Academics, practitioners and other experts gather to discuss adult guardianship law

by Christopher Bettencourt

The fourth annual Canadian International Conference on Elder Law was held November 13-15th, 2008 at the Sheraton Wall Centre in Vancouver. The event was hosted by the Canadian Centre for Elder Law, which is a division of the British Columbia Law Institute. The conference brought together lawyers, community members, health specialists, researchers, and older adults to examine issues of law and ageing within Canada and around the world. The conference, held in conjunction with the International Guardianship Network, drew more than 150 experts from across Canada, the United States, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, Caribbean and Asia to discuss this year’s theme – adult guardianship.

The conference began with a well-attended World Study Group, which is a forum in which academics from around the world can discuss developments within their jurisdictions. The event was also the launch of Theories on Law and Ageing, edited by Dr. Israel Doron and published by Springer.

With the theme of the conference focused on adult guardianship, special attention was made to the upcoming changes in British Columbia’s guardianship regime. B.C.’s Public Guardian and Trustee Jay Chalke, QC and Dr. Robert Gordon, Director, School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, gave a legislative update on the changes to guardianship, personal care planning, and care facility admission once Bill 29 is brought into force. International guardianship recognition and the “portability” of guardianship plans across borders were also discussed in many plenary and workshop sessions. This is an area of growing importance as older adults and their supporters are increasingly multi-jurisdictional.

Canadian Bar Association National Elder Law Section President Judith Wahl moderated a session focusing on the need for increased legal services for seniors. This session discussed a variety of ways to involve community, volunteers, students, and others in providing access to justice for seniors. Joan Braun, Executive Director of the B.C. Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support, reported on the new B.C. Elder Law Clinic, which now joins Toronto based Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE) as the only legal aid clinics in Canada to provide such service to seniors.

Oliver Lewis, Executive Director of the Mental Disabilities Advocacy Centre (Budapest) gave an excellent overview of his work on modernizing guardianship legislation in Eastern European nations. Through test cases, public education, and lobbying efforts he is pressing governments to modernize their guardianship regimes, as many people with capability issues are having basic civil rights taken away.

Peter Whitehead, Public Trustee, NSW Australia and Sue Field, Public Trustee Fellow in Elder Law and Anita Smith, President, Tasmanian Guardianship Tribunal all provided key insights into the Australian guardianship models. Dr. Makoto Arai delivered the first International Guardianship Network lecture, discussing the Japanese model of guardianship and the need for increased long-term care in Japan – which has one of the oldest populations in the world.

The conference was highlighted by addresses from speakers such as the Honorable Alexa McDonough, as well as media wunderkind Moses Znaimer. Mr. Znaimer has recently become the president of the Canadian Association for Retired Persons, and in that capacity gave a dynamic dinner address followed by questions and answers from the attendees.

Thank you to all attendees and sponsors for a highly successful event. For more information on past and future conferences, or to access conference materials please visit BCLI’s website at www.bcli.org/ccel.

This article was published in the February 2009 issue of BarTalk. © 2009 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.