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PROTECTION FOR PERSONS IN CARE ACT
Chapter P‑29
Table of Contents
1 Definitions
2 Duty to report abuse
3 Client report of abuse
4 Complainant protection
5 Duties of an agency
6 Referral to Minister
7 Investigation
8 Investigator’s report
9 Regulations
10 Referral to other body
11 Actions against investigators or others
12 Offence
13 Crown bound
HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, enacts as follows:
Definitions
1 In this Act,
(a) “abuse” means
(i) intentionally causing bodily harm,
(ii) intentionally causing emotional harm, including, but not limited to, threatening, intimidating, humiliating, harassing, coercing or restricting from appropriate social contact,
(iii) intentionally administering or prescribing medication for an inappropriate purpose,
(iv) subjecting to non‑consensual sexual contact, activity or behaviour,
(v) intentionally misappropriating or improperly or illegally converting money or other valuable possessions, or
(vi) intentionally failing to provide adequate nutrition, adequate medical attention or other necessity of life without a valid consent;
(b) “agency” means
(i) an approved hospital as defined in the Hospitals Act,
(ii) a lodge accommodation as defined in the Alberta Housing Act,
(iii) a nursing home as defined in the Nursing Homes Act,
(iv) a facility as defined in the Social Care Facilities Review Committee Act, or
(v) any institution or organization designated by regulation as an agency;
(c) “appropriate Minister” means
(i) the Minister, and
(ii) if the complaint involves an agency referred to in clause (b)(v), or a service provider at or an employee of the agency, the Minister designated by the regulations;
(d) “client” means an adult who receives services from an agency;
(e) “complainant” means an individual, client or service provider who reports abuse of a client under section 2(1) or 3;
(f) “Department” means the Department administered by the Minister;
(g) “investigator” means an investigator appointed under section 6(2) or a committee, body or person to whom a complaint is referred under section 10;
(h) “Minister” means the Minister determined under section 16 of the Government Organization Act as the Minister responsible for this Act;
(i) “service provider” means a person who provides services to a client and is employed by or provides the services on behalf of an agency.
1995 cP‑19.5 s1;1997 c21 s2
Duty to report abuse
2(1) Every individual or service provider who has reasonable and probable grounds to believe and believes that there is or has been abuse against a client shall report that abuse to the Minister or a police service or a committee, body or person authorized under another enactment to investigate such an abuse.
(2) Subsection (1) applies notwithstanding that the information on which the belief is founded is confidential and its disclosure is prohibited under any other Act.
(3) This section does not apply to information that is privileged as a result of a solicitor‑client relationship.
(4) Notwithstanding and in addition to any other penalty provided by this Act, if the appropriate Minister has reasonable and probable grounds to believe that a person has not complied with subsection (1) and that person is registered under an Act regulating a profession or occupation prescribed in the regulations, the appropriate Minister shall advise the appropriate governing body of that profession or occupation of the failure to comply.
(5) Any person who fails to comply with subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of not more than $2000 and in default of payment to imprisonment for a term of not more than 6 months.
(6) This section applies to abuse that occurs on or after January 5, 1998.
1995 cP‑19.5 s2;1997 c21 s3
Client report of abuse
3 A client may report an abuse against the client to the Department.
1995 cP‑19.5 s3
Complainant protection
4(1) No action lies against a complainant unless the complaint is made maliciously or without reasonable and probable grounds for the belief.
(2) No agency shall take adverse employment action against a service provider or an employee of an agency because that person is a complainant.
(3) No agency or person shall alter, interrupt, discontinue or threaten to alter, interrupt or discontinue service to a client, or a client’s spouse or adult interdependent partner, child or parent who receives services from an agency, because the client is a complainant or is alleged to have been abused.
(4) Any person who contravenes subsection (2) or (3) is guilty of an offence and liable
(a) in the case of an individual, to a fine not more than $5000, or
(b) in the case of an agency, to a fine of not more than $25 000.
RSA 2000 cP‑29 s4;2002 cA‑4.5 s66
Duties of an agency
5(1) Every agency has a duty to protect the clients it serves from abuse and to maintain a reasonable level of safety for its clients.
(2) Every agency shall make the provisions of this Act available to service providers, employees and clients.
