Blog
- Details
NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release
May 21, 2026
Elder Justice Coalition Welcomes Progress on Coercive Control Reform
OTTAWA, ONTARIO – On May 4, 2026, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights (Justice Committee) adopted an amendment to Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, requiring that Parliament initiate a review five years after the bill receives royal assent "to consider, among other things, the criminalization of coercive or controlling conduct in relationships other than intimate partner relationships." The proposed amendment comes amid growing legal recognition in Canada of coercive and controlling behaviour as a serious form of family violence, including in the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision in Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia.
The Elder Justice Coalition recognizes the significance of the proposed offence’s focus on coercive control in intimate partner relationships, and its predominant impact on women in this context. Coercive and controlling behaviour is widely understood to be a serious form of family violence and it is a well-established precursor to intimate partner homicide. The Coalition supports efforts to strengthen criminal law protections for domestic abuse victims.
In Ahluwalia, the Supreme Court recognized a new tort of intimate partner violence arising from patterns of coercive and controlling conduct. The Court emphasized the dependency, vulnerability, and breach of trust that can characterize coercive control in intimate partnerships. Although the case concerned intimate partner abuse in the civil law context, the Coalition welcomes this evolving legal recognition of coercive control as a serious form of interpersonal harm and the broader conversation it may prompt regarding other relationships characterized by trust, dependence, and vulnerability.
As Canadian law increasingly recognizes the serious harms associated with coercive control, the Coalition commends the Justice Committee for recognizing that coercive control also occurs in non-intimate partner contexts, including those involving relatives and caregivers of older adults. “This review is a good signal that government recognizes the harmful consequences coercive and controlling behaviour can have on older Canadians,” said Andrea Silverstone, CEO of Sagesse Domestic Violence Prevention Society. “The Coalition appreciates the attention being given to this societal problem and the momentum it creates for reform.”
However, the Coalition believes that five years is too long to wait for further study and consultation. Coercive control affecting older adults outside intimate partner relationships is a pressing issue that demands more immediate legislative action. “Delaying consideration leaves elder abuse victims without adequate criminal law protection from coercive and controlling behaviour by those they trust and depend on, including adult children, grandchildren, and caregivers,” said Marta Hajek, CEO of Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario. “The seriousness and prevalence of this harm warrant a more urgent response.”
This significant delay places Canada behind other jurisdictions, such as England & Wales, which criminalized coercive control in both intimate and family relationships in 2015. “The Justice Committee’s amendment is a meaningful step, but a five-year delay is difficult to justify given that there is over a decade of international experience to draw on,” said Heather Campbell Pope, a lawyer and the founding director of Dementia Justice Canada. “Older adults experiencing coercive control by relatives and caregivers need timely recognition and protection under Canada’s criminal law.”
Bill C-16 provides a two-year coming-into-force period to allow the justice system, including law enforcement, to prepare for the new offence as it relates to intimate partners. While the Coalition recognizes the practical considerations underlying implementation, it is not immediately clear why coercive control in relationships involving relatives would be excluded from that same preparatory timeline. It seems reasonable to consider that this period could also be used to prepare police and other justice actors to recognize and respond to coercive control in the context of elder abuse.
At clause-by-clause consideration, the Justice Committee had an opportunity to include this broader scope within the existing two-year implementation and training period; however, an amendment to expand the scope to relatives was defeated. Although the Justice Committee’s commitment to a future parliamentary review is an important acknowledgement of the issue, the Coalition remains concerned that elder abuse victims experiencing coercive control by family members and caregivers will continue to lack adequate criminal law protection in the meantime.
The Coalition looks forward to continuing to engage with parliamentarians to advance comprehensive and timely criminal law reform on coercive control for older Canadians.
ABOUT THE ELDER JUSTICE COALITION
The Elder Justice Coalition is an ad hoc group of organizations from across Canada calling for a coercive control offence to protect elder abuse victims.
More information
For more information on the proposed coercive control offence and elder abuse, please visit Dementia Justice Canada’s webpage.
