Wednesday

Law Commission of Ontario releases Final Report and Framework for the Law as it Affects Older Adults

TORONTO, July 11, 2012 /Canada NewsWire/ - The Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) today released its Framework for the Law as it Affects Older Adults. The Framework enables policy-makers, legislators, courts, advocates, community organizations and others to understand and evaluate the effects of laws, policies and practices on older adults, and provides a foundation for law reform efforts in this area.

Older adults make up a significant and growing proportion of Ontario's population. However, law and policy-makers may not be aware of or understand the potential effects of their laws and policies on this group. If the circumstances and experiences of older adults are not taken into account when laws and policies are developed or reviewed, the laws and policies may be ineffective or may affect older persons negatively, often with negative effects on society more broadly.

"The Framework builds on work that has been done in Canada and abroad and creates a coherent, principled, step-by-step means of evaluating aw, policy and practice as it affects older adults", said Executive Director Dr. Patricia Hughes. "Anyone whose work involves older adults, whether in the public or private sector, should find the Framework helpful in developing policies and approaches to ensure the inclusion of older adults."
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The Framework is the result of substantial research and public consultation. An Ad Hoc Advisory Group provided advice on consultations and on the Framework itself. The LCO funded several expert research papers; co-hosted the 2010 Canadian Conference on Elder Law; organized a series of focus groups with older adults; held a stakeholder event in 2011; and distributed a consultation questionnaire province-wide.

The Framework is accompanied by an extensive Final Report which can be used to support the application of the Framework. The Report provides background about the lives of older adults on which the Framework is premised, sets out in detail the research and analysis on which the Framework is based, and provides extended examples of its potential application.

Launched in September 2007, the LCO, funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario, the Ministry of the Attorney General, Osgoode Hall Law School and the Law Society of Upper Canada, and housed in the Ignat Kaneff Building, York University, operates independently of government to recommend law reforms to enhance access to justice.