Information
Prior Content
Search
Links
Government of Canada marks World Elder Abuse Awareness Day with a Major Commitment to Elder Abuse Awareness Projects
Toronto, Ontario, June 15, 2012— The Honourable Alice Wong, Minister of State (Seniors), today announced a federal investment of almost $15 million under the New Horizons for Seniors Program (NHSP) for 33 pan-Canadian projects that address elder abuse. The announcement was made on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.
“Our government is committed to ensuring the well-being of Canadian seniors and we remain dedicated to ending elder abuse in all its forms,” said Minister Wong. “By partnering with a variety of stakeholders and organizations from across Canada, we can help seniors better protect themselves from abuse while continuing to raise awareness.”
Minister of State Wong made the announcement before the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, which is receiving $675,000 to create and disseminate a best-practices guideline on elder abuse awareness for nurses across Canada.
The NHSP continues to support seniors through a new call for proposals for community-based projects, some of which also address elder abuse. The call was issued May 8 and will close June 29, 2012 (September 15, 2012 for Quebec). For more information, visit: www.hrsdc.gc.ca/seniors.
This news release is available in alternative formats on request.
For further information (media only):
Robert Lynch
Director of Communications
Office of Minister of State (Seniors), Alice Wong
819-953-1144
Media Relations Office
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
819-994-5559
Follow us on Twitter
Backgrounder
New Horizons for Seniors Program
The New Horizons for Seniors Program (NHSP) is a federal grants and contributions program that supports projects led or inspired by seniors who make a difference in the lives of others and their communities, and supports the Government of Canada’s commitment to ensuring the well-being of Canadian seniors and ending elder abuse in all its forms. Through the NHSP, the Government of Canada encourages seniors to share their knowledge, skills and experiences to the benefit of others. Since its beginning, the NHSP has funded more than 10 400 projects in hundreds of communities across Canada.
Pan-Canadian projects focus on developing or identifying tools, resources and promising practices that can be adapted and shared across communities, regions or Canada to address elder abuse. This funding can enable community members to better recognize elder abuse in all its forms and to improve the quality of life, safety and security of seniors. Eligible pan-Canadian grant or contribution projects must have a broad reach and impact. They are eligible for up to $250,000 in funding per year, for up to three years.
A call for proposals for pan-Canadian projects was launched on October 17, 2011, and closed on November 25, 2011. A total of 33 elder abuse awareness and prevention projects were approved and will receive over $14.6 million in funding.
Other Actions Taken by the Government of Canada to Combat Elder Abuse
In 2008, the government launched the Federal Elder Abuse Initiative (FEAI), a multi-departmental, three-year initiative to help seniors and others recognize the signs and symptoms of elder abuse and to provide information on available supports. This initiative successfully concluded on March 31, 2011.
Building on the momentum created by the FEAI, the Government continues to address elder abuse through awareness campaigns that aim to help Canadians recognize the signs of elder abuse and give them information on available resources and supports. For more information, please visit seniors.gc.ca.
In addition, the Government is addressing elder abuse through recently introduced legislation that will help ensure consistently tough penalties for offences involving the abuse of elderly persons.
Agreements have been signed and are in place for the following 29 projects, and up to four more projects are expected to be signed in the near future.
|
Organization Name |
Project Summary |
Funding Amount |
| Association des juristes d’expression française de la Saskatchewan | The organization will bring Francophone youth and seniors together for active involvement in the prevention of elder abuse through the dissemination of legal information and the development of tools and innovative group activities. |
$300,000
|
| Association des juristes d’expression française de l’Alberta | The organization will continue work on raising awareness of elder abuse through education sessions, legal workshops and the development of tools to reach Francophone seniors in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia. |
$650,000
|
| Atira Women’s Resource Society | The organization will develop and disseminate a “promising practices” tool across Canada to help communities that operate or are developing transitional/safe housing for senior women. |
$375,000
|
| Burnaby Multicultural Society | The organization will create an Elder Abuse Awareness Network to raise awareness and prevent elder abuse among Chinese, Korean and South Asian communities in Metro-Vancouver. |
$200,000
|
| Canadian Association for Community Living | The organization will address abuse of older people with disabilities and deaf people by establishing a coordinated community response in one community in each of the 13 provinces and territories. |
$600,000
|
| Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists | The organization will educate occupational therapists, physiotherapists and rehabilitation assistants across Canada about the indicators of elder abuse, and its assessment, prevention, intervention protocols and relevant legislation. |
$250,000
|
