http://www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/opinion/letters/132749723.html

David, I want to tell you a story. It is a composite, but its true.

Once upon a time, elderly parents were living on a rural acreage that was getting too much for them and they wanted to be closer to their grandchildren so they decided to move into town. They trusted their children enough to give them power of attorney over their financial matters.

Their children had a friend who claimed to be expert in real estate and financial administration and the children trusted this friend to help with the sale of the acreage and purchase of a new home in town. All seemed to be going well and the parents were settled in their new home. Life seemed to be good.

One fall, as the rains started, the roof of the new home started to leak and the parents wanted a new roof before winter. Much to their surprise, the children and administrator friend had cleaned out their savings – they had stolen from their parents.

David, one of the parent’s friends spoke out about the violation of trust and incurred the wrath of the children and administrator friend and created a huge gulf between the parents and the children who had been trusted.

David, even worse, because of the incompetence of the administrator friend, the parents didn’t even have clear title to their new home – there was no paper to give them legal title of their home. With no legal title, their credit union couldn’t make a loan or remortgage to pay for a new roof.

David, the children violated the parental trust and this is elder abuse.

David, you and your fellow trustees violated landowner trust, spending over $100,000 of landowner money on something other than water, fire service or street lighting; money that could have gone to support a new fire hall.

David, I would call that landowner abuse.