As CityNews first reported last week, Ontario Patient Ombudsman Craig Thompson was scheduled to give a presentation this week at the “This is Long Term Care” conference happening in Toronto.
But that will now not happen.
Thompson, who was slated to talk about visitation rights at long-term care homes, decided to pull his name out of the lineup of speakers.
Thompson made the announcement by sending an email to M.P.P. Lise Vaugeois who, along with Maria Sardelis, Founder of Access to Seniors and the Disabled, was urging him to reconsider the address after concerns that he was going to argue long-term care homes could use the Trespass to Property Act to ban certain visitors.
“I have already sent a thank you letter to him thanking him for postponing this session,” Sardelis said.
Sardelis, who herself was banned from seeing her mother at a long-term care home near Ottawa years ago under the TPA, has been fighting ever since against its use to ban family members who speak out or criticize the care their loves ones are receiving.
“The Ministry of Long-Term Care has already ruled in cases where these homes have issued visitation restrictions in the Trespass to Property Act, that this is in non-compliance with the fixing long-term care act residential bill of rights.”
Concerns about Thompson’s planned address began after an email — authored by Thompson weeks ago, where he stated the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 means long-term care home residents are not tenants under current applicable law and, therefore, the rights of tenants and the Trespass to Property Act (TPA) cannot be applied directly to long-term care homes.
“The potential for abuse would have been rampant because what he was proposing is just a play on words really and opinions that were not related to any sort of judicial interpretations.”
The say the law is clear — homes cannot ban visitors under the TPA, only the resident of the home can.
“That’s not to say homes can’t ban visitors who become disruptive or unruly,” Sardelis said. “But they have other legal means to do that.”
She says many homes too easily trespass a visitor without proper evidence or due process.
“A lot of police agencies aren’t aware of resident’s rights in these homes so they ticket these poor people under the TPA.”
Thompson’s decision to pull out of the conference came hours after we reported on the concerns about the address. His office did not answer when asked why he canceled but maintains he also supports the visitation rights of residents.
“His long-standing position is that residents should, as a default, have access to their caregivers and loved ones without restrictions,” a spokesperson told us. “The goal of educating long-term care homes about our office’s approach to this issue has been and remains to reduce the use and limit the impact of any restrictions, regardless of source, on residents.”
Sardelis — who again is grateful the address was cancelled, has now requested to meet face to face with Thompson.
“We want to discuss, you know, what the courts are saying, where he’s interpreting it differently. If you have a different interpretation, please show us the rulings for this different interpretation, and have an open discussion about that.”
Thompson’s office did not say if they will meet with Sardelis when asked.
If you have an issue, story, or question you’d like us to look into, contact us here.
