Vancouver — B.C.'s seniors advocate says the province needs a better system of tracking abuse of seniors and her office is in the process of reviewing the best way for that to happen.
In a report released Tuesday, Isobel Mackenzie says the seniors abuse and information line received more than 5,500 calls in 2019. Of those, 28 per cent related to seniors abuse, which is about a 17 per cent increase from the previous year. But another helpline saw a decrease in numbers.
Mackenzie is concerned information is not being collected uniformly.
“We needed a clearer system that says, 'if you see this, call this number,'" Mackenzie said. "I think that will allow us to get a better handle on what degree of abuse is happening out there and then we can go about trying to reduce it as much as possible."
She says the information they have gathered shows that the majority of the abuse is financial.
"At least least half the time its at the hands of family members," Mackenzie said. "And then there’s what I would call the commercial operators, the scam artists that are also victimizing seniors."
She hopes to complete her report by February of 2021.
Meanwhile, the report also provides statistics on crimes against seniors.
RCMP reported in 2019 that more than 1,670 seniors were victims of violent offenses. In addition, 19,000 seniors were victims of property crime.
In Vancouver, the cases of physical abuse against seniors went up 28 per cent to 234. There was a six per cent increase in seniors who were victims of financial abuse.
