Western Standard - Helping seniors escaping elder abuse.

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00:02:18.180 Good morning everyone, thank you for joining us for an exciting announcement that holds

00:02:42.720 significance for our communities and those impacted by elder abuse across our province.

00:02:47.180 On behalf of SAGE Seniors Association, the Government of Alberta, and our community partners,

00:02:52.180 we are honoured to have you here with us today.

00:02:54.180 I'm Michelle Markham, the Manager of the Seniors Safe House with SAGE.

00:02:58.180 We begin by acknowledging that we are gathered on the ancestral lands of the Neheyao, the Dene, the Métis, the Nakota Sioux, the Blackfoot, the Iroquois, the Ojibwe, Anishinaabe, Inuit, and many other Indigenous communities.

00:03:14.180 It is with deep and sincere respect that we stand on this traditional gathering place,

00:03:19.120 an historic trade route and cherished home for many Indigenous community members.

00:03:23.940 We honour the profound connection to the land and the responsibilities that come with it.

00:03:29.060 We acknowledge that we are all responsible for learning our shared history

00:03:32.480 and for understanding the spirit and intent of our treaty, Treaty 6.

00:03:37.340 This enables us, as all treaty people, to honour the past, be aware in the present

00:03:43.340 and take the steps that are necessary towards moving us to reconciliation.

00:03:48.720 We also acknowledge that colonization has had a profound impact on older adults.

00:03:53.400 We hold in esteem the resilience and enduring strength of elders and older adults

00:03:59.340 and the importance of placing them in their rightful place

00:04:09.320 as knowledge keepers and leaders within our communities.

00:04:13.980 we extend a heartfelt thanks to all of you for your attendance today

00:04:17.900 please join me in welcoming our first speaker minister of seniors community and social services

00:04:24.620 the honorable jason nixon

00:04:32.380 well good morning everybody it's great to see you here thanks for that uh introduction michelle

00:04:36.460 and thanks for uh welcoming us here to the sage seniors association here in edmonton

00:04:40.940 I want to start off by acknowledging that November is Family Violence Awareness Month in the province of Alberta.

00:04:50.500 And sadly, seniors experience a tremendous amount of family violence inside our province,

00:04:56.260 something that is often maybe forgotten as we talk about that very important topic.

00:05:01.340 The fact is, in our province, about 1 in 10 seniors in Alberta will experience some form of elder abuse,

00:05:06.760 Whether that's physical, emotional, financial, or sexual in nature, elder abuse is often under-reported, and there, of course, are additional barriers for our seniors as they have to be able to interact with the system that make it an additional challenge as we manage this issue.

00:05:23.440 That is why Alberta's government has been committed to working very closely with our

00:05:27.440 non-profit partners like the Sage Senior Association here in Edmonton and other partners across

00:05:32.340 the province to protect seniors from elder abuse, to give them options when they're experiencing

00:05:37.120 elder abuse, to educate Albertans on elder abuse and to educate seniors and their families

00:05:41.940 in opportunities that may take place for people experiencing abuse unfortunately in our province.

00:05:47.200 And that is why today I'm excited to announce on behalf of the Alberta government that we

00:05:50.800 will be investing immediately an additional 3.3 million dollars over the next three years to

00:05:56.320 support seniors fleeing abuse in our province this funding will provide 2.2 million dollars to

00:06:02.160 establish a new safe spaces program for seniors experiencing elder abuse in rural alberta and

00:06:08.240 indigenous communities to ensure the there are safe accessible places for them to go in communities

00:06:13.840 in rural alberta and indigenous communities the safe spaces program will utilize vacant

00:06:18.400 lodge spaces to expand shelter capacity for seniors fleeing abuse in partnership with the

00:06:23.920 alberta elder abuse awareness council grant funding will be available to eligible rural

00:06:28.880 and indigenous communities with a call for proposals beginning in january 2024.

00:06:33.760 the additional 1.1 million of this new funding will also go to sage seniors safe house where

00:06:39.120 we are today to expand the numbers expand the number of spaces they provide to seniors fleeing

00:06:44.080 abuse here in Edmonton and the surrounding area this is new funding it is in addition to the 7.4

00:06:50.480 billion or million in our budget right now to address elder abuse through funding for the

00:06:55.680 elder abuse shelters in Edmonton and Calgary and funding for our awareness prevention programs

00:07:00.400 across the province our government continues to want to and need to invest significantly in those

00:07:06.400 who built our province seniors this year alone we will invest 9.3 billion dollars for seniors across

00:07:11.520 the province because it is a priority of the province we also are seeing tremendous affordability

00:07:16.640 challenges which are impacting all albertans and that's why we are investing 5.1 billion dollars

00:07:22.880 in affordability payments this year alone more than any other jurisdiction in the country to help

00:07:28.640 all of us who are facing affordability challenges but particularly fixed income seniors so with that