Contact
Heather Campbell Pope
Chair & Lawyer
Dementia Justice Canada
(613) 710-0366
Andrea Silverstone
CEO
Sagesse Domestic Violence Prevention Society
COALITION MEMBERS
Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE) is the first and oldest legal clinic in Canada with a specific mandate to provide a range of legal services to low-income older adults. Its legal services include individual and group client advice and representation, public legal education, community development and law reform activities.
Alberta Elder Abuse Awareness Council (AEAAC) is a province-wide network of professionals committed to addressing elder abuse and neglect. AEAAC supports prevention and intervention efforts by providing resources and education, and by strengthening Coordinated Community Response (CCR) teams across Alberta. Through these multidisciplinary teams and its Safe Spaces Initiative, AEAAC helps create safe, trusted environments where older adults feel valued and supported.
BC Association of Community Response Networks (BC CRN) is a provincial non-profit dedicated to fostering safe, inclusive communities where vulnerable adults are valued and protected. Through active coordination, advocacy, education, collaboration, and relationship building, it supports local community response networks to create awareness and prevention of adult abuse, neglect, and self-neglect.
Brainwell Institute is an independent think tank that elevates evidence to ignite change and revolutionize thinking about dementia and brain health.
Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health (CCSMH) focuses on supporting older adults’ mental health through knowledge translation (information, resources, professional development and clinical guidelines) and advocacy. Its mission is rooted in evidence-based approaches, compassionate advocacy, and the unwavering belief that every older adult deserves the best possible mental health care. The CCSMH is under the umbrella of the Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatrists.
CanAge is Canada’s national seniors’ advocacy organization, working to improve the lives of older adults through advocacy, policy, and community engagement.
Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (CNPEA) builds awareness, support and capacity for a coordinated pan-Canadian approach to the prevention of elder abuse and neglect. It promotes the rights of older adults through knowledge mobilization, collaboration, policy reform and education.
Dementia Justice Canada is a small non-profit dedicated to advocating for the rights and dignity of people with dementia. A particular focus is criminal justice reform.
Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario (EAPO) is a charitable, non-profit organization, recognized for its leadership in elder abuse prevention, providing awareness raising educational forums, training multi-sectoral front-line service professionals, and creating tools/resources for all to better understand and appropriately respond when supporting older adults at-risk or experiencing increasingly complex issues of elder abuse.
Entente Education Canada is a national social enterprise, providing non-profit group insurance designed primarily for people who work in or have retired from the education sector. With more than 88,000 members and 100,000 plan participants across Canada, Entente offers leading group health insurance, meaningful opportunities for community engagement, and advocacy focused on healthy aging and environmental stewardship. Entente is a dynamic, bilingual, member-engaged organization.
HelpAge Canada is the only registered Canadian charity and international NGO focused solely on partnering with communities to improve the lives of older people in Canada and around the world.
International Longevity Centre Canada (ILC-Canada) is a human rights-based organization focused on older persons, created in 2015 and situated in Ottawa, Ontario. Its mission is to propose ideas and guidance for policies addressing population aging based on international and domestic research and practice with a view to bettering the lives of Canadians. It does this through a human rights lens, through knowledge development and exchange, recommendations of evidence-based policies, social mobilization, and networking.
National Institute on Ageing (NIA) improves the lives of older adults and the systems that support them by convening stakeholders, conducting research, advancing policy solutions and practice innovations, sharing information, and shifting attitudes. Its vision is a Canada where older adults feel valued, included, supported, and better prepared to age with confidence.
Prevent Elder Abuse Manitoba (PEAM) is a provincial network dedicated to raising awareness, fostering collaboration, and promoting strategies to prevent the abuse and neglect of older adults across Manitoba.
Sagesse works to disrupt the structures of domestic violence by addressing the underlying social norms, inequities, and patterns of coercive control that limit autonomy and shape people’s lived experiences. We understand abuse as a purposeful pattern of controlling and coercive behaviours that erode a person’s agency, relationships, and sense of self, and our values of courage, vulnerability, curiosity, and equity guide us in challenging those conditions.
Seniors First BC is a 31-year-old charitable, non-profit society that promotes the dignity of older adults, free from abuse of any kind. It provides information, support, legal advocacy, and referrals to older adults across British Columbia with issues affecting their well-being, as well as those who care for them.
Yukon Council on Aging (YCOA) is an organization whose vision is that all Yukon seniors (55+) can flourish and thrive as they age, and age in place for as long as possible. Its services include a home and yard maintenance program; providing information and assistance in applying for Pioneer Utility Grants (home heating); wills and estate planning; presentations on dementia; and more.
- Details
OTTAWA, ONTARIO – On February 4, 2026, the Elder Justice Coalition will be on Parliament Hill meeting with MPs, senators, and staff in relation to Bill C-16, which proposes to create a standalone coercive control offence. The Coalition welcomes the bill’s focus on coercive control by intimate partners and views this reform as an important step forward.
These meetings are intended to contribute constructively to Parliament’s consideration of how protections can be strengthened for older victims of coercive control who are harmed by relatives, informal caregivers, and others in relationships of trust and dependence.
Tabled by Justice Minister Sean Fraser in December 2025, Bill C-16 signals recognition by the government that a pattern of non-physical forms of abuse, such as manipulation, isolation, intimidation, and threats, can constitute serious harm warranting criminal consequences. It makes clear that abuse does not need to be physical to cause profound harm, reflecting a broader and more contemporary understanding of family violence.
At the same time, we hope this important work can continue to evolve to reflect the realities of older adults who also experience coercive and controlling behaviour by relatives and informal carers. “As currently drafted, Bill C-16 overlooks how coercive control is experienced by older adults outside intimate partner relationships,” said Dr. Samir Sinha, a geriatrician and the director of health policy research at the National Institute on Ageing. “In caregiving relationships, control is frequently exerted through personal care, whether by withholding medication, restricting food, blocking visitors, or threatening abandonment, resulting in profound physical and psychological harm.”
Coercive control can trap older people, particularly older women, in relationships where they lack access to money, housing, care, or independence. Those with cognitive impairments such as dementia may be particularly unable to seek help. “When control is exercised through caregiving or family relationships, it can be devastating and invisible,” said Dr. Gloria Gutman, an internationally respected gerontologist, past president of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics, and board director of the BC Community Response Networks. “Older adults may depend on the very person causing the harm for daily care, medical access, or basic survival.”
Recent data highlight some concerning realities:
- Since 2018, family violence against older persons in Canada has increased by 49 percent, according to Statistics Canada.
- When a woman is killed by a family member, more than half the time, the accused is her own son (55%), according to 2024 statistics released by the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability.
- A Seniors First BC report (2024-25) shows that in nearly two-thirds of calls made to the Seniors Abuse and Information Line, the alleged abuser was an adult child (32% sons and 32% daughters).
- Alberta Elder Abuse Awareness Council service data (2024–25) shows that when older adults seek elder abuse support, 55% involve immediate family members (parent, child, sibling), compared with 24% involving intimate partners.
“These numbers show us that abuse in later life often comes from those closest to us, making it especially difficult for older adults to escape or report,” said Joanne Blinco, executive director of the Alberta Elder Abuse Awareness Council. “Recognizing this in the criminal law is essential to protecting their safety, autonomy, and wellbeing.”
Bill C-16 may raise a constitutional concern, as the offence could potentially be vulnerable to a challenge under section 15 of the Charter, which guarantees equality rights. “The proposed law protects a victim if the abuser is a spouse, but it offers no protection if the abuser is a son or daughter,” said Heather Campbell Pope, a lawyer and the founding director of Dementia Justice Canada. “This equality gap must be closed to ensure all older adults can live safely and with dignity.”
The Elder Justice Coalition urges parliamentarians to follow the example of jurisdictions such as England & Wales and Queensland, Australia, by creating a coercive control offence that applies beyond intimate partners. Expanding Bill C-16 in this way would better reflect the realities of many older victims and help ensure elder abusers are held accountable.
The Coalition looks forward to meeting with MPs, senators, and staff to share our perspectives and advocate for stronger criminal law protections for older Canadians.
ABOUT THE ELDER JUSTICE COALITION
The Elder Justice Coalition is an ad hoc group of organizations from across Canada calling for a coercive control offence to protect elder abuse victims.
More information
For more information on the proposed coercive control offence and elder abuse, please visit Dementia Justice Canada’s webpage.
Contact
Heather Campbell Pope
Founder/Director
Dementia Justice Canada
Email:
Phone: 613-710-0366
Bénédicte Schoepflin
Executive Director
Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse
Email:
Phone: 604-715-1007
COALITION MEMBERS
Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE) is the first and oldest legal clinic in Canada with a specific mandate to provide a range of legal services to low-income older adults. Its legal services include individual and group client advice and representation, public legal education, community development and law reform activities.
Alberta Elder Abuse Awareness Council (AEAAC) is a province-wide network of professionals committed to addressing elder abuse and neglect. AEAAC supports prevention and intervention efforts by providing resources and education, and by strengthening Coordinated Community Response (CCR) teams across Alberta. Through these multidisciplinary teams and its Safe Spaces Initiative, AEAAC helps create safe, trusted environments where older adults feel valued and supported.
BC Association of Community Response Networks (BC CRN) is a provincial non-profit dedicated to fostering safe, inclusive communities where vulnerable adults are valued and protected. Through active coordination, advocacy, education, collaboration, and relationship building, it supports local community response networks to create awareness and prevention of adult abuse, neglect, and self-neglect.
Brainwell Institute is an independent think tank that elevates evidence to ignite change and revolutionize thinking about dementia and brain health.
Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health (CCSMH) focuses on supporting older adults’ mental health through knowledge translation (information, resources, professional development and clinical guidelines) and advocacy. Its mission is rooted in evidence-based approaches, compassionate advocacy, and the unwavering belief that every older adult deserves the best possible mental health care. The CCSMH is under the umbrella of the Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatrists.
CanAge is Canada’s national seniors’ advocacy organization, working to improve the lives of older adults through advocacy, policy, and community engagement.
Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (CNPEA) builds awareness, support and capacity for a coordinated pan-Canadian approach to the prevention of elder abuse and neglect. It promotes the rights of older adults through knowledge mobilization, collaboration, policy reform and education.
Dementia Justice Canada is a small non-profit dedicated to advocating for the rights and dignity of people with dementia. A particular focus is criminal justice reform.
Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario (EAPO) is a charitable, non-profit organization, recognized for its leadership in elder abuse prevention, providing awareness raising educational forums, training multi-sectoral front-line service professionals, and creating tools/resources for all to better understand and appropriately respond when supporting older adults at-risk or experiencing increasingly complex issues of elder abuse.
HelpAge Canada is the only registered Canadian charity and international NGO focused solely on partnering with communities to improve the lives of older people in Canada and around the world.
International Longevity Centre Canada (ILC-Canada) is a human rights-based organization focused on older persons, created in 2015 and situated in Ottawa, Ontario. Its mission is to propose ideas and guidance for policies addressing population aging based on international and domestic research and practice with a view to bettering the lives of Canadians. It does this through a human rights lens, through knowledge development and exchange, recommendations of evidence-based polices, social mobilization, and networking.
National Institute on Ageing (NIA) improves the lives of older adults and the systems that support them by convening stakeholders, conducting research, advancing policy solutions and practice innovations, sharing information, and shifting attitudes. Its vision is a Canada where older adults feel valued, included, supported, and better prepared to age with confidence.
Prevent Elder Abuse Manitoba (PEAM) is a provincial network dedicated to raising awareness, fostering collaboration, and promoting strategies to prevent the abuse and neglect of older adults across Manitoba.
Sagesse works to disrupt the structures of domestic violence by addressing the underlying social norms, inequities, and patterns of coercive control that limit autonomy and shape people’s lived experiences. We understand abuse as a purposeful pattern of controlling and coercive behaviours that erode a person’s agency, relationships, and sense of self, and our values of courage, vulnerability, curiosity, and equity guide us in challenging those conditions.
Seniors First BC is a 31-year-old charitable, non-profit society that promotes the dignity of older adults, free from abuse of any kind. It provides information, support, legal advocacy, and referrals to older adults across British Columbia with issues affecting their well-being, as well as those who care for them.
Yukon Council on Aging (YCOA) is an organization whose vision is that all Yukon seniors (55+) can flourish and thrive as they age, and age in place for as long as possible. Its services include a home and yard maintenance program; providing information and assistance in applying for Pioneer Utility Grants (home heating); wills and estate planning; presentations on dementia; and more.
