The advocacy group CARP says it’s pleased with today’s announcement by the Ontario government to create a public inquiry into the province’s long term care facilities. Ontario’s Health minister made the announcement Monday afternoon just hours after former nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 8 seniors. Eric Hoskins calls the case a tragedy and the reason behind the independent public inquiry. Two advocacy groups had been pushing for this inquiry including CARP- New Vision of Aging. VP of advocacy Wanda Morris, told Zoomer Radio news, that her group is pleased with today’s announcement. “We eagerly await the terms to ensure the scope is sufficient to address the actions of the many institutions and individuals who failed to prevent or put a timely stop to Wettlaufer’s crimes,” Morris said. The other group pushing for an inquiry was the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly. Both groups sent the request in an open letter to Premier Kathleen Wynn.

Here is the compete statement from the Attorney General and Minister of Health and Long-Term Care on a Public Inquiry into the Circumstances of the Elizabeth Wettlaufer Case

Today Attorney General Yasir Naqvi and Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Eric Hoskins, issued the following statement:”On behalf of the Ontario government, we want to express our deepest condolences to the victims, their families and the communities in Woodstock and London and the surrounding areas. What happened was a tragedy. That’s why we are establishing an independent public inquiry to look into the circumstances in this case. Our next step is to formally establish the public inquiry through an Order in Council. The order will set out the scope of the inquiry and appoint the commissioner who will lead it. The government is actively engaged in finalizing these details and, once approved, will make them available to the public.
We want to assure the public that Ontario’s 78,000 long-term care residents are safe in their homes. Our oversight system in long-term care specifically focuses on the safety and security of our residents and we will continue to work to ensure all of our homes are meeting the highest standards. It is our hope that through the inquiry process, we will get the answers we need to help ensure that a tragedy such as this does not happen again.”