Justice committee  The reason I say