The political inconvenience of elder abuse victims

Canadian lawmakers have failed to clearly articulate why Bill C-332 covers domestic abuse but not elder mistreatment, when both societal ills share common traits.

With Parliament on the verge of criminalizing coercive control by intimate partners, seniors who are abused by adult children and other family members are running out of time to claw their way back into the proposed offence as protected victims. It behooves Canadians to speak up for these silenced and isolated elders, whose autonomy, self-esteem and sense of safety have been diminished by abusive relatives they often depend upon for care and company.

Passed by the House of Commons in June 2024, Bill C-332 would make coercive and controlling behaviour by intimate partners a standalone crime, punishable by up to 10 years in prison for the most serious cases. The law would prohibit patterns of behaviour that are designed to instil fear in victims, like threatening violence, controlling communications and sabotaging finances.

The bill passed second reading in the Senate in December and has been referred to the legal and constitutional affairs committee for further study.

No politician wants to stand in the way of a well-intentioned domestic abuse law. But the inconvenient truth for lawmakers is that the psychological torment targeted by Bill C-332 is not only perpetrated by intimate partners. Coercive control is also a common tactic of adult children and others in relationships of trust and dependency with an older adult.

“I will throw you down the stairs, old hag!” an abusive son yells at his elderly mother, who has become fearful of his escalating demands for money and access to her medications. “No one else cares about you,” he lies as he changes her soiled diaper. “I’m all you’ve got.”

Much of this abuse is hidden and these stories often go untold.

Many elder abuse victims are afraid to tell others about their suffering, let alone report it to the police. They want the abuse to stop but can be too overwhelmed with shame, embarrassment and fears of retaliation. Some worry that no one will believe them.

Those with a cognitive impairment like dementia may be unable to reach out for help.

Oftentimes, a major concern is what will happen if the abuser is removed from the home, leaving the victim without a primary caregiver. The senior may be unable to live alone, giving them little choice but to move into a nursing home, against their wishes.

These worries remind us that police and other legal actors must intervene cautiously to minimize further damage to the older adult’s life, but for too long, these concerns have been used to rationalize the non-prosecution of elder abusers.

When tabled in May 2023 by NDP MP Laurel Collins, Bill C-332 protected some older victims of family abuse, targeting coercive control by adult children and other relatives who live with the senior. But then the government proposed amendments that significantly altered the offence, erasing elder abuse victims from the crime’s scope. The changes were adopted by the House justice committee and ultimately supported by all parties in a unanimous vote.

The new drafting was modelled after Scotland’s domestic abuse legislation, which has been championed by some women’s advocates as the gold standard of coercive control crimes.

But that specific statute is limited to partners and ex-partners—a scope that is too narrow for Canada’s general Criminal Code, which does not contain specific offences like domestic violence or elder abuse but gives special consideration to these harms when sentencing an offender.

Canadian lawmakers have failed to clearly articulate why Bill C-332 covers domestic abuse but not elder mistreatment, when both societal ills share common traits, like the combination of isolation and the imbalance of power between perpetrators and victims, which make it easier for abusers to engage in multiple tactics that wield control over the maltreated person.

Homicide is the most severe outcome of both domestic violence and elder abuse, with adult sons being the main perpetrators of parricide, the killing of one’s own parent.

Prosecuting coercive control can provide an earlier point of intervention, ending the cycle of abuse before the victim is killed or severely harmed from physical violence or extreme neglect.

But as it stands, elder abuse victims will not be afforded this legal protection, instead continuing to suffer under the domineering tactics of abusive children and other perpetrators.

Without amendment, Bill C-332 is unbefitting for Canada, a country where all major political parties must work harder to ensure that seniors can age with dignity and security.