Mental Health Law

Overview of Mental Health Law in Canada
An overview of the civil and forensic systems, as well as the systemic issues/themes in mental health, including:
• Civil commitment under the Mental Health Act
• Admission to hospital and procedures
• Psychiatric assessment criteria
• First interaction with the justice system: police response to persons in crisis
• Rules relating to community treatment orders
• Psychiatric assessment criteria

Providing Care in a Legalized Environment
Understanding the system under which mental health hospitals operate and the care that is provided under the current system.

Faculty
Katharine Byrick, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Hilary Chung, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Kamilah Golding, CTO Coordinator, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
John Hunter, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Lisa Longworth, BA, SDS, CYW, Provincial Mental Health Lead/Program Analyst, Ministry of the Solicitor General, Ontario Provincial Police, Community Safety Services, Support Section
Mark Pearce, MD, FRCPC, Forensic Psychiatrist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
Dr. Brittany Poynter, Emergency Department Clinic Head, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
Constable Tyler Rowles, Assistant Mental Health & Addictions Coordinator, Toronto Police Service
Patrick Wright, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP

Consent, Capacity and Substitute Decision Making
• Consent to treatment under the Health Care Consent Act
• Patients’ right to refuse treatment
• Capacity to make decisions (respecting treatment, admission to a care facility, personal assistance services and management of property)
• Overview of the Substitute Decisions Act
• Rules with respect to emergency treatment
• Summary of case law relating to capacity assessment
• The roles and responsibilities of the substitute decision-maker
• Mental health and capacity evaluation for LTC/Care facilities
• In-patient examinations to determine capacity to manage property
• Difference between attorneys and guardians under the Substitute Decisions Act
• Explanation of “best interest” under the law
• Lessons learned from recent consent and capacity appeals

Consent & Capacity Practice Panel
This session will feature a diverse panel offering analysis and insight from their respective professional perspectives.

Faculty
Emily Griffith, Counsel, Ministry of the Attorney General, Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee
Dr. Misha Hartfeil, Forensic Psychiatrist, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences
Julia Lefebvre, TBLL Advocates
Lora Patton, Vice Chair & Senior Lawyer Member, Consent and Capacity Board
Mark Pearce, MD, FRCPC, Forensic Psychiatrist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
Mercedes Perez, Perez Bryan Procope LLP
Lonny J. Rosen, C.S., Rosen Sunshine LLP
Patrick Wright, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP

Mental Health Law Issues in Diverse Populations
• Issues in children’s mental health – an overview of clinical concepts
• Clinical and legal issues arising in the geriatric context
• Assessment and management of older people with psychiatric disorders
• Working with older people with primary neurological disorders, including dementia, that have complex psychiatric manifestations
• Legal challenges arising in the context of dual diagnosis
• Challenges and limits in providing family centered care
• The patient’s perspective
• Black and Indigenous mental health: historical and contemporary considerations

Faculty
Paul Bailey, Executive Director, Black Health Alliance
Karen Marie Dickson, Patient and Family Advisory Committee, Home and Community Care Support Services, Mississauga, Halton; Lawyer; Person with Lived Experience, mental Health
Dr. Marc Fadel, Department of Psychiatry, The Hospital for Sick Children
Ian Hakes, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences
Naveen Hassan, Associate General Counsel & Director, Privacy and Risk Management, The Hospital for Sick Children
Jane Meadus, Staff Lawyer and Institutional Advocate, Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE)
Jonathan Rudin, Program Director, Aboriginal Legal Services
Julie VanHartingsveldt, External Relations Specialist, Communications and Public Affairs, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences
Robyn Waxman, MD, FRCPC, Geriatric Psychiatrist, Medical Head of the Brain Stimulation Clinic, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences

Privacy, Confidentiality and Risk Assessment
• Privacy, confidentiality, and mental health care
• Who is in the circle of care, and who is not?
• Advocacy and mental health
• Best practices for sharing information with families, disclosing information to the police and lockbox/corrections requests
• The role of the patient rights advocate
• Clinical risk management in mental health settings
• Duty to inform and violence risk assessments
• Practical strategies to minimize risk and maintain reliable documentation
• Virtual care medicine: risk management and best practices
• Mental health law related coroner’s inquests

The Mental Health Commission of Canada – 10 Year Strategic Plan

Faculty
Katharine Byrick, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
David A. Cameron, Regional Supervising Coroner – Inquests, Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario
Anne-Marie Hourigan, Vice Chair, Mental Health Commission of Canada, Board of Directors
Christine Laviolette, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Ira Parghi, INQ Law
Anita Szigeti, Anita Szigeti Advocates
Kim Thomsen, Community and Patient Advocate, Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office, Parkwood Institute of Mental Health, London ON and Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health, St. Thomas ON
Sarah Virani, Senior Legal Counsel, Kate Dewhirst Health Law

The Forensic System
• Systemic issues linking mental health and the criminal justice system
• Essential components of the defence of “not criminally responsible”
• Forensic mental health and the Criminal Code
• Ontario Review Board hearings and cases of note
• How the pandemic has affected legal issues and practice before mental health tribunals in Ontario
• Challenges and tools for assessing violent and sexual offenders
• Treatment of the mentally disordered accused
• Mental health issues and youth criminal justice
• Legal and ethical issues with respect to mental health in the federal correctional system

Perspectives Panel: Mental Health and the Law
This panel will close out the program with a discussion of mental health law through various lenses. The session includes presentations from panel members followed by a group discussion with a view to what we have learned, what are the continued challenges and where do we go from here?

Faculty
Lauren Barney, Clinical Legal Counsel, Forensic Psychiatry Program, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton
Dena Bonnet, Crown Counsel, Crown law Office – Criminal
Katharine Byrick, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Sabrina Feldman, Sabrina Feldman Law
Jennifer Lofft, Assistant Crown Attorney, Toronto Drug Treatment Court and Mental Health Court, Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General
Gavin Mackenzie, Health Law Legal Counsel, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences
Lora Patton, Vice Chair & Senior Lawyer Member, Consent and Capacity Board
Mark Pearce, MD, FRCPC, Forensic Psychiatrist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
The Hon. Justice Richard D. Schneider, Chair, Ontario Review Board
Anita Szigeti, Anita Szigeti Advocates
Dr. Treena Dawn Wilkie, Chief, Forensic Division, Complex Care and Recovery Program, Deputy Physician-in-Chief, Medical Affairs and Practice, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
Joe R. Wright, Legal Counsel, Ontario Review Board

NOTE: Participants will receive information and access to the online exam at the conclusion of this module.

Certificate of Program Completion
Participants must view/complete all program modules and successfully complete an online post-program assessment to receive the Osgoode Certificate in Mental Health Law.