Public Interest Alberta and Friends of Medicare are recognizing World Elder Abuse Awareness Day by calling again on the UCP Government to bring back a Seniors Advocate.
“The UCP government continues to sputter in chaos, as elder abuse remains a real crisis facing Alberta seniors. They deserve better than empty rhetoric from this government,” said Bradley Lafortune, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. “The UCP government needs to recognize Elder Abuse Awareness Day by taking action starting with creating an independent seniors advocate.”
“Seniors struggle with poverty, loneliness, housing insecurity, and lack of access to social services, ” said Chris Gallaway, Executive Director of Friends of Medicare. “Decades of underfunding for seniors’ care has left seniors uniquely vulnerable to abuse. If we want to address the issue of elder abuse, we need to look at the root causes.”
“That’s why we are calling on this government to bring back an independent seniors advocate as a first step to ensure seniors are safe and able to live in dignity,” said Gallaway. “Instead, this government has ignored the calls of seniors across Alberta and continued their reckless agenda of cuts and privatization.”
“Alberta seniors deserve better,” said Lafortune. “They deserve better than abuse. They deserve better than housing insecurity. And they deserve better than a government that constantly puts them at the bottom of their priorities. We’re done waiting. We need solutions for seniors now.”
Friends of Medicare and Public Interest Alberta, alongside the Canadian Association of Retired Persons and Seniors United Now, have been advocating for months for an independent, legislated, and properly empowered seniors advocate. To date, the UCP government continues to refuse to act on this call.
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