Little known about Aboriginal seniors abuse

The Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) will be using recently announced funding from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada to tackle the issue of seniors abuse in the Aboriginal community, and get a better grasp on the kinds and amount of abuse Aboriginal seniors are continuing to face.
Erin Wolski expects to hear stories about systemic abuse and financial abuse and she expects Aboriginal seniors to talk about mental and physical abuse as well.
"I know it will run the whole gamut... but I just don't know how prevalent senior abuse is," said Wolski, health director with NWAC.
Over the next 22 months, the project will receive $220,000 to continue a project the advocacy organization undertook 12 years ago.
In 1997, stories were compiled in a research project entitled Hear their stories: 40 Aboriginal women speak . Forty senior women across Canada (a mix of First Nations, Metis and Inuit) were interviewed for this project, which broke new ground in an area where little research had been carried out before.
Key findings drawn from those stories included that Aboriginal women were being abused and/or neglected by family members in their place of work and community; that while some of the women interviewed weren't themselves subject to abuse, they knew other women who were; more than half said they were physically, sexually or psychologically abused as children; and more than half of the women said they were exposed to violence in their home, in institutions or in the community as children.
NWAC has already hired someone to carry out a comprehensive literature review relating to elder and senior abuse. Literature from throughout Canada and, if deemed necessary, from other countries will be reviewed. A senior advisory committee, which Wolski anticipates will come on-line in April or May, will study the literature review and identify areas in which information gaps exist.
"There's not a whole lot of research that's been done on Aboriginal seniors, so I'm anticipating a lot of gaps," said Wolski.
A portion of the government funding will go toward the creation of the senior advisory committee, which will also give direction as to how stories will be gathered and the direction in which the research will go.
Aboriginal seniors face some unique situations, which makes potential for abuse high.
Wolski pointed to the fact that a large number of seniors are raising their grandchildren. Because they can't adopt the grandchildren without putting their own children in difficult situations, these grandparents are stuck making their meager social assistance stretch as much as possible to cover the costs of additional household members.
"It's systemic abuse. The grandparents are not compensated by the social system. There's no system set up where (the caregiver grandparents) can increase their social assistance," explained Wolski.
A more recent concern seniors have been facing comes with residential school payments. Organizations and individuals have eyed getting a cut of the few thousand dollars seniors received for past abuses, so financial abuse is a factor that now must be taken into consideration.
"We're approaching (our study on abuse) from an Aboriginal perspective, which is holistic, all-inclusive," said Wolski. Pointing to the medicine wheel, she noted there are four quadrants of self: physical, mental, spiritual and emotional, and all have the potential for abuse.
Wolski admitted that it will not be easy to get seniors to talk about abuse they have suffered. Depending on the circumstances, some seniors may feel more comfortable speaking in a group setting, where they can get support from others, who have also experienced abuse. Other Elders may feel more comfortable with one-on-one interviews.
The identities of those sharing their stories will be protected to ensure there is no backlash from communities or family members.
While most of the research gathered will be anecdotal, Wolski is hopeful that statistical data can also be gathered, which will allow NWAC to take numbers forward in order to formulate national policy and to lobby the federal government for changes.
"We'd like to create an accurate picture (of the abuse), but at the same time we don't want to re-victimize.... To a large degree we'll be walking a fine line to ensure we don't do that and that sensitive issues are dealt with in a sensitive and respectable manner," said Wolski.
As well as formulating policy, NWAC's goal is also to raise awareness of the issue of violence and abuse faced by the elderly and seniors within the Aboriginal community and beyond.
The development of educational and awareness tools is also an expected outcome of the senior abuse research project.