"When an assisted living residence is registered, the operator of the residence agrees to deliver services in accordance with the assisted living health and safety standards. Compliance with standards is assured through a complaint resolution process established by the assisted living Registrar."

"MATTERS OUTSIDE THE REGISTRAR'S SCOPE"

"The Registrar does not regulate the cost of the housing or services provided by the operator in assisted living residences. These matters, stipulated in the occupancy agreement with the residence operator, and other tenancy issues are outside the Registrar's scope of responsibility."

"Questions about access to publicly-funded residences can be directed to the local health authority."

Consultation Document 1, Discussion Paper on a Framework for Assisted Living, Ministry of Health Services, October 1, 2003

The Campbell government is again engaging in a "ready-fire-aim" approach to public policy. This time the lives of seniors in "assisted living" are at risk. Three discussion papers on the Ministry's website attempt to deliver on the promise that the "assisted living Registrar is working to refine a set of registration, health and safety and complaint resolution procedures for assisted living residences." The papers do little but raise anxieties. They discuss the development of an "industry" to provide assisted living that will be regulated solely on a complaints driven basis.

The registrar, Susan Adams, was appointed on October 10, 2003. Anyone who has assisted a demented friend or relative knows the challenges in determining what happens in their day. Meals can be forgotten, bruises can appear with no recollection of a fall and personal items can disappear. The loved one has no ability to say what happened. Anyone in that situation needs an advocate, someone who can be trusted to stay on top of how their loved one is being treated. There are thousands of seniors who have no advocate, and who may need protection from those around them. Despite documented problems of elder abuse, the Campbell government is proposing to regulate assisted living through a complaint driven process.

CBC reported that Charmaine Spencer, a gerontology researcher at Simon Fraser University, said that the provincial government is failing to protect seniors in assisted living units. The CBC story quoted Health Services Minister Collin Hansen as discounting the value of random inspections.

In the absence of random inspections, seniors will be at risk. The Ministry's discussion paper acknowledged that the original legislation contemplated no regulation but after strong protests it replaced its early 2002 exposure Bill 16 with Bill 73 passed in November 2002. The discussion paper said during broad consultation, "… many individuals and organizations expressed concerns that assisted living residences were essentially unregulated. The consensus was that a regulatory scheme was needed to protect occupants of assisted living residences." As of April 2004, that regulatory framework is still a work in progress, and it appears that it will abandon those who have no one to speak on their behalf and monitor their well being.

The Campbell government is truly guilty of elder abuse.