- Details
December 16, 2025
OTTAWA, ONTARIO - The Elder Justice Coalition welcomes the tabling of the Protecting Victims Act (Bill C-16) as a step forward in acknowledging the seriousness of coercive control by intimate partners through a proposed criminal offence. We commend the federal government for its resolve to rapidly address this grave societal problem.
The proposed law signals recognition by the government that non-physical forms of abuse, such as manipulation, isolation, intimidation, and threats, constitute harm worthy of criminal consequences. It makes clear that abuse does not need to be physical to cause serious harm, reflecting a broader understanding of family violence.
At the same time, we hope this important work can continue to evolve to reflect the realities of older adults who experience coercive control in relationships of dependence and trust beyond intimate partnerships. “By limiting the offence to intimate partners only, Bill C-16 does not fully reflect the complex nature of coercive control experienced by many older adults,” said Joanne Blinco, executive director of the Alberta Elder Abuse Awareness Council. “The proposed legislation is an important step forward, and with a broader definition, it could better protect older adults who experience coercive, controlling behaviours from family members or others in positions of trust.”
For these victims, coercive control can have serious and sometimes fatal consequences. This is especially the case for older women: according to 2024 statistics released by the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability, when a woman is killed by a family member, more than half the time (55%) the accused is her own son, a relation that would not be characterized as an intimate partner under Bill C-16, leaving a consequential yet addressable gap.
“This figure is a stark reminder that older women are at dual risk, from partners and children, when it comes to coercion and abuse, too often leading to tragic consequences,” said Bénédicte Schoepflin, executive director of the Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse.
Family violence against older men is also rising sharply: recent Statistics Canada data show that since 2018, the rate of family violence against seniors has increased by 49%, with victimization rates rising for both women and men. Among older male victims, adult children were the most common perpetrators (39%). This pattern is echoed in calls to Seniors First BC’s Seniors Abuse and Information Line: in 2024/2025, 64% of abusers were adult children (32% sons and 32% daughters).
As cognition declines, people with dementia are especially vulnerable to abuse. Caregivers who struggle with stress and frustration may try to regain a sense of authority by taking over finances, limiting care, withholding medication, cutting off friends, and making threats, leaving the abuse harder to detect and the victim more vulnerable due to dependency. These realities point to the need to understand coercive control not only as a criminal justice issue, but as a human rights concern.
“Bringing a human rights lens to dementia and disability in older age is essential to ensure that coercive control is recognised and addressed as abuse,” said Dr. Saskia Sivananthan, CEO of the Brainwell Institute, an independent dementia-focused think tank. “International law obligations, including Article 16 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, are clear that people with disabilities must be protected from abuse and exploitation, including when it happens behind closed doors in their own homes.”
The Elder Justice Coalition urges MPs to follow the example of jurisdictions like England and Wales and Queensland, Australia, by creating a coercive control offence that applies beyond intimate partners. Expanding Bill C-16 to apply more broadly to “personally connected” persons (including relatives, as in England and Wales) or to explicitly include coercive control by adult children and others in positions of trust or dependence would better reflect the lived realities of many older victims and make it more likely that elder abusers are held accountable.
The Coalition looks forward to discussing our perspectives with MPs and senators during a Legislative Advocacy Day on Parliament Hill on February 4, 2026.
“While we would have preferred Bill C-16 to go further in the context of escalating violence against seniors, often with few consequences, we recognize it is a beginning,” said Marta Hajek, CEO of Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario (EAPO). “The government’s recognition of coercive control as a criminal offence provides a blueprint for enhancing protections for older adults in coercive relationships.”
ABOUT THE ELDER JUSTICE COALITION
The Elder Justice Coalition is an ad hoc group of organizations calling for a coercive control offence to protect elder abuse victims. A GoFundMe has been launched to support the Legislative Advocacy Day. The goal is $25,000 to help send elder justice representatives to Ottawa and to fund legal research, advocacy materials, and coordination of the event.
More information
For more information on a proposed coercive control offence and elder abuse, please visit Dementia Justice Canada’s webpage.
