No one has a monopoly on caring. The key
is to turn sentiment into action. So often, it is the most
heartwrenching of issues that get the least attention.

Oh, there is plenty of media when someone finally gets
sent to jail like that Moncton woman who let her own
mother die of an infection right under her nose. No doubt
that case was on the minds of the Toronto police officers
who recently charged a man for extreme neglect of his sister.
There was a time when charges would not have even
been laid, often because there were no shelters or elder
protection agencies and the abuser was the only caregiver.
Now, there are still no shelters or protection agencies but,
thankfully, the police are laying charges anyway.

The federal government sponsored some public service announcements on elder
abuse this summer and, while 75 per cent of our CARP Action Online readers saw
the ads on television, most had little faith they would do much good. Awareness is
a good thing, but action is much better. So our members are calling for protection
agencies, shelters and helplines. In an earlier survey, an overwhelming majority of
readers were ready to take action, but they wanted a public agency involved. That’s
where our tax dollars should be spent instead of on more advertising.

It’s the same with support for family caregivers. Coalitions spring up all over
the country to raise the issue with politicians. And we get lots of lip service from
politicians at election time, especially about how they empathize, how they have
mothers too. But given the lack of political action to actually put real measures
in place, you’d have to wonder where that empathy went. And you might start to
wonder about the mother bit as well!

In an attempt to get political attention, advocates have started putting a price tag
on the unpaid labour contributions made by family and friends who undertake
caregiving responsibilities in Canada. The amounts — $25 billion is one estimate
– are so staggering that politicians must think they are fake since clearly this
data has spurred no action whatsoever. Nor have the demographic facts inspired
them. Statistics Canada reported that, in 2007, one in five Canadians aged 45 or
over — that’s 2.7 million people — provided some form of unpaid care to seniors
with long-term health problems. Between 2002 and 2007, the number of people
providing care to seniors increased by more than 670,000. We expect these numbers
to increase exponentially as the population ages — and in greater numbers.

The key to advocating change is to jam the issue into something politicians
actually care about, like the burgeoning health-care budgets. Increasing financial,
legal and professional support for family caregivers will provide enough leverage
to divert significant numbers of people from the formal healthcare system.

We already have a template in Canadian society on how to do this: families
who raise children get financial support through Employment Insurance, CPP
drop-out provisions and child-care benefits together with workplace protections
so that their jobs are still there when they get back. Let the politicians tell you to
your face that caring for an older loved one does not serve the public good to the
same extent as child rearing.

Over the course of the past year, CARP has conveyed all of the above to governments.
[See CARP's National Caregiver Strategy at www.carp.ca.] But just as you
did with RRIF withdrawals, the Universal Pension and recently with the parlia-
SUSAN ENG
carp advocacy
Caring about
caregiving
mentary motion on retirement security, it is time
that your elected representatives hear from you
directly — both now and at election time.

Remind them that 70 per cent of older Canadians
vote regularly and, now that we are living
longer, we’ll be voting for a lot longer as well. The
time has passed for politicians to tell us that they
care. They need to tell us that they care to act.
And leave the caring to us.

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