Adopted in 2017, the Act to combat the mistreatment of seniors and other adults in vulnerable situations was strengthened last April by the addition of criminal offenses providing for fines of up to $250,000. More than six months later, on the ground, whether families, police officers or complaints commissioners, no one seems to know precisely what path to take for these offenses to be punished.
“We announced with great fanfare that we would add these criminal offenses as an additional bulwark to protect vulnerable people, especially in CHSLDs. When we put these measures in place, we did not think at all about how it was going to be applied, ”says Patrick Martin-Ménard, a lawyer specializing in medical causes.
Since last April, criminal offenses provide for fines for the perpetrator of an act of abuse, but also for anyone who fails in their obligation to report it. These new provisions were added on the initiative of the Minister responsible for Seniors at the time, Marguerite Blais, but no directive has since been given by the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) on their application.
Daniel Pilote paid the price. In early August, he filed a complaint for abuse with the Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu police against the CHSLD where he resides, under the new law. Since then, the man who suffers from muscular dystrophy still has no news of his complaint.
“It is not normal that this complaint remains in the void and that even today, Mr. Pilote suffers from institutional mistreatment”, launches Paul G. Brunet, president of the Council for the protection of the sick and representative of Mr. Driver on file.
For the past few months, the employees of the CHSLD where Mr. Pilote resides have had to follow a new procedure to install him in his chair, a change that has caused him a great deal of suffering.
“The canvas used [par le personnel] to sit Daniel in his chair does not allow him to be pushed into the back of the chair. There is always 1 to 2 inches left in the bottom, where his back is not leaning. His back is not paralyzed, so he is not well, he is in pain, ”laments Me Brunett.
Unaware of the procedure to follow, the Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu police chief carried out the necessary checks with the MSSS. He then confirmed to Mr. Pilote that he would not deal with his file since that would probably not be his responsibility, but that of the MSSS.
“Mr. Pilote’s file is being assessed by the competent authorities, and if it turns out that after analysis there has been a breach, and that there is reason to file an indictment at the DPCP [Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales], the minister (by delegate) will appoint an inspector or an investigator to liaise with the DPCP,” replied Stéphane Bélanger, director of the police department, to the representative of Mr. Pilote. Information confirmed by the ministry’s communications manager, Robert Miranda.
The duty wanted to check with other institutions if they had received directives from the MSSS. The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal clarified that according to its “current understanding, [il] should not be mandated for the application of the penal procedures provided for in the Act to combat mistreatment of older adults and any other person of full age in a situation of vulnerability”. For its part, the communications department of the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal indicated that its complaints commissioner “awaits the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Social Services in connection with the application of these fines”.
Lack of independence?
The DPCP confirmed to the To have to not having handled a case in connection with these offences.
“If there is an allegation, an offense or any denunciation that an offense has been committed, there is an investigation by people mandated for this purpose by the ministry. The people who are designated, I do not know how they are, ”says Audrey Roy-Cloutier, spokesperson for the DPCP. “The law is there, it exists, but it seems to have to tie some strings,” she adds.
Me Patrick Martin-Ménard questions the “independence” of this process.
“The enforcement of criminal offenses is the responsibility of police forces or peace officers who have specific training. An internal process within the Ministry of Health is highly problematic,” he said. According to him, the investigation into the CHSLD Herron is a good example. “The ministry investigator went to say from the first day that it was the fault of the owners and that the CIUSSS had done a very good job, whereas in the coroner’s public inquiry, we had a very different version. “, he recalls. During the public hearings, the testimony of a manager showed that nothing was under control at the CHSLD Herron, when her employer, the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, reassured the government.
A family in the fog
“We have a law against abuse, but no one to apply it! says Renée Binette, whose mother, Inès Binette, is a resident of a CHSLD in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
“Where are we going to do that? No one ever told us about it […] Our mother is still going through the same thing today, denounced more than a year ago, ”laments Ms.me Hoe.
For 16 months, the children of Inès Binette no longer know which saint to devote themselves to. Their mother lives in a non-contracted private CHSLD of the Arbec group in Lanaudière, and the family accumulates reports to the complaints commissioner, who made 37 recommendations in a single report, in which she concludes that the 91-year-old lady is indeed the victim of physical and organizational abuse.
“When an employee doesn’t know my mom’s work plan or routine, that’s when a lot of abusive situations happen, like pulling on her arms to get her up even though she has chronic pain in her chest. shoulder, falls to the ground when an employee tries to make her walk with her walker even if the displacements must be done with a device, the fact of changing her diaper at fixed times rather than as needed […] There is no washing between panty changes, she is invited to urinate in a diaper when she is not incontinent and asks to go to the bathroom…” enumerates, discouraged, the girl by Mme Hoe.
The children plan, if the situation persists, to assess with a lawyer whether criminal acts of abuse have been committed against their mother in order to file a complaint with the police.
“There is also the possibility of a civil lawsuit against the Arbec group. Our mother has ample physical and psychological consequences. From a proud and happy mother, she sometimes says she wants to die to end her pain. She even asks her late parents to pick her up! Do we have to wait for death to act? It will be too late there,” sighs Renée Binette.
According to Me Brunet, of the Council for the protection of the sick, hundreds of user and family committees are waiting to know the procedure to follow to file their complaint under the new law.