Mrs. Schneider, 78, can no longer access her own bank account, having been told she is “too stupid” to handle money. Her mail is intercepted, and her medications are withheld. Visits with friends are monitored, and she is not allowed to attend her book club. Violent threats are routine. Her wheelchair and hearing aids are broken. Her days are organized around keeping the peace, where obedience feels safer than seeking help.
In December, federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser tabled Bill C-16, which proposes to create a standalone criminal offence targeting patterns of abusive behaviour, known as coercive control.
This is welcome reform. Coercive control is a known precursor to intimate femicide, and early intervention can save the lives of women and children.
Yet Bill C-16 raises a constitutional concern, as the offence appears vulnerable to a challenge under section 15 of the Charter, which guarantees equality rights. If the person exerting control is the victim’s spouse, the proposed law would offer protection. If it is her son, however, it would not, because the offence is limited to intimate partner relationships. That matters because elder abuse often involves adult children, grandchildren, siblings, or caregivers who control money, housing, medical care, and access to friends and family.
By protecting some victims but not others, the offence creates a hierarchy that conflicts with the principle that all people have equal worth. Seniors abused by relatives or caregivers would be denied the protection available to intimate partners, resulting in unequal access to the criminal law for those harmed in relationships shaped by age, dependence, and disabilities such as dementia, which can heighten vulnerability to mistreatment and make seeking help more difficult.
Of course, the government can attempt to justify the rights infringement under section 1 of the Charter by showing that the limit on equality is reasonable in a free and democratic society. That will be a challenging case to make.
The government’s well-intentioned objective of addressing violence against women can be met with an inclusive approach that extends to elder abuse victims. Indeed, it would further that objective: according to 2024 data from the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability, when a woman is killed by a family member, the accused is her son more than half the time (55 percent). A coercive control offence could help police intervene before the situation escalates to deadly violence or neglect.
Those concerned that broadening the offence might weaken its impact on domestic abuse can rest assured. Fraser’s draft makes it a hybrid crime, allowing Crown counsel to proceed summarily or by indictment, which carries harsher penalties for more serious cases. Judges must also treat abuse of an intimate partner as an aggravating factor under existing sentencing law.
As MPs consider Bill C-16, they have the opportunity to close the equality gap. Amending the offence to include elder abuse victims would provide stronger protection to a vulnerable group and strengthen its Charter compliance, signaling that harms experienced by older Canadians, including those with dementia, are taken seriously under the law.
Heather Campbell Pope is founder of Dementia Justice Canada.
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