Glossary

In Abuse and Family Violence, Elder abuse, Health and Disability, Elder abuse, Wills and Powers of Attorney, Wills, Power of Attorney for Personal Care, Power of Attorney for Property

A Power of Attorney for Property is a legal document that lets you name someone to deal with your money and property. You’re called the grantor. The person you name is called your attorney.

Your attorney can make decisions, such as:

• doing your banking
• signing cheques
• buying, selling, or leasing real estate
• buying consumer goods and services

They cannot:

• make or change your will
• make or change who’s a beneficiary on your insurance policy or a registered plan, such as your registered retirement savings plan (RRSP)
• make a new Power of Attorney for you

A Power of Attorney for Property can start working as soon as you sign it. Or, you can set limits. For example, you can make a Power of Attorney that lets your attorney only sign documents that are needed to sell your home or that lasts only while you’re on vacation.

In Health and Disability, Mental health

A psychiatric assessment is when a psychiatrist observes and listens to a person to figure out if the person has any mental health issues. An assessment is not the same thing as treatment. Treatment involves trying to improve the person’s health or stop the person’s health from getting worse. But an assessment only involves figuring out whether or not there are health issues. It doesn’t involve treating health issues.

In Health and Disability, Mental health

A psychiatric facility is a place where patients are treated for their mental health. The health-care providers who work at psychiatric facilities usually have special training to work with mental health patients. For example, psychiatrists and psychologists. If a psychiatric patient needs to be detained, they’re usually detained in a psychiatric facility.

In Health and Disability, Mental health

A psychiatric patient is a person who is being observed, cared for, or treated for their mental health in a psychiatric facility. Some psychiatric patients may be able to live at home and visit the psychiatric facility when they need to. Some psychiatric patients may need to be detained at the psychiatric facility.

In Health and Disability, Mental health

Records are documents that contain information about something or someone. Health records contain information about your health. Records can be physical documents, such as a doctor’s notes on paper, or they can be electronic, such as files stored on a computer.

In Abuse and Family Violence, Elder abuse, Health and Disability, Long‑term care

In Ontario, retirement homes are licensed, privately owned places where at least 6 people live. These people are not related to the operator or landlord of the home. The residents:

• rent a place to live, and
• pay for care and services to support their daily lives.

Retirement homes do not get money from the government. Residents pay the full cost of their housing and any care services they get from the home. All residents of retirement homes are tenants and have the same rights as tenants living in rental apartments. Retirement homes are regulated by the Retirement Homes Act and the Residential Tenancies Act.

In Abuse and Family Violence, Elder abuse, Health and Disability, Long‑term care

The Retirement Home Regulatory Authority is an independent organization set up by the Ontario government. Its purpose is to license and regulate retirement homes so they comply with the Retirement Homes Act. It has a duty to help protect retirement home residents from being harmed.

In Abuse and Family Violence, Elder abuse, Health and Disability

The term “older adult” is usually used to describe someone who is over the age of 65. But there’s no set age for when someone is considered an older adult. Some people use the term “senior”.

We use older adult to refer to someone who may be affected by elder abuse, even if they’re younger than 65.

In Health and Disability, Income Assistance, Old Age Security, Canada Pension Plan (CPP)

You may be able to appeal to the Social Security Tribunal if you do not agree with a decision about the Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance, or Old Age Security. The Tribunal is independent from Service Canada.

When you appeal to the Tribunal, you start with the General Division. Then, if you think that the General Division has made an error, you may be able to appeal to the Appeal Division.

In Abuse and Family Violence, Health and Disability, Wills and Powers of Attorney

A substitute decision-maker (SDM) is someone who can make personal care decisions for you when you’re not mentally capable. This includes decisions about where you live, what you eat, getting dressed, washing and having a bath, and staying safe. This might be the attorney you name in your Power of Attorney for Personal Care.

The Health Care Consent Act says who can be SDMs for health-care decisions. This includes situations where a doctor finds that you’re not capable of making your own decisions about medical treatment.