Contact
Heather Campbell Pope
Founder/Director
Dementia Justice Canada
Email:
Phone: 613-710-0366
Bénédicte Schoepflin
Executive Director
Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse
Email:
Phone: 604-715-1007
Marie-Noël Campbell
Executive Director
Seniors First BC
Email:
Bob Neufeld
Media and Communications
Brainwell Institute
Email:
COALITION MEMBERS
Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE) is the first and oldest legal clinic in Canada with a specific mandate to provide a range of legal services to low-income older adults. Its legal services include individual and group client advice and representation, public legal education, community development, and law reform activities.
Alberta Elder Abuse Awareness Council (AEAAC) is a province-wide network of professionals committed to addressing elder abuse and neglect. AEAAC supports prevention and intervention efforts by providing resources and education, and by strengthening Coordinated Community Response (CCR) teams across Alberta. Through these multidisciplinary teams and its Safe Spaces Initiative, AEAAC helps create safe, trusted environments where older adults feel valued and supported.
BC Association of Community Response Networks (BC CRN) is a provincial non-profit dedicated to fostering safe, inclusive communities where vulnerable adults are valued and protected. Through active coordination, advocacy, education, collaboration, and relationship building, it supports local community response networks to create awareness and prevention of adult abuse, neglect, and self-neglect.
Brainwell Institute is an independent think tank that elevates evidence to ignite change and revolutionize thinking about dementia and brain health.
Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health (CCSMH) focuses on supporting older adults’ mental health through knowledge translation (information, resources, professional development and clinical guidelines) and advocacy. Its mission is rooted in evidence-based approaches, compassionate advocacy, and the unwavering belief that every older adult deserves the best possible mental health care. The CCSMH is under the umbrella of the Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatrists.
CanAge is Canada’s national seniors’ advocacy organization, working to improve the lives of older adults through advocacy, policy, and community engagement.
Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (CNPEA) builds awareness, support and capacity for a coordinated pan-Canadian approach to the prevention of elder abuse and neglect. It promotes the rights of older adults through knowledge mobilization, collaboration, policy reform and education.
Dementia Justice Canada is a small non-profit dedicated to advocating for the rights and dignity of people with dementia. A particular focus is criminal justice reform.
Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario (EAPO) is a charitable, non-profit organization, recognized for its leadership in elder abuse prevention, providing awareness raising educational forums, training multi-sectoral front-line service professionals, and creating tools/resources for all to better understand and appropriately respond when supporting older adults at-risk or experiencing increasingly complex issues of elder abuse.
HelpAge Canada is the only registered Canadian charity and international NGO focused solely on partnering with communities to improve the lives of older people in Canada and around the world.
International Longevity Centre Canada (ILC-Canada) is human rights-based organization focused on older persons, created in 2015 and situated in Ottawa, Ontario. Its mission is to propose ideas and guidance for policies addressing population aging based on international and domestic research and practice with a view to bettering the lives of Canadians. It does this through a human rights lens, through knowledge development and exchange, recommendations of evidence-based polices, social mobilization, and networking.
National Institute on Ageing (NIA) improves the lives of older adults and the systems that support them by convening stakeholders, conducting research, advancing policy solutions and practice innovations, sharing information, and shifting attitudes. Its vision is a Canada where older adults feel valued, included, supported, and better prepared to age with confidence.
Prevent Elder Abuse Manitoba (PEAM) is a provincial network dedicated to raising awareness, fostering collaboration, and promoting strategies to prevent the abuse and neglect of older adults across Manitoba.
Seniors First BC is a 31-year old charitable, non-profit society that promotes the dignity of older adults, free from abuse of any kind. It provides information, support, legal advocacy, and referrals to older adults across British Columbia with issues affecting their well-being, as well as those who care for them.
Yukon Council on Aging (YCOA) is an organization whose vision is that all Yukon seniors (55+) can flourish and thrive as they age, and age in place for as long as possible. Its services include a home and yard maintenance program; providing information and assistance in applying for Pioneer Utility Grants (home heating); wills and estate planning; presentations on dementia; and more.
