1 week ago
Swift News
Family violence against seniors in Canada has reached a record high, according to a new Statistics Canada report.
The rate of family violence against seniors nationwide has increased by 49 per cent since 2018, according to the StatsCan report.
Last year, senior victims of family violence were most often victimized by their child, while around one in four was victimized by a spouse or another family member.
There were 7,622 senior victims of police-reported family violence in 2024, nationwide.
Lysova said the reasons for elder abuse include, in part, higher costs of living and housing affordability that may prevent adult children from moving out of their parents’ home.
“Economic issues, stress, this intergenerational dynamic of communication, they all may explain the vulnerability of the seniors in Canada,” she said.
Lysova noted that police-reported data does not capture all of the incidents of abuse that occur.
“What we’re looking at is the tip of the iceberg,” she said, as many people don’t report if they don’t think an issue is serious enough or feel shame for experiencing it.
“And again, we’re talking about family members, they don't want to expose other family members as potential perpetrators.”
Alexandra Lysova, a criminology professor at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., said the increase in elder abuse is concerning, though she noted the overall prevalence of victimization among seniors is lower compared to other age categories.
But while seniors may be less likely to be abused in family relationships than younger family members, she said the issue of elder abuse should be taken seriously as the overall population of people over 65 grows.
Serious risk factors for older adults include cognitive decline and physical frailty, she said.
“The people who experience many other health-related issues are more likely to be victimized by family members.”