Financial Abuse of Seniors

Overview

On March 26, 2013, CCEL Senior Fellow Laura Tamblyn Watts participated in a National Meeting on Financial Abuse organized by the International Federation on Ageing and held in Toronto.  The full day meeting included stakeholders from the financial sector, government officials, and individuals and organizations with expertise in the area of abuse of older people.  This event was an important opportunity to:

• Raise awareness, build networks and create dialogue;
• Discuss the gaps and challenges in preventing, detecting and responding to financial abuse of seniors; and
• Share promising practices and explore how to best address financial abuse of seniors.

As part of this event, the CCEL produced the Background Paper Financial Abuse of Seniors: An Overview of Key Legal Issues and Concepts.  The paper includes:

1. A discussion of the concepts of abuse of older people and financial abuse of seniors, including examples, patterns and highlights of key social dynamics;
2. An overview of the existing legal framework in Canada, including criminal law, provincial legislation (such as adult protection and adult guardianship legislation), mental capacity law, power of attorney law, and privacy law, including a summary of amendments to the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, included in Bill C-12;
3. An appendix of examples of promising Canadian approaches in detection, response and prevention;
4. A series of questions for the consideration of stakeholders threaded throughout the paper to stimulate thinking and discussion; and
5. A conclusion highlighting recommendation that emerged out of the 2008 Federal/ Provincial/ Territorial Forum on financial abuse of seniors relevant to the National Meeting.

Keywords: financial abuse, senior abuse, elder abuse, abuse of older adults, abuse of older people, powers of attorney, privacy, mental capacity, banks, credit unions