Some Key Facts:
1. Bill 68, the Ontario government’s amendment to the Mental Health Act,
Health Care Consent Act, and other laws, passed on June 22. Changes take effect
on December 1, 2000.
-- See the whole story online at: www.icomm.ca/patientsco/protest.htm
2. A major section of the bill is called the Community Treatment Order (CTO).
Starting Dec. 1, if you have been a voluntary or involuntary patient in any
psychiatric facility on two occasions, or for 30 days total or more, within
the last 3 years, any doctor can put you on a CTO whether you live in the community
or in hospital. A CTO forces you to take treatment (usually psychiatric drugs)
and to keep specified appointments. A CTO lasts 6 months and can be renewed
indefinitely.
-- Mental Health Act (Revised Statutes of Ontario), Sections 33.7 and 35.1(2).
-- Bill
68, Section 14 & 16.
3. You OR your Substitute Decision Maker (usually a relative or friend) will
be asked to sign a CTO. If you refuse or break the rules of a CTO, a doctor
has 72 hours to order you into an assessment. If you refuse to go, the police
have 30 days to find you and forcibly return you to the doctor without a hearing.
-- Mental Health Act (Revised Statutes of Ontario), Sections 33.7 and 35.1(2).
-- Bill
68, Section 14 & 16.
4. A CTO can be enforced by a doctor, social worker, family relative and others.
These people can also share your personal information without your permission,
and force you to obey the "treatment plan" or "agreement".
-- Mental Health Act (Revised Statutes of Ontario), Sections 33.1 to 33.4
-- Bill
68, Section 14.
5. CTOs are rarely used in places where they are legal. Studies show they don't
prevent violence, don't prevent re- hospitalization, or keep people on "medication"
(drugs). CTOs are also costly, time-consuming and confusing to many health professionals.
A wide variety of community social services such as affordable housing, "safe
houses" and crisis centres are preferable to CTOs.
-- http://www.bazelon.org/opcstud.html
6. The police don't want to enforce medical decisions like CTOs. Toronto Police
Chief Julian Fantino recently stated he's opposed to new law. In the USA, police
have shot psychiatric survivors when responding to "outpatient committal"
calls (US version of CTOs).
-- “Cops, mentally ill bad mix: Chief decries new health act,” By
Philip Lee-Shanok, Toronto Sun, Thursday, May 18, 2000.
-- “Calling in police for patients criticized: Report says two deaths
avoidable”, Mike Geniella, Press Democrat Bureau, Jun. 24, 2000.
7. Ontario's Ministry of Health has pumped millions of dollars into new Assertive
Community Treatment (ACT) teams in the last year. A study shows constant monitoring
by such "mobile mental health" teams increases the chances of clients committing
suicide.
-- Ontario Government Press
Release, June 22, 2000.
-- “Programs of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT): A Critical Review”,
Toni Gomory, PhD, Ethical and Human Sciences Journal, Vol 1, No. 2 (1999), p.
147.
8. Some families and psychiatrists have complained that only people in dangerous
situations could be committed or force treated. This resulted in Bill 68, which
will allow doctors or judges to commit people who refuse "medication" (powerful
psychiatric drugs) or try to withdraw. You can now be committed if a doctor
believes the treatment works, that you can't make your own decisions, and that
you might suffer "mental deterioration" (undefined). Parts of the old law still
apply: people who are labeled violent, suicidal or unable to take care of themselves
can be committed. However, people no longer have to be at "imminent" risk of
physical harm (ie. within several weeks) to be committed.
-- Mental Health Act (Revised Statutes of Ontario), Sections 15 and 20.
-- Bill
68, Section 3(2).
9. Some citizens complained that emotionally disturbed people would calm down
once the police responded to calls, and that police had to see you acting in
"a disorderly manner" to force you into hospital. Under the new law,
police can act on hearsay and bring you to hospital– they only need to
believe they have "reasonable and probable grounds" (undefined). As
in the past, any citizen can ask a Justice of the Peace to have you committed.
-- Mental Health Act (Revised Statutes of Ontario), Sections 16 and 17.
-- Bill
68, Section 5.
10. Another complaint was that you can refuse unwanted treatment by signing
a "statement of wishes" while you're capable of making treatment decisions.
The new law says your relative or another Substitute Decision Maker (SDM) has
the right to ignore your "statement of wishes". They only have to appeal to
the Consent and Capacity Review Board. In fact, a doctor can get the board to
give your SDM the power to ignore your wishes. The doctor can also ask the board
to overrule your SDM if he s/he doesn't agree with the doctor's decisions.
-- Health Care Consent Act (Revised Statutes of Ontario), Sections 36 and 37.
-- Bill
68, Section 33(1).
Actions You Can Take
• Get free advice or help at a neighbourhood legal clinic.
• Fill out a "Power of Attorney for Personal Care" which
states what treatments or drugs you want or don't want. Be specific,
this will make it easier for your advocate to defend your wishes at
a board hearing or in court.
• Get more info about your rights from survivor advocacy groups–
call the Queen Street Patients Council: (416) 535-8501, ext. 2018; or
People Against Coercive Treatment ( PACT): (416) 760-2795, www.tao.ca/~pact.
• Join the growing grassroots resistance to this leash law–
some mental health & civil rights lawyers will soon challenge Bill
68 in court as a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
and our human rights.
