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“It’s Just What We Do”: Cultural Perspectives on Financial Abuse of Older Adults

  • Jul 16
  • 3 min read

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When we talk about financial abuse of older adults, it’s easy to imagine something obvious: someone forging a cheque, stealing money, or manipulating a Power of Attorney. But for many older adult, especially those from Indigenous and immigrant communities, financial abuse doesn’t always look like theft. Sometimes, it looks like love. Or obligation. Or silence.


Across Canada, financial mistreatment is one of the most common and least reported forms of elder abuse. Yet what constitutes “abuse” isn’t always straightforward. Cultural expectations regarding caregiving, intergenerational support, and financial sharing can complicate the recognition and addressing of mistreatment.


When Helping Hurts


In many cultures, older adults are expected to share resources with family. This might mean helping with rent, co-signing loans, or handing over their bank card “just to make things easier.” These acts of support are often framed as part of a broader ethic of care.

But when this support becomes expected or coerced it can cross a line.


Indigenous Elders, for example, may be reluctant to name financial mistreatment if doing so could cause conflict or bring state agencies into family matters. Researchers have found that “financial control may not be recognized as abuse,” especially when it's framed as caregiving or a child’s duty to help manage finances (Riding In, 2024; Buckland & Buckland, 2024).


Similarly, older immigrants especially those who are sponsored may feel unable to report abuse due to language barriers, fear of family breakdown, or mistrust of institutions (WomanACT, 2022; Walsh et al., 2024). In some cases, adult children act as gatekeepers to services, documents, or income, making it nearly impossible for Elders to access help.


The Role of Cultural Norms and Silence


What professionals might label “abuse” may not feel like abuse to an elder who sees financial sharing as a cultural obligation. Many may not want to disrupt family harmony or risk losing the person they rely on for care or housing.


As one stakeholder told us:


“The problem isn’t always intentional abuse—it’s that people don’t know what they’re supposed to do, and no one checks.”

2SLGBTQI+ older adults face a different but related set of risks. Many have been estranged from family and may depend on informal caregivers or friends, some of whom may not act in their best interests. Distrust of mainstream services, rooted in past discrimination, can make reporting or seeking help even more difficult (Egale, 2022).


The Role of Cultural Norms and Silence


Canada’s systems for detecting and responding to elder abuse are often built on Western legal ideas: individual rights, private property, formal reporting. But these frameworks can miss the nuances of relational abuse in culturally diverse communities.


Elder abuse prevention needs to be “culturally safe, linguistically accessible, and grounded in community norms”. That includes:


  • Training service providers in cultural humility and diverse understandings of family and caregiving;

  • Partnering with culturally specific organizations to co-design outreach tools;

  • Offering support in multiple languages and formats;

  • Recognizing that abuse may be “invisible” within close family systems or communal values.


Transformation also requires identity-based data so we can truly understand how financial mistreatment shows up for Indigenous Elders, newcomers, racialized seniors, 2SLGBTQ+ and those with disabilities.


Let's Talk


Understanding financial abuse through a cultural lens isn’t just a research challenge, it’s a policy opportunity.


At Connor Claire and ParriagGroup, we help governments, departments, and community organizations design research and policy that reflects the lived realities of older adults. Whether you're looking to:


  • conduct targeted research in culturally diverse communities,

  • review existing elder abuse policy through an equity lens, or

  • co-create prevention tools with affected populations—


We Can Help


Let’s work together to build systems that honour cultural values while protecting older adults from harm. Reach out to our teams to start the conversation.


Susan Underhill


Amanda Parriag


Works Cited


  • Buckland, J., & Buckland, J. (2024). A study of local economic abuse in First Nations communities.

  • Egale Canada. (2022). Elder abuse and financial abuse: Context and considerations for 2SLGBTQI communities.

  • FPT Ministers Responsible for Seniors. (2025). Policy and Program Options to Prevent and Address Financial Mistreatment of Older Persons.

  • Riding In, M. (2024). Risk factor patterns for elder abuse among United States Indigenous Peoples: Native elder maltreatment survey.

  • Walsh, C. D., & others. (2024). Disclosure and reporting of abuse against older adults: Perspectives of older adults with abuse histories and service providers in Alberta, Canada.

  • WomanACT. (2022). Economic abuse among senior immigrant women: Literature and research report.

 
 
 

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