Project Contact: Valerie Le Blanc
Telephone Number: 604-822-0981
Email Us About this Project
Overview
The Canadian Centre for Elder Law has embarked on a project that examines how vulnerable investors are using supported decision making in their lives. These investors include adults with a range of cognitive impairments arising from a variety of circumstances, including adults with intellectual disabilities and people living with dementia. The project will focus on how to facilitate supported decision making during the investment process to maximize an investor’s access to investment options while minimizing the loss of autonomy and unnecessary intervention through court-ordered guardianship. The key research question is: How can Canadian investment advisors, adults with cognitive and decision-making challenges, and supporters incorporate supported decision making into the investment decision-making process while guarding against undue influence and financial abuse?
The project will explore the experiences of BC and Ontario, and be supported by a volunteer inter-disciplinary advisory committee representing adults with diminished capacity, supporters pursuant to supported decision-making relationships, the investment industry and relevant regulators.
Consultation
The Canadian Centre for Elder Law is conducting a public consultation
to learn about how people with a range of cognitive impairments (for
example, adults living with intellectual disabilities, dementia, or
Alzheimer’s) use supported decision-making to make decisions about
their investments. Our project examines the experiences in both British
Columbia and Ontario.
We are interested in talking to:
- Adults living with living with intellectual or developmental
disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease, or other forms of dementia - Supporters of adults living with the above challenges, and who
assist those adults to make decisions about their investments
Topics we would like to discuss:
- What do you know about supported decision making?
- How do you use supported decision making to make investment
decisions? - Your experience working with investment advisors when using
(or attempting to use) supported decision making. - Any barriers, concerns or issues you identified from your
experiences.
If you would like to participate, please contact Valerie Le Blanc
vleblanc@bcli.org
Download and share our Consultation poster:
Objectives of the Project
This project aims to:
- Enhance understanding of and access to supported decision making in the investment context;
- Identify how Canadian investment advisors, adults and their supporters can incorporate supported decision making into the investment process while guarding against undue influence and financial abuse; and
- Assist IIMs and regulators to better understand supported decision making and their professional responsibilities in giving and taking instructions in a supported decision-making context;
- Increase confidence for adults and their supporters to assert their rights and demonstrate their ability to move forward with investment choices and decisions; and
- Increase an adult supporters’ ability to be a supported decision maker.
Project outputs will include:
The project will produce:
- a report summarizing research and consultation findings for BC and Ontario; and
- a suite of tools for persons with capacity challenges, their supporters and investment industry members.
Upon completion of the project, research findings, resources and tools will be shared online and through a variety of knowledge exchange channels, including conferences, community organizations, and the investment industry and regulators.
Please contact Valerie Le Blanc, Project Manager, at vleblanc@bcli.org if you would like to share your views.
The Advisory Committee
The work of this project is being guided by a project advisory committee. The Advisory Committee members are:
Jim Emmerton—Chair
Senior Fellow of CCEL
Tim Ames
Executive Director, PLAN BC
Lauren Bates
Lawyer
Emily Clough
Lawyer, Clark Wilson LLP
BCLI/CCEL Board of Directors Member
Kurt Goddard
Director of Policy and Program Operations
Canadian Association for Community Living
Ken Gracey
Manager, Investor Education and Engagement
British Columbia Securities Commission
Mario Gregorio
Person living with dementia
Robert Lattanzio
Executive Director, ARCH Disability Law Centre
Alison Leaney
Provincial Coordinator, Vulnerable Adults Community Response
Public Guardian and Trustee of British Columbia
Barbara Lindsay
Director, Advocacy & Education; Marketing & Communications
Alzheimer Society of BC
Marian Passmore
Legal, Regulatory and Policy Advisor
Karla Verschoor
Executive Director, Inclusion BC
Eleanor Wong
Community Investment Portfolio Manager
Community Business & Investment Department, VanCity Credit Union
View a list of committee members’ biographies.
Related Blog Posts
Consultation Update on CCEL’s Inclusive Investing Project (February 26, 2019)
CCEL Forms Inclusive Investing Project Advisory Committee (October 16, 2018)
Partners
The project is made possible by a grant from The Law Foundation of Ontario Access to Justice Fund.
This website and its publications are not legal advice. Need legal assistance? Visit our Resources page.
Backgrounders
Download document (600 KB)
Download document (173 KB)
Other Publications
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Download document (226 KB)
Media Releases
Download document (270 KB)
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