By Kaytlyn Poberznick

Seniors Funding

B.C. Government makes multi-million dollar investment to aid senior abuse awareness

Aug 16, 2023 | 1:46 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The B.C. government has given a 4.2 million dollar grant to the CRN (Community Response Network) to help educate and provide awareness around the issue of senior abuse throughout the province.

“It is regarding educating seniors about what services and resources are available when they are facing abuse, how and where they can reach out to in order to get some help, and also notify the abuse and the education awareness for the organizations as well.”

– Harwinder Sandhu, Parliamentary Secretary for Senior Services and Long-Term Care

Getting the funding to help seniors throughout British Columbia is always good news, but as Shirley Bond says, it’s all about follow-through.

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“Elder abuse is a very serious issue in British Columbia. And so I was pleased to see that there’s funding being allocated to help people identify when seniors are facing abuse. That’s really critical. But, what matters is the outcomes. What will happen with those dollars that have been assigned. There are some fantastic organizations all across British Columbia that work to protect seniors, so I’m always pleased to see investment. But what matters most is improved outcomes.”

– Shirley Bond, MLA for Prince George-Valemount (BCU)

This is definitely a step in the right direction to help support and aid seniors but it doesn’t stop there.

“Well, with the issues that seniors are facing today, we all need to do our part. We need to check in on people who are frail and elderly, particularly as we look at things like rising temperatures. That’s been very disappointing to see how slowly the government has responded to recommendations from the coroner related to the death of 600+ frail, elderly British Columbians. So, it’s another example of following through and doing the important work to protect seniors.”

A study found that approximately 8% of seniors in B.C. experienced some form of abuse, financial abuse being the most common.