Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In December last I attended the NWT Seniors’ Society symposium held here in Yellowknife. It was called Making Connections: Building Networks to Prevent Elder Abuse. There was lots of grey hair in the room, but oh, the knowledge and the experiences to be shared. I felt privileged then to be part of such a group and I still feel that way.

The symposium was the second phase of a three-phase NWT Seniors’ Society Elder Abuse Project. One of the symposium sessions shared the results of the society’s research findings from phase 1 and I was particularly struck by a couple of the findings. First, that 71 percent of the 450 or so older adults surveyed said that abuse of older adults is a problem in their community. Second, that one of the biggest contributing factors to elder abuse is silence. People do not speak out about the abuse that they experience or that they see around them.

For a very long time, abuse of older adults has been a taboo subject. It’s not acknowledged publicly and it’s gone unnoticed in our communities. In the last 15 years or so the NWT Seniors’ Society has been working hard to change that. Due to their efforts, elder abuse is starting to get the recognition it should. We are starting to better understand the breadth, depth and magnitude of this problem.

Abuse of older adults is not something that can be left to an NGO to fix. It’s too big an issue. The government must shoulder some responsibility and assist the NWT Seniors’ Society in their endeavours. There needs to be a different kind of assistance than what the government normally considers. What is required is to give a higher profile to elders in our government hierarchy. GNWT must start to consider elders as a cohort of their own, gather statistical data for elders, and fund elders as a distinct segment of our society, much as we do for our youth.

The Elders Parliament held last May passed a motion calling for an elders secretariat. That’s one possibility. As well, this House recently passed a motion calling for targeted funding for a seniors home repair and maintenance program. That’s another possibility. Paramount is the need to fund programs to reduce and eliminate the abuse of older adults as a separate program.

At the moment, funding comes under the umbrella of a Family Violence Action Plan. Funding for elder abuse programming needs to be separated out and funded on its own.

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted