LTE: Call to Protect the Rights of Seniors and Disabled in Care:

Dear editor and Honourable MPPs,

Four more individuals were banned from Long Term Care facilities in the London and Kitchener area last week.

Two more evictions of disabled persons from their Group ‘Home’ in Kitchener and Cornwall area.

Words  cannot describe my complete dismay with the personal civil liberties restrictions being imposed by unlawful misuse of the Trespass to Property Act (TPA) on the seniors and disabled persons in care facilities.

Words cannot express my utter disgust for the total disregard of the legislation and Court rulings which  protects against eviction of our vulnerable disabled persons.

Ministers Parsa, Stan Cho and Raymond Cho and their leader Doug Ford have a duty to reign in their agencies and seniors’ care facilities (LTC and Retirement Homes) and demand they operate within the boundaries of the legislation that governs their operations, our province and Canada.

Ministers that have previously replied that they are not  involved in the day to day operations of the agencies and facilities they set up, surely demanding your facilities to not ignore governing Acts or court rulings is not an interference with day to day operations.

Residents of seniors and group homes are not prisoners. They are citizens with rights that are being wantonly infringed and sanctioned by institutional and government indifference.

Some of the Acts which govern these care facilities include the : 

• Fixing Long Term Care Act (FLTCA), 
• Retirement Home Act, 
• Residents’ Bill of Rights (RBR), 
• Residential Tenancy Act (RTA), 
• Trespass to Property Act (when enforced in accordance to judicial interpretation and rulings), 
• Developmental Services Act,
• and our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The government’s inaction in enforcing these Acts which protect its citizens against unlawful trespass and  eviction engages Charter scrutiny.

Pursuant to TPA Courts’ rulings, the physical occupier is the owner of the premises they occupy for the duration of the time they occupy the premises.

The facility operator or deed possessor is not a physical occupier in the context of multi occupancy residential facilities and does not have authority to ban or trespass visitors of the occupier.

Former LTC Minister Calandra publicly proclaimed during Question Period (April 19, 2023) that the LTC  is the ‘home’ of the resident-occupier and the enshrined Residents Bill of Rights does not permit the banning of residents’ visitors.

I received 2 new trespass cases in LTC 3 weeks after this public proclamation and numerous other cases in the past year.

Supporting the RBR, the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care report of 2015 emphasised that the LTC facility cannot interfere with residents’ visitors.

A recent Human Rights Tribunal (2021) decision upheld the right of disabled persons to receive visitors even during pandemic times. Lateral application of this decision would include our disabled seniors in senior care facilities.

The Charter of Rights does not permit the restriction of an individual’s right to freedom of movement, choice, autotomy, life, liberty and safety without authority of law or due process.

 Note: The Supreme Court of Canada has emphasized that “[t]he courts of this country, as custodians of the common law, must act cautiously when asked to use it to authorize actions that interfere with individual liberty.”

Is becoming a senior or being disabled a crime?

Eviction, discharge, ‘disengagement’ of a group home resident, requires application to and approval by the Landlord and Tenant Board. 

That said, a Cornwall group home has ignored an Ontario Superior Court ruling (2020) among other rulings, to reinstate a wrongfully evicted disabled person for close to 4 years.

The  London LTC resident who is dating is being denied access to her special friend (one of my 4 new cases last week).  Again, even prisoners are permitted visits from their partners.

I can go on and continue to demonstrate the complete lack of respect and dehumanization of these vulnerable elderly souls and the indignities they are forced to endure.

Our government must ensure that facilities housing our vulnerable do not act above the law or ignore court rulings.

I have repeatedly heard from seniors, disabled persons and their families that they live in fear of care facilities with access to government funding to retaliate against them personally, their family and their friends.

Shame on a government that permits the vulnerable to live in fear due to government inaction and upholding of the laws which protect our loved ones.

We are not asking for new laws or special interpretation of our laws. Similar to Motion 129-Voula’s Law, we are begging for enforcement of our existing laws.

Sincerely,Maria Sardelis
Access to Seniors and Disabled