- Details
NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release
November 12, 2025
ELDER JUSTICE COALITION
Legislative Advocacy Day:
Coercive Control of Seniors
OTTAWA, ONTARIO - The Elder Justice Coalition is an ad hoc group of organizations calling for a coercive control offence to protect elder abuse victims. Our aim is to bring our voices together during a Legislative Action Day on Parliament Hill, where we plan to engage with politicians and their staff, urging them to extend a coercive control offence beyond intimate partners to include abusive adult children and others in positions of trust and dependence.
Elder abuse victims were excluded from the last attempt to criminalize coercive control (Bill C-332), which received unanimous, all-party support in the House of Commons. This advocacy effort aims to unite voices and ensure older victims are no longer overlooked. “Coercive control can profoundly devastate older people’s lives,” said Laura Tamblyn Watts, CEO of CanAge, Canada’s national seniors’ advocacy organization, and a global expert on ageing and law reform. “A coercive control offence that includes abuse within relationships of trust and dependence would recognize the reality of their experience and help close a critical gap in protection.”
Coercive control can trap older people, particularly older women, in relationships where they lack access to money, housing, care, or independence. Those with cognitive impairments such as dementia may be particularly unable to seek help. “When an older person is controlled or manipulated by a person they depend on, the harm often goes unnoticed,” said Bénédicte Schoepflin, executive director of the Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse. “Recognizing coercive control in these relationships would give these victims the legal protection they deserve.”
“Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario (EAPO) recognizes the urgent need to recognize and address coercive control as a critical form of elder abuse—particularly among older adults living with cognitive impairments, because it involves patterns of manipulation and isolation that diminishes an individual’s autonomy, independence and dignity, often under the guise of protection or care,” said Marta Hajek, CEO of EAPO.
Parliament is expected to revisit coercive control legislation, with the NDP indicating that MP Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre) is working to strengthen the earlier proposal. “This is an encouraging sign,” said Heather Campbell Pope, a lawyer and sole director of Dementia Justice Canada, a small nonprofit dedicated to enhancing access to justice for people with dementia. “Lawmakers have already shown they recognize the harm caused by coercive control. This time, we’re urging them to ensure older victims, especially those harmed by adult children and others in positions of trust, are not left behind.”
Other jurisdictions are already leading the way. In Queensland, Australia, the coercive control offence covers a broader range of relationships beyond intimate partners. At Simon Fraser University, elder law expert Professor Margaret Hall is conducting international comparative research on how jurisdictions worldwide have criminalized coercive control outside the intimate partner context. Her research will help inform the Elder Justice Coalition’s advocacy and strengthen the case for legislative action in Canada.
A GoFundMe has been launched to support this legislative advocacy initiative, tentatively scheduled for early February 2026. The goal is $25,000 to help send elder justice representatives to Ottawa, fund legal research and advocacy materials, and support participation by other organizations.
“Elder justice advocacy has long been underfunded,” said Campbell Pope of Dementia Justice. “This fundraiser will help advocates come together in Ottawa and draw attention to elder abuse victims who too often go unheard.”
The Legislative Action Day is a crucial opportunity to push for criminal law reform that recognizes coercive control in all relationships of trust and dependency, ensuring older victims are safeguarded and abusers are held accountable.
PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS
Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE) is the first and oldest legal clinic in Canada with a specific mandate to provide a range of legal services to low-income older adults. Its legal services include individual and group client advice and representation, public legal education, community development and law reform activities.
BC Association of Community Response Networks (BC CRN) is a provincial non-profit dedicated to fostering safe, inclusive communities where vulnerable adults are valued and protected. Through active coordination, advocacy, education, collaboration, and relationship building, it supports local community response networks to create awareness and prevention of adult abuse, neglect, and self-neglect.
Brainwell Institute is an independent think tank that elevates evidence to ignite change and revolutionize thinking about dementia and brain health.
CanAge is Canada’s national seniors’ advocacy organization, working to improve the lives of older adults through advocacy, policy, and community engagement.
Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (CNPEA) builds awareness, support and capacity for a coordinated pan-Canadian approach to the prevention of elder abuse and neglect. It promotes the rights of older adults through knowledge mobilization, collaboration, policy reform and education.
Dementia Justice Canada is a small non-profit dedicated to advocating for the rights and dignity of people with dementia. A particular focus is criminal justice reform.
Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario (EAPO) is a charitable, non-profit organization, recognized for its leadership in elder abuse prevention, providing awareness raising educational forums, training multi-sectoral front-line service professionals, and creating tools/resources for all to better understand and appropriately respond when supporting older adults at-risk or experiencing increasingly complex issues of elder abuse.
National Institute on Ageing (NIA) improves the lives of older adults and the systems that support them by convening stakeholders, conducting research, advancing policy solutions and practice innovations, sharing information and shifting attitudes. Its vision is a Canada where older adults feel valued, included, supported and better prepared to age with confidence.
Prevent Elder Abuse Manitoba (PEAM) is a provincial network dedicated to raising awareness, fostering collaboration, and promoting strategies to prevent the abuse and neglect of older adults across Manitoba.
Additional organizations may be announced in due course.
LEGISLATIVE ACTION DAY
Tentative Date: Thursday, February 5, 2026
Ottawa, Ontario
This is a fixed sitting date for the House of Commons and Senate.
More information
For more information on a proposed coercive control offence and elder abuse, please visit Dementia Justice Canada’s webpage.
Contact
Laura Tamblyn Watts
CEO CanAge
Email:
Phone: 647-969-6793
Heather Campbell Pope
Founder/Director Dementia Justice Canada
Email:
Phone: 613-710-0366
- Details
Canada is in the middle of a workforce challenge. Job vacancies remain high. Skilled tradespeople are retiring. And many industries — from construction to healthcare — are struggling to keep up. As of June 2025, Canada’s unemployment rate sits at 6.9%, with 1.6 million people actively looking for work. Many employers are struggling to fill key positions, particularly in trades and care-based sectors.
Yet thousands of older, skilled, and experienced adults who want or need to keep working are being quietly pushed aside. While elder abuse is often discussed in the context of home or care settings, workplaces play a vital role in shaping attitudes toward aging. When older adults are excluded from meaningful work, it not only impacts their income and independence, it can also reinforce ageist stereotypes that contribute to social isolation, a known risk factor for abuse.
At the same time, nearly one in four Canadians will be over the age of 65 by 2030. This growing demographic shift is a call to action, urging us to reimagine how we value, engage, and protect older adults in every sphere of society, including the workplace.
From Overlooked to Essential with WISE
This is where W.I.S.E. (Wisdom, Inclusivity, Synergy, and Equity) steps in. Developed through On Your Own Time, W.I.S.E. is a free workplace certification program designed to help employers tap into the expertise of experienced workers.
W.I.S.E. works by guiding employers through a practical, supportive audit of their hiring language, benefits, training opportunities, and workplace culture. The process identifies gaps and opportunities, then provides tailored recommendations and inclusive hiring tools that make it easier to create environments where experience is valued as an asset, not a liability.
Organizations that meet W.I.S.E.’s standards earn a public certification badge, a clear signal toolder job seekers that they are welcome, wanted, and valued.
For employers, the benefits are substantial. Age inclusion opens access to a broader talent pool and delivers employee retention rates 5.4 times higher than non-inclusive companies. It preserves valuable institutional knowledge while fostering stronger, more engaged teams, and these organizations are three times more likely to be high-performing. By embracing age inclusion, employers can strengthen their competitive edge, close persistent labour gaps, and build a workplace culture that attracts and retains top talent.
Whether you’re an employer, policy maker, or experienced worker, your role matters. By championing age inclusion today, we’re not only filling critical gaps in the labor market, we’re building workplaces that are wiser, stronger, and more resilient for the future.
Because when every generation has a seat at the table, everyone benefits. Learn more or get certified at: www.onyourowntime.ca/w-i-s-e.
References
- Statistics Canada, “Labour Force Survey, June 2025,” July 11, 2025.
- Government of Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, “Government ofCanada invests to help Canadians enter skilled trades,” July 27, 2022.
- Bush, M. (2023, August 25). Why Is Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace Important? Great Place To Work. August 15, 2025, https://www.greatplacetowork.com/resources/blog/why-is-diversity-inclusion-in-the-workplace-important
- Statistics Canada, “The older people are all right,” September 23, 2024.https://diversio.com/dei-employee-retention/
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