| Canadian National Institute for the Blind (Alberta) | The organization will use its peer support model to raise awareness of elder abuse among people who are blind or partially sighted in Alberta and Northwest Territories, including rural and remote areas, and will develop a protocol for reporting incidents of elder abuse. |
$200,000
|
| Centre for Public Legal Education | The organization will use existing community connections, partnerships, and its extensive experience in the area of elder abuse law to develop and distribute tools and resources to prevent elder abuse. |
$250,000
|
| Coopérative Radiophonique de Toronto | The organization will reach Francophone populations in Official Language Minority Communities across Canada through radio broadcasting and other forms of media to raise awareness of elder abuse and financial fraud. |
$630,000
|
| Ethiopian Association in the Greater Toronto Area and the Surrounding Regions | The organization will develop and distribute elder abuse awareness communication products, offer awareness sessions to leaders and service providers of the Ethiopian community, and develop a new Ethiopian seniors support network. |
$159,000
|
| Family Service Toronto | The organization will partner with Somali and Hispanic communities to enhance their ability to detect and prevent elder abuse through education sessions and the development of peer-support groups for seniors. |
$625,000
|
| Family Services of Central Alberta | The organization will educate professionals, caregivers and families on elder abuse prevention, and match college students with seniors in Home Share placements to reduce the social isolation of seniors and the risk of elder abuse, including financial abuse. |
$245,000
|
| Fédération des aînées et aînés francophones du Canada | The organization will update their elder abuse awareness tools, create a national network of partners, and train senior volunteers to facilitate awareness sessions for seniors in Francophone communities across the country. |
$700,000
|
| Good Neighbours Active Living Centre | The organization will increase awareness of the financial abuse of older adults by engaging the credit unions in Manitoba in educating their members and the general public. |
$350,000
|
| Immigrant Services Guelph-Wellington | The organization will use the peer support model to raise awareness of elder abuse and financial fraud, and will build a framework that can be reproduced by organizations to engage older adults from at-risk and hard-to-reach populations. |
$247,000
|
| Jewish Family Services of Ottawa | The organization will partner with organizations and community stakeholders in Calgary, Winnipeg, and Edmonton to address elder abuse in ethno-cultural communities, including among Jewish, Russian and French-speaking immigrants, by developing and delivering culturally and linguistically relevant materials, programs and activities. |
$575,000
|
| Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia | The organization will develop information and resources to help health care professionals recognize and respond to elder abuse, including financial abuse. |
$181,731
|
| Métis Local 1990 | The organization will develop an information kit in English and Cree to raise awareness of elder abuse among Métis communities and service providers in Alberta. |
$425,000
|
| New Brunswick Association of Nursing Homes | The organization will educate nursing home employees and seniors on what elder abuse is and how it can be prevented. |
$350,000
|
| Registered Nurses Association of Ontario | The organization will create and disseminate a best-practice guideline on elder abuse awareness for nurses across Canada. |
$675,000
|
| Regroupement des centres d’amitié autochtones du Québec | The organization will partner with Aboriginal seniors to develop material and provide information sessions to raise awareness and prevent elder abuse among urban Aboriginal communities. |
$235,000
|
| Saskatchewan Seniors Mechanism | The organization will enable older adults and their communities to assess elder abuse risk factors in their communities and develop ways to change, reduce or eliminate those risks. |
$317,000
|
| Seniors Resource Centre of Newfoundland and Labrador | The organization will recruit, train and connect members of their network to develop and implement “alert, aware and action-related” responses to prevent and address elder abuse in Newfoundland and Labrador. |
$600,000
|
| Social Services Network | The organization will engage the South Asian community in developing and implementing a tool kit that will be used in workshops on the issue of elder abuse. |
$560,000
|
| Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children, Faculty of Education, University of Western Ontario | The organization will develop a train-the-trainer workshop to help local and regional groups of ordinary citizens across Canada learn how to respond safely and effectively to warning signs of elder abuse. |
$575,000
|
| Union des consommateurs | The organization will develop tools and provide information sessions to seniors and their communities regarding seniors’ housing rights. |
$525,000
|
| Vietnamese Women’s Association of Toronto | The organization will increase awareness of elder abuse among Southeast Asian communities through the development of an elder abuse prevention manual translated into five minority languages (Vietnamese, Cambodian, Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese). |
$250,000
|
| Yukon Public Legal Education Association | The organization will develop and deliver presentations and information kits for seniors and elders in Yukon to increase awareness and recognition of elder abuse and to improve community response measures. |
$328,000
|
| YWCA Metro Vancouver | The organization will continue supporting elder abuse interventions by providing culturally-appropriate elder abuse training and resource materials for front-line YWCA/YMCA service providers across Canada whose clients include seniors. |
$485,000
|
| Total Funding |
$11,862,731 |