuse and neglect is occurring and must raise awareness of the problem. We need to inform health and social service practitioners and the general public about elder abuse, ensure that they can identify the signs of elder abuse and know where to find the help to combat it. We need to use the media to change attitudes and reduce stereotyping of the elders, and we need to educate our elders as well.
All of these actions bring the problem of elder abuse out into the open, encourage acknowledgement that it’s a problem, and we can start to eradicate it. Next Saturday, June 15th, wear purple again, find an elder, show them the respect they deserve, and let them know you care.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member for Frame Lake brought an important topic to the House today and I’d like to continue that work on, as she put it, elders do make a difference, and I totally agree with her.
During this session we heard about what the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is doing to combat bullying in schools. This House even passed a motion joining our national legislative colleagues on denouncing cyberbullying. It seems everywhere you turn a form of bullying is making its way to mainstream media through social networks.
Another not so well known or talked about form of abuse is bullying of our beloved seniors and our respected elders. This is being brought forward this year as the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, which is happening on June 15th.
So why is this so important for us here in the NWT? I have to thank the hardworking NWT Seniors’ Society, because they carried out a recent study and it was a questionnaire, and 528 people through 11 communities around the Northwest Territories participated in this questionnaire, and 71 percent who completed this questionnaire indicated that elder abuse was an issue in their community, which is fairly significant. During this study they found that there were some common patterns of abuse worth noting. As they said, all forms of abuse were prevalent, but they did earmark the fact that there were some quite common ones in their report. That one was financial, followed by neglect, emotional and, finally, verbal abuse.
More importantly, it was also noted that there was a lot of silence around the issue, with little or no reporting or understanding of what to do about it, which is a very common practice with elder abuse.
During this awareness day on June 15th, I will challenge all Northerners, including Members of this House, to find ways to recognize the signs of elder abuse in our communities.
I’m hoping that everyone will take the time to reach out and take an active role on this topic, pass it on, and that’s not the abuse I mean, but pass it on in terms of the information and the knowledge that we have by sharing this today, and collect local stories from our elders and our seniors and let them have a voice on this day, and even doing what we’re doing here today, Mr. Speaker, and supporting us by wearing purple.
So I’d like to thank the Minister’s office, the Minister of Health and Social Services, for spearheading this today. You’ll notice a lot of us are wearing our corsages and I’d like to thank everyone for their participation today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
