glendale care centre

Elderly man abused at Toronto care facility with swastika

Shane Blaker was shocked and disgusted when he went to visit his elderly uncle at Glendale Care Centre earlier this week. 

Blaker's uncle has Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes and he expected to find him being cared for and looked after upon visiting. 

Instead, he found his uncle wearing dirty clothes with a swastika drawn on his head. 

Blaker posted about his shocking visit to Glendale in The Danforth East & Woodbine Community Facebook group yesterday, sharing pictures of the upsetting conditions and the obvious abuse his uncle had endured. 

"When I walked in it smelled like urine and feces I wanted to cry," he wrote in the post. "I wouldn't want my worst enemy living at this place the living conditions are horrible and inhumane." 

Blaker said he was even more shocked to find a swastika drawn on his uncle's head in black permanent marker as well as one on his back. He said he also found bruises up and down his arms. 

He said he immediately questioned the facilitator about what had happened to his uncle, to which she responded that the person who drew the offensive symbol had been arrested. 

But Toronto police media relations officer Caroline de Kloet says that no report has been filed for the 46 The Queensway location. 

Blaker's uncle is on the waiting list to get into a retirement home and is living at Glendale in the meantime. 

In his Facebook post, Blaker said he feels entirely lost and sad after witnessing these unacceptable living conditions and simply doesn't know what to do for his uncle. 

The Centre for Israeli Jewish Affairs released a statement about the incident Wednesday, offering support to the family despite the fact that they are not Jewish. 

"We are horrified by reports that an elderly man suffering from Alzheimer’s was brutally abused at a Toronto care facility. That someone would commit such a vicious assault on a human being in our society is almost beyond belief," they wrote. 

"We have reached out to the family member of the victim to offer support, and have contacted police and government to voice our serious concerns that something like this could ever happen."

Lead photo by

Shane Blaker


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