There are currently 75,000 people living in long-term care nursing homes in Ontario. These are not anonymous, disposable people that we have discarded to live out a miserable existence in sub-human conditions. These people are our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends. And, one day, we could be one of these people. So, let’s fix the sick system now and ensure an old age with dignity for everyone.

Nursing homes are graded on 400 standards of resident care and Toronto’s nursing homes are failing miserably. Provincial inspection reports analyzed by the Canadian Press show 30 of the city’s 37 nursing homes were cited with 147 violations last year. As pitiful as this sounds, nursing homes in Toronto had a lower percentage of infractions than homes in the city’s suburbs, which had the highest percentage of homes cited for violations in the province. In Mississauga there are reports by the Canadian Press that inspections resulted in 97 violations in 13 of the city’s 15 nursing homes.

Organizations and individuals trying to whitewash this dreadful situation are saying that the infractions were administrative violations and not related to resident care. However it is documented that approximately 75% of Toronto nursing homes were cited for violations specifically related to resident care. Some of the standards that these nursing homes failed to meet were providing 2 baths a week and daily tooth brushing. What makes this even more unbelievable to me is that this isn’t criminal. Perhaps it’s time that we made treating human beings in a sub-human fashion a criminal offense. Maybe then our seniors would be treated with respect and dignity.