Jean Wilder still being held unlawfully, Public Guardian and Trustee applies to seize
control of her assets
Received from SENIORSAT RISK
Jean Wilder of Invermere, B.C. is still being held
unlawfully by the Interior Health Authority, with the full knowledge and
apparent approval of the Public Guardian and Trustee of B.C.
No information has been provided to the family, despite
repeated requests, about why she is still being held against her will more than
three months after she was suddenly confined to Columbia House care facility
and her family and friends were banned from visiting.
In our last report on Jean Wilder‘s family’s efforts to
protect Jean and her rights, Marc Normand, Jean’s designated power of attorney,
had just submitted the accounts for the two months he has been acting as her
POA to the Public Guardian and Trustee’s office, as they had demanded.
In his submission to the PGT of the accounting statements,
Marc Normand asked the PGT for
information about the unsubstantiated non-specific allegations made about him
by the PGT in a “referral”, and requested information that would confirm the
legal status of Jean Wilder, who the family views as being held unlawfully and
without cause.
To this day, the PGT has apparently not provided one iota of
evidence to Marc Normand that he has acted improperly in managing Jean Wilder’s
assets. The PGT alleges that someone has accused him of something in a
“referral”, but no one from the PGT has provided any substance to confirm, or
information about, the “referral” allegations.
Public Guardian misleads Wilder family
The PGT had given Marc Normand to May 10, 2012, a
discourteous and unreasonable deadline (one week) to submit the accounting, but
he did manage to comply with that deadline.
Then, on May 17th, Marc Normand received a stunning letter
in the mail. In the PGT’s response, Launa Monette, a Regional Consultant in the
PGT’s Kelowna office, states:
“I have completed my assessment and have determined that our
office will be taking steps to apply as Jean Wilder’s Committee of Estate in
order to assist with the management of Jean Wilder’s financial and legal
affairs. Thank you for the assistance you have provided. … “
With that, the PGT signaled that they will be seeking to
declare Jean Yukiko Wilder incapable, and to seize control of her assets. And
what is to be made of the threat to manage not just her money but also her
“legal affairs“? This is no idle threat;
approval of a PGT application for committeeship is normally just a
formality in the B.C. Supreme Court.
It appears, however, that the Public Guardian and Trustee of
B.C. has attempted to mislead Mr. Normand and the Wilder family by claiming to
have assessed the accounting statements they did not yet have.
Launa Monette’s letter was dated May 10, 2012, the same day the
accounts were due. The PGT could not possibly have reviewed the accounting
statements as Monette claims she did – because the PGT had not even received
the records yet.
Marc Normand delivered his letter and accounts by email at
the end of the day on Thursday, May 10th, just before the PGT office closed. He
immediately received an autoreply email from Monette that said she was out of
the office and would not be back until Monday, May 14th. A few minutes later,
Mr. Normand telephoned Ms. Monette’s office and was told that Ms. Monette had
already left for the day and would not be back until the following Monday.
The response from the PGT also suggests that the Public
Guardian and Trustee’s office had already decided not to accept Marc Normand’s
set of accounts, regardless of what they contained, and that the PGT had
already decided to seize control of Jean Wilder – irrespective of whether her
finances were being properly managed.
The language chosen by Launa Monette appears to be designed
to further mislead the Wilder family. She states that the PGT will be applying
to become Jean Wilder’s Committee of Estate in order to “assist with the
management of Jean Wilder’s financial and legal affairs”.
Who, precisely, will they be assisting? A Committee, by
definition, is the person in charge, the person who makes the decisions, not
someone who “assists”.
Family sends PGT formal notice objecting to take-over of
Jean Wilder’s estate
On May 23, 2012 Jean’s daughter Trina Wilder, husband Curtis
Wilder and POA Marc Normand sent a letter to the Public Guardian and Trustee of
B.C. formally objecting to the PGT’s
intention to apply for Committeeship of Jean Wilder’s estate.
In their letter the family pleads for information, and
expresses the impact of bureaucratic “bullying”:
“The Public Guardian and Trustee and the Interior Health
Authority have done quite enough already to destroy her quality of life and
well-being, and to disrupt our interactions with Jean.
We oppose your actions. We will take whatever steps we can
to stop these bullying and deceptive practices so that we can prevent further
harm to Jean and our family.”
Over a week later, there had still been no response from
Monette or anyone in the Public Guardian and Trustee’s office.
Help STOP institutional elder abuse – write your elected
representatives, voice your concerns online, let others know what’s happening,
or… take whatever steps you think will help make a difference to protect
seniors’ legal and human rights from abuse by Canadian health care institutions
and public agencies.
The Coalition to Support SENIORS AT RISK
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