00:07:34.240 i'm very excited about this announcement thank you for having me here i would like to introduce

00:07:38.160 to you bernice sewell who's the director of operations for sage senior association

00:07:42.720 here to say a few words about how this announcement will impact bernice

00:07:54.000 just try to adjust this a little bit because i'm a little shorter

00:07:57.760 good morning everyone i am bernice sewell director of operations with sage

00:08:02.480 on behalf of sage staff and the board of directors thank you for joining us today

00:08:08.000 minister nixon i want to thank you very sincerely and we have want to express our gratitude

00:08:15.120 to the government of alberta's leadership and long-standing support this investment speaks

00:08:21.200 to that commitment and is the reason that alberta is a leader in canada for preventing and addressing

00:08:27.600 elder abuse and prioritizing the safety and well-being of seniors your investment in the

00:08:32.720 community and responsiveness to the needs of the community have played a critical a critical role

00:08:39.120 in ensuring older adults are able to continue to build and enrich our province for over 20 years

00:08:46.880 older adults experiencing abuse or exploitation have been supported by our safe house staff

00:08:53.520 in addition to providing temporary housing seniors receive assistance in with all areas

00:08:59.040 of their life that have been impacted by abuse the safe house model is unique with most residents

00:09:09.360 not returning to their abusive situation underscoring the effectiveness of our integrated

00:09:14.400 person-centered approach in helping seniors break free from cycles of abuse and creating lasting

00:09:20.160 positive changes in their life at the at this time i'd like to take a moment to thank michelle

00:09:26.560 and all of her staff for the excellent work that they do in supporting those staff

00:09:32.400 sorry those older adults thanks to the investment by the government of alberta we can strengthen our

00:09:37.920 ability to support more seniors by expanding the number of suites addressing the increased demand

00:09:44.160 for our services and ensuring that we continue to provide essential support services to those

00:09:50.320 that need it most it is important to note that we never can do this work alone i'd like to express

00:09:57.840 my sincere gratitude to our community partners and peers some of who are present today special thanks

00:10:04.080 to our seniors protection partnership which is made up of catholic social services city of edmonton

00:10:10.160 edmonton police services and covenant health in addition we'd like to thank greater edmonton

00:10:16.320 foundation unison of calgary for being an excellent partner the alberta council of women's

00:10:22.000 shelters alberta elder abuse awareness council and elder abuse consultation team members all of our

00:10:29.200 community partners and supporters make this work possible we are grateful for their expertise

00:10:35.760 resources and advocacy efforts we look forward to working with communities across the province

00:10:42.480 through the safe spaces program providing support wherever needed through this collaborative and

00:10:48.080 coordinated effort we will create a network of supports throughout alberta for those experiencing

00:10:55.120 or are at risk of experiencing abuse today marks the culmination of many years of collaborative

00:11:02.240 efforts with our community partners and with it with sorry and with our colleagues in government

00:11:08.800 we as a community benefit from the contributions of older adults

00:11:13.680 as we as a community take action to be sure they are safe thank you everyone for coming

00:11:21.760 i would like to now introduce larry matheson from unison

00:11:32.160 thank you feels like we should have done the order by height or something because

00:11:39.440 i'm larry matheson i am the president ceo of unison for the generation 50 plus

00:11:45.920 in in the 1990s our organization built the first purpose-built elder abuse shelter in north america

00:11:54.720 and when our staff go to meet with other professionals in the elder abuse space

00:12:00.320 at conferences or gathering we're always proud when somebody says oh we came and toured

00:12:07.280 the shelter at kirby center before we built our shelter and we've always viewed alberta as being

00:12:15.840 progressive and innovative in the elder abuse response area we're very excited excited is

00:12:23.920 probably an understatement that this announcement will mean a 40 increase in the beds in the

00:12:30.960 shelter at kirby center in calgary in addition it will fund two outreach case workers which mean

00:12:39.360 many seniors who might have needed an elder abuse bed may be diverted to another safe space

00:12:47.200 we also work in medicine hat and the surrounding rural area so we're very excited with the

00:12:54.320 announcement of um the safe spaces model because we view it as a very responsive model a very

00:13:02.720 progressive model and a very cost effective model which is important in building a network and we

00:13:09.040 look forward to continuing to work with the provincial government and the alberta alberta

00:13:14.560 i knew i was going to choke on that we call that ayak the alberta elder abuse network uh in in

00:13:21.760 developing this network of safety and support for for older adults in alberta thank you

00:13:34.320 start our press conference could we we'll start with callers on the line if you could state your

00:13:40.320 name your outlet we'll do one question and one follow-up operator can you put in the first caller

00:13:45.760 hey dan singleton great west media

00:13:54.160 oh hi this is for uh minister nixon hey dan i can hear you how's the weather back home

