Amid the hubbub of protests in Ottawa and Quebec City, two assassinations went virtually unreported last weekend. Two suspected feminicides, the first two of 2022, one in Dunham, the other in Laval. These two tragedies have one thing in common: they involve older couples, the first in their sixties and the second made up of seventies.
Posted yesterday at 5:00 a.m.
We rarely talk about domestic violence among seniors. This is a poorly documented phenomenon. In the field, workers are less well trained to recognize it. Shelters are not very well suited to accommodate elderly victims who may have mobility issues, need medical attention, etc.
As with younger victims, domestic violence experienced by older women can be psychological, economic, sexual or physical. But among seniors, it can also be expressed in the context of close support. Women are often more isolated, with a weak or non-existent social network. Anxious not to break up the family nucleus, they are sometimes prisoners of a dynamic that has lasted for decades. If they do not benefit from the support of their children, they will be even less inclined to seek help, especially since they fear losing everything.
Researcher Lyse Montminy, associate professor at the School of Social Work at the University of Montreal, has been studying this question for years. According to her, the situation of seniors is the blind spot of domestic violence.
However, with the aging of the population, we are likely to see more and more cases.
Mme Montminy is the author, with her colleague Christine Drouin, of the report A collaborative model to support senior victims of domestic violence made for the Secretariat for the Status of Women. The two researchers insist on the importance of consultation between the various stakeholders who work with an older clientele in order to better detect cases and offer adequate assistance to victims who may be more reluctant to accept help. and even to recognize what they are going through.
In Quebec, we cannot say that our government does not take domestic violence seriously. On the contrary. Since the CAQ came to power, several million have been invested to support victims, house families, equip police officers in the field and give resources to community groups who really need them, those who are always on the front line. .
Again on Monday, Minister Geneviève Guilbault announced an additional three million which will be directed to 11 police services across Quebec. This is without taking into account the bill on the implantation of anti-reconciliation bracelets and the An Act to create a specialized court for sexual violence and domestic violence.
Now, we have to integrate these measures and ensure that all stakeholders talk to each other. On Tuesday, the director of the Federation of women’s shelters, Manon Monastesse, recalled the importance of training youth protection workers with regard to domestic violence. This is also true for those who work with the elderly.
Within this population, there is a thin line between abuse and domestic violence. However, the services and care to be provided are different depending on the problem, hence the importance of identifying it correctly. Hence the importance, too, of working in a multidisciplinary team rather than in silos.
There is also a lot of awareness to be done. Last year, the Government of Quebec launched a media campaign aimed at the perpetrators of domestic violence so that they take responsibility. This shock campaign made many women realize that they were trapped in a toxic relationship.
A campaign aimed at seniors and their loved ones would help and raise awareness among families and caregivers so that they recognize the signs that something is wrong. If grandma has a suspicious bruise, if her partner always insists on taking her to the doctor, if she is isolated, you may have to ask yourself questions.
We don’t know anything about the dynamics that reigned within the couples who came to an abrupt end last weekend, but one thing is certain, these two tragedies remind us that domestic violence does not discriminate according to age.