B.C.’s seniors advocate has started a separate review into elder abuse in the province after finding the number of calls to the seniors abuse and information line has increased significantly.
Isobel Mackenzie said in her annual review that there were just over 5,500 total calls to the information line in 2019, a 27-per cent increase from the year before.
But her report also said it’s unclear how big the problem is because they don’t have the proper tools to measure abuse or neglect of seniors, prompting her further review with a report due next year.
She said the RCMP reports that almost 1,700 seniors experienced a violent event last year and 19,000 reported property crimes such as theft or vandalism.
The report also found the number of seniors subsidized housing units increased for the first time in four years.
Mackenzie said the use of antipsychotics without a diagnosis has changed little in the last three years and the use of antidepressants is slowly increasing.
The data in the report does not reflect the serious impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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