00:14:01.840 oh it's nice lots of um this money's going to rural uh alberta to help there is this um an

00:14:10.240 area we're seeing is it underrepresented as far as seniors having places to go

00:14:13.920 world small small rural areas yeah for sure dan it's uh it's an area where certainly we see

00:14:20.320 the solutions or spaces safe spaces are under represented in rural alberta places like where

00:14:26.400 you and i come from calgary and edmonton have a lot of capacity that has already been built by

00:14:32.160 the excellent organizations that are here today in partnership with the alberta government but

00:14:36.800 one of the challenges we see is rural alberta is vast and obviously we don't need the same level of

00:14:41.920 facility size but we do need to still help individuals who find themselves in those

00:14:47.280 circumstances and so that's what i really like about this process the an effort to be able to

00:14:52.000 use existing lodge spaces and communities like ours dan uh to be able to create a little bit

00:14:57.360 of capacity within that facility that which will end up being more than enough for that community

00:15:01.440 if we try to just build up large lodges in places like sundry where you're from

00:15:06.000 obviously we won't i mean fortunately we won't need all of that capacity there but we need to be

00:15:10.880 able to make sure that we have some capacity so that's the effort of this and that's why you see

00:15:14.880 the the bulk of the funding going to rule because and to indigenous communities because that's what

00:15:20.160 we have learned is the area where we can have the biggest impact and in the area where probably us

00:15:24.720 as a province are the furthest behind do you have a follow-up okay yeah a follow-up um the applications

00:15:33.200 are open until january then it's going to take some time to get these lodges uh these new

00:15:38.400 facilities up are you um you're happy with that timeline or is it something you need to

00:15:44.480 the application happen right away but yeah you know the sad reality is when we're dealing with

00:15:49.840 things like construction and other aspects it doesn't happen overnight but we need to get

00:15:54.000 started so the applications will open up first thing in the new year uh it would be my intention

00:15:58.320 to see all of the money flow within this fiscal year that's the the intention of this announcement

00:16:03.040 it laid out within those three-year parameters but to make clear where they're going to be invested

00:16:07.520 uh and so uh you know while i wish that we could always see things take place faster this is where

00:16:12.080 we have to start and there'll be a very clear significant investment inside our rural communities

00:16:17.680 when it comes to elder abuse and safe spaces for those fleeing elder abuse next caller please

00:16:26.640 katherine grigowski alberta today oh thanks for taking my question so so with this funding i'm

00:16:33.520 wondering will there be separate streams for like the capital if you're um looking to bring up those

00:16:39.440 vacant lodges to standards and then a separate pocket for operational or will it be all part of

00:16:45.520 one grant or how how does how does that work well i will uh answer it in two parts first to make

00:16:52.640 clear i mean a couple months back i announced an additional 16 million dollars on top of the 94

00:16:59.440 million that we're spending this year on capital maintenance and renewal for lodges across the

00:17:03.200 province uh so it's about 110 million dollars that we're spending right now trying to get

00:17:07.360 other units primarily that were offline uh back up to the way that in a way that they can be

00:17:12.640 utilized for those that need them certainly some of that money may end up being invested in some

00:17:17.360 of the spaces that will be used uh the i don't think we have as tight of parameters around

00:17:23.600 the the overall quantum of this announcement other than to say 2.2 million dollars is headed

00:17:28.160 to rural and indigenous communities and 1.1 is headed here uh in edmonton to do the work that's

00:17:33.520 taking place here so with the goal again of creating safe spaces inside our existing lodge

00:17:38.640 system uh the details of that will be worked out through the department our non-profit partners

00:17:42.960 uh as they come forward with their projects do you have a follow-up yeah and i'm wondering um if

00:17:49.840 there is that flexibility within those grants for uh what the community may may need specifically

00:17:58.640 like i don't know you i know social workers were mentioned um maybe um nurses like i'm wondering

00:18:06.560 how flexible it is in terms of what kind of supports can be provided there's a tremendous

00:18:13.440 amount of flexibility uh again because what will happen is we'll open up a grant process applications

00:18:18.640 will come forward from non-profit partners particularly on the rural alberta side of it

00:18:23.360 and those projects will be approved based on the what has been presented and what is needed

00:18:28.000 by the communities i will say the intention of this grant is not to meet some of the real

00:18:32.880 capacity issues when it comes to continuing care and health care that will be handled through the

00:18:37.120 work that we're doing in partnership with the minister of health right now through the health

00:18:40.640 renewal and making sure that we are meeting our obligations to care for our seniors all across

00:18:45.920 the province. The goal of this funding is to be very specific towards elder abuse

00:18:51.440 but flexible within that context and that framework.

00:18:56.640 And that's all the questions we have for today. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you.

00:19:15.920 You

Western Standard - November 20, 2023

Helping seniors escaping elder abuse.

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