Dementia Justice Canada founder and lawyer urges lawmakers not to leave older victims behind
The Elder Justice Coalition, a new ad hoc group of organizations, plans to unite the group’s voices and push for criminal law reform to create a coercive control offence that safeguards elder abuse victims and holds their abusers accountable.
During the Legislative Action Day tentatively scheduled for Feb. 5, 2026, at Parliament Hill, Ottawa, the coalition intends to encourage lawmakers to extend the coercive control offence beyond intimate partners to include abusive adult children and others holding positions of trust and dependence in relationships.
“A coercive control offence that includes abuse within relationships of trust and dependence would recognize the reality of their experience and help close a critical gap in protection,” said Laura Tamblyn Watts, chief executive officer of CanAge, the country’s national seniors’ advocacy organization, in a news release.
“When an older person is controlled or manipulated by a person they depend on, the harm often goes unnoticed,” added Bénédicte Schoepflin, executive director of the Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse. “Recognizing coercive control in these relationships would give these victims the legal protection they deserve.”
Legislative context
While Bill C-332 – An Act to amend the Criminal Code (coercive control of intimate partner) – received unanimous and all-party support before the House of Commons, the coalition pointed out that this effort to criminalize coercive control excluded elder abuse victims.
In its news release, the coalition stated that it expected Parliament to revisit coercive control legislation, which it considered an encouraging sign.
“Lawmakers have already shown they recognize the harm caused by coercive control,” said Heather Campbell Pope, a BC lawyer and founder and sole director of Dementia Justice Canada, a non-profit focusing on criminal justice reform. “This time, we’re urging them to ensure older victims, especially those harmed by adult children and others in positions of trust, are not left behind.”
More on coercive control
“Coercive control can profoundly devastate older people’s lives,” Tamblyn Watts said in the news release.
According to the coalition, through coercive control, seniors can find themselves unable to escape relationships that deprive them of access to money, housing, care, or independence, with older women and people with dementia and other cognitive impairments especially vulnerable.
“Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario (EAPO) recognizes the urgent need to recognize and address coercive control as a critical form of elder abuse—particularly among older adults living with cognitive impairments, because it involves patterns of manipulation and isolation that diminishes an individual’s autonomy, independence and dignity, often under the guise of protection or care,” said Marta Hajek, EAPO CEO.
Advocacy efforts
To support its legislative advocacy initiative, the coalition expressed its intent to cite the research of Margaret Hall, a professor at Simon Fraser University in BC and an authority on elder law, on how jurisdictions around the world have criminalized coercive control beyond the intimate partner context.
In its news release, the coalition noted that the coercive control offence in Queensland, Australia, encompasses a wider array of relationships, not just intimate partners.
To advance its advocacy, the coalition shared that it has started a GoFundMe campaign aiming to raise $25,000 by early February 2026 to finance legal research and advocacy materials, help other organizations participate, and support its representatives as they pursue reforms in Ottawa.
“Elder justice advocacy has long been underfunded,” Campbell Pope said in the coalition’s news release. “This fundraiser will help advocates come together in Ottawa and draw attention to elder abuse victims who too often go unheard.”
The coalition’s members also include the:
- Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, a legal clinic catering to low-income older adults
- BC Association of Community Response Networks
- Brainwell Institute
- Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse
- National Institute on Ageing
- Prevent Elder Abuse Manitoba
