The Burnaby Multicultural Society is spreading the word about elder abuse in immigrant communities in Burnaby and New Westminster, but the province needs to do more to help vulnerable seniors, according to the group's executive director.
The society recently received $200,000 in federal funding to raise awareness about elder abuse in Punjabi, Chinese, Korean and English-speaking communities, but executive director Rana Dhatt says there's no place for abused seniors to get help.
"The bigger thing is we are basically doing awareness," Dhatt said. "I think the province needs to do a step further. They need specific help for seniors."
The federal funding will pay for advertising campaigns in newspapers and ethnic media and brochures in multiple languages, which helps the society's ongoing work on the issue. But Dhatt is raising concerns that once people start identifying the problem, there's no further option for seniors to get help.
Elder abuse can take many forms: physical, sexual, emotional and even financial. Dhatt said there are a couple of different organizations with phone lines to report elder abuse, and the society receives calls about physical abuse.
"But that's basically for the police to deal with, and that's when people back off, because they may be nervous about reporting family members, and that's where professional counselling is needed," he explained. "There is really no professional counselling available as far as I'm concerned."
There's also no B.C. ministry solely dedicated to helping seniors, Dhatt said. The provincial government has Linda Larson, an MLA who is also parliamentary secretary to the minister of health for seniors. The province is also planning to hire an ombudsperson to help seniors who have been unfairly treated by public agencies, but critics have pointed out that the position will not be independent of the government, like Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, the representative for children and youth.
"We're thankful and grateful (for the funding), but the province needs to go a step further, and have a ministry that helps seniors, or include seniors in the Ministry of Children and Family Development," Dhatt said. "We really need to get some discussion taking place, and seniors need help."
Martha Jane Lewis, the executive director for the B.C. Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support, agreed with Dhatt's assertion that there are gaps in the system when it comes to helping abused elders.
"If concerned family members or friends or professionals are seeing an older adult they think is being abused, or think they are being neglected or are neglecting themselves, there are really only limited options for the third parties to report this," she said.
People can call the Public Guardian and Trustee of B.C., an independent office that will help if an older adult has diminished mental capacity and is suffering financial abuse.
"(But) if the older adult is being ripped off by their kids, but has mental capacity, no one can interfere," she added.
People can also report elder abuse to the health authorities or Community Living B.C., according to Lewis.
"But they were given no new funding for these new programs, and there's not a lot of training," she added. "Sometimes you call and leave a message, but you don't hear back for a week or two."
In the meantime, the Burnaby Multicultural Society will continue to raise awareness about elder abuse in various cultural communities.
"There are no boundaries. Elder abuse is elder abuse everywhere," Dhatt said, adding that some demographics "have even more problems in the sense of cultural awareness and language barriers."
Besides New Westminster and Burnaby, the society's campaign will also take place in Surrey, Vancouver and Richmond.
For more information on elder abuse, go to the society's separate website www.diversitybc.com.
- Jennifer Moreau
