Some lawyers are sounding the alarm about theft in Ontario’s long-term care homes.
“[Theft] is a big problem in long-term care,” said Jane Meadus, a staff lawyer and institutional advocate for the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, an organization that provides free legal services to low-income seniors in the Greater Toronto Area.
“There certainly has been cases of theft by both staff as well as by people coming from the outside going in and stealing things.”
Lawyers say theft is a problem in itself — but also reflective of broader problems.
“Theft is a symptom,” said personal injury lawyer Melissa Miller, who is a partner at Howie, Sacks & Henry LLP in Toronto.
“I think quite often the … motivation comes from [staff] feeling underappreciated, overworked, under-resourced. You know that’s part of the systemic issues that are underneath what is a symptom, and that is theft.”
‘Tip of the iceberg’
There is little data on the prevalence of theft in Canadian long-term care homes. But several Ontario lawyers told Canadian Affairs they hear from long-term care residents or their relatives about contents from their rooms going missing.
Miller recalled an incident where a senior woman’s adult children had discovered the items at the back of their mother’s closet had been rummaged through — and that her $20,000 ring from her late husband was gone.
“The restitution on that [ring] is immeasurable,” said Miller, noting the items residents choose to bring with them into care homes often carry more than monetary significance.
“You don’t go into a long-term care home or even a retirement home with many of your belongings,” she said.
“Those items that they do have, they’ve purposely brought because it reminds them of home, and [so] there’s big sentimental value. It reminds them of their families. It reminds them of their life before.”
Erik Joffe, a partner at Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers LLP in Toronto, says family heirlooms, electronics, jewelry, money and prescription medications are the most commonly stolen items.
Joffe says stealing from seniors is “usually the tip of the iceberg.”
“It’s one of those other red flags … that you can uncover that speaks to more systemic level dysfunction.”
“Most of the cases I have dealt with in terms of long-term care … clients aren’t coming to me because of a theft issue — that is a peripheral issue that is uncovered in the process of the investigation of a larger, more serious form of negligence that has resulted in very severe injury and losses to an individual,” he said.
‘Hard to pinpoint’
Sources noted that various features of long-term care homes make residents especially vulnerable to theft.
Residents often have mental or physical limitations that affect their ability to protect their personal items.
In general, residents are also not permitted to lock their doors — a feature meant to ensure staff have easy access to assist residents who are frail or have dementia. But this easy access makes it possible for others to remove valuables, says Meadus.
In a minority of cases, health-care staff commit the theft, says Miller. In June, for instance, a former Ontario nurse was charged with breaking into multiple long-term care homes in Oshawa and Bowmanville, Ont., and stealing from seniors.
But more frequently, the theft is committed by other support staff at the home.
“Maybe someone from housekeeping or someone who is … fixing air conditioners,” said Miller. “I had a client see someone from housekeeping who was collecting laundry, rifling through my client’s night table … it’s very common.”
Residents or families that do report a theft bear the onus of proving an item was stolen and not lost. This can be difficult to do if a resident has memory problems, says Miller.
“A lot of what could be thefts just are sort of dismissed as, ‘Oh, well, you know, we lost it in the laundry’ or ‘You probably misplaced it’ or ‘Another resident came in your room and took it and we have no way of finding it’,” said Miller.
“It’s really hard to pinpoint.”
‘Safeguarding’
Meadus, of the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, advises seniors to install a locked cabinet within their rooms to protect their valuables.
Residents can also consider installing a camera.
“More and more of my clients are putting cameras in their rooms, in their loved ones’ rooms, and sometimes it’s unbeknownst to the staff,” said Miller. “So sometimes my clients are catching the theft.”
But there can be legal ramifications to recording people.
“It is a criminal offence to record somebody else or to record a conversation if at least one person in the conversation hasn’t consented,” said Miller.
Meadus says residents would clear this bar if they are competent.
“Our opinion is that the resident is entitled to put a camera in the room if they’re competent. If they’re not competent, their substitute decision maker [a family member] might be able to put one in on their behalf,” she said.
Cameras can be very effective, says Joffe, including to monitor for other concerns about negligence in a long-term care home.
Joffe encourages residents or their families to contact a government representative in the event of a suspected theft. In Ontario, for example, the Ministry of Long-Term Care can investigate and hold long-term care homes accountable for violating seniors’ rights to care.
“Initiating an investigation is sometimes a good idea because you have an objective oversight that can come in and they specialize in senior care, and they’re able to provide guidance, and they’re able to provide or hold a facility accountable to some measure,” he said.
But Joffe said would also like to see a better regulatory framework that encourages residents and families to come forward with their concerns.
Such a change would allow “ultimately [for] safeguarding residents from theft and negligence and negligent practices.”
Correction, August 7, 2025 7:07 pm: A previous version of this article incorrectly spelled Erik Joffe, of Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers LLP, as Eric Joffe.
