\u201cCOVID exposed a lot of vulnerabilities that we, smugly, as governments and as caregivers and as a physician myself, always thought were being cared for. It exposed that there were holes in the safety net,\u201d she said in an interview. \u201cThe system was not up to the task.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fry said Justice Minister David Lametti \u201cdoes not have any problem\u201d with the bill, and answered in the affirmative when asked whether she believes the government is on board with the approach.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the Justice Department would only say that officials are \u201cexploring potential Criminal Code reform options to better address senior abuse and neglect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Experts say the bill is a step in the right direction but risks being a public-relations exercise and falling short of meaningful change if the government ends up supporting it in isolation.<\/p>\n
The Criminal Code amendments themselves look like \u201ca very viable approach,\u201d said Graham Webb, executive director of the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly and previously its longtime staff lawyer.<\/p>\n
Though there is much to be done by the provincial governments that oversee long-term care, Ottawa has a role to play in holding provinces accountable to better standards of care, Mehra said, by attaching more strings to federal health transfers.<\/p>\n
That and finally following through on the promise to hold bad actors criminally responsible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we need to search our conscience if the lives of the elderly are not worth a formal government bill,\u201d she said, \u201cand real change with teeth.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n