Synopsis

Long-term care has been under the microscope since before the Covid-19 pandemic. The current avenues for advocacy and redressing problems are limited. All over Canada, creative solutions are being suggested to increase quality of life and give remedies to residents and their families. These solutions include national standards on care and facilities, criminal offences, and using personal injury torts.

Laura Tamblyn Watts, Robyn Wishart, and Sara Pon discuss the current state of the law for long-term facilities, current remedies and avenues for advocacy, and inventive legal remedies that are gaining ground or losing steam.

About the Speakers

Laura Tamblyn Watts (@ltamblynwatts) is the CEO of CanAge (@CanAgeseniors), Canada’s National Seniors’ Advocacy Organization, who was also part of the Canadian Standards Association’s team developing long-term care national standards.  

Robyn Wishart, personal injury lawyer and founder of Wishart Brain and Spine Law LLP in Vancouver BC, has represented clients in the BC Supreme Court, and Court of Appeal since March 2001. Robyn’s practice focuses on catastrophic and complex personal injury cases, as well as insurance litigation.  For the first 7 years of her practice Robyn represented some of the largest insurance companies including Lloyds of London. Robyn is a highly respected trial consult lawyer in both Canada and the United States.

Sara Pon is a lawyer whose education and work have focused on older adults. Sara obtained a degree in gerontology before attending law school. Her LLM thesis examined supports for family caregivers of older adults. Prior to joining SFBC, Sara worked at the Canadian Centre for Elder Law. There, she wrote on elder abuse, decision-making laws for people with dementia, long-term care laws, and health care professional regulation. Sara is co-chair of the BC Adult Abuse and Neglect Prevention Collaborative.