(3) Every agency must require that every successful applicant for employment and every new volunteer provide a criminal records check.
1995 cP‑19.5 s5;1997 c21 s4
Referral to Minister
6(1) On receipt of a report of abuse to the Department, the Department must, as soon as possible, refer the matter to the appropriate Minister for investigation.
(2) On receipt of a referral under subsection (1), the appropriate Minister must, as soon as possible, appoint a person to investigate the complaint.
1995 cP‑19.5 s6
Investigation
7(1) For the purposes of conducting an investigation, an investigator may enter an agency at any reasonable hour.
(2) An investigator, in conducting an investigation, is entitled to access to the records of the agency for the purpose of inspecting them, making copies of them or taking extracts from them.
(3) If the investigator is refused entry to an agency for the purposes of conducting an investigation, the appropriate Minister or a person designated by that Minister may apply to the Court of Queen’s Bench by originating notice for an order permitting the investigator to
(a) enter the agency at any reasonable hour and conduct the investigation, and
(b) require the production of any records of the agency.
(4) An application under subsection (3) may be made ex parte if the Court considers it proper to do so in the circumstances.
(5) Subsections (2) and (3) do not apply to
(a) the financial records of the agency that relate to the operation of the agency, or
(b) a person’s health information records within the meaning of the Health Information Act unless that person or that person’s guardian consents to those records being inspected.
RSA 2000 cP‑29 s7;RSA 2000 cH‑5 s122
Investigator’s report
8(1) The investigator must prepare a report for the appropriate Minister on the progress of the investigation
(a) within 30 days after the investigator’s appointment, or in the case of a referral under section 10, within 30 days after the referral, and
(b) every 30 days afterwards until the investigation is complete.
(2) Notwithstanding this section, if the appropriate Minister or the investigator is of the opinion that the subject‑matter of the complaint could constitute an offence under the Criminal Code (Canada), that Minister or the investigator must as soon as possible refer the complaint to a police service.
(3) After completing an investigation, the investigator must prepare a final report to the appropriate Minister and may recommend in the report any one or more of the following:
(a) if the agency involved in the complaint receives funding from the Crown or a Crown agency, that the funding be reviewed or altered;
(b) that the agency involved in the complaint take disciplinary action against an employee or service provider;
(c) that the complaint be dismissed because
(i) the complaint was made maliciously,
(ii) the complaint was made without reasonable and probable grounds for the belief, or
(iii) the complaint is unfounded or the evidence is insufficient;
(d) any other recommendation that the investigator considers appropriate in the circumstances.
(4) After having reviewed the report, the appropriate Minister may
(a) approve the recommendations of the investigator in whole or in part,
(b) reject the recommendations of the investigator, or
(c) order that the investigator undertake a further investigation,
or may take any other action that that Minister considers appropriate in the circumstances.
(5) The decision of the appropriate Minister is final and binding.
(6) The appropriate Minister must provide a copy of the decision to the complainant and to the agency involved in the complaint.
1995 cP‑19.5 s8;1997 c21 s5
Regulations
9 The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations
(a) designating institutions or organizations as agencies under this Act;
(b) prescribing the professions or occupations to which section 2(4) applies;
(c) determining the appropriate Minister for agencies designated under clause (a).
1995 cP‑19.5 s9
Referral to other body
10(1) The appropriate Minister may refer a complaint to a committee, body or person authorized under another enactment to investigate the complaint if the matter also falls within the jurisdiction of that committee, body or person.
(2) If a complaint has been referred to a committee, body or person under this section, that committee, body or person has the powers under section 7, in addition to any other powers, duties and responsibilities the committee, body or person may have.
1995 cP‑19.5 s10
Actions against investigators or others
11 No action lies against an investigator appointed under section 6 or a committee, body or person to whom a complaint is referred under section 10, or a member, or former member of or a person employed or engaged by the committee or body, for anything done in good faith under this Act.
1995 cP‑19.5 s11
Offence
12 A person who makes a complaint under this Act knowing it to be false is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of not more than $2000 and, in default of payment, to imprisonment for a term of not more than 6 months.
1997 c21 s6
Crown bound
13 This Act binds the Crown.
1995 cP‑19.5 s12
