The 4th edition of the Forum des partenaires pour contrer la maltraitance envers les personnes aînées (Forum of Partners to Counter Elder Abuse) was held on June 17, 2015. This one-day forum is held annually under the Governmental Action Plan to Counter Elder Abuse 2010-2017 (PAM).
Over a hundred people from community organizations and government departments participated in this Forum. This event is an opportunity to share knowledge and favour networking. The quality of the discussion among the participants enriched the joint deliberations. The Forum also allowed the participants present to obtain a better knowledge of the roles of each of them in this struggle with the aim of pursuing concerted action. This year, the theme of this Forum was "De la lutte contre la maltraitance, vers une culture de bientraitance" (From fighting mistreatment to a culture of well-treatment).
Proceedings of the day
Several speakers discussed different themes related to fighting mistreatment and promoting well-treatment of seniors. Francine Charbonneau, Minister of Families, Minister responsible for Seniors and Minister responsible for Anti-Bullying led off the day by reminding the participants of the importance of addressing the problem of vulnerable seniors. Christian Barrette, Assistant Deputy Minister for Seniors, then outlined the progress made over the past five years under the Action Plan to Counter Elder Abuse. The team responsible for implementation of the sociojudicial agreement, an innovative pilot project to protect and assist seniors, then described the progress of this initiative based on concerted action against abuse.
In the afternoon, Marie Beaulieu, responsible for the Research Chair on Mistreatment of Older Adults at the Université de Sherbrooke, emphasized the importance of agreeing on a broader definition of well-treatment, based on certain European models, while also pointing to the importance of continuing common action against abuse. René Villemure, ethicist, in an interactive discussion with the participants, then clarified the main notions related to the concepts of mistreatment and well-treatment. Finally, Line Bérubé, Deputy Minister with the Ministère de la Famille, was invited to close the 4th edition of the Forum of Partners to Counter Elder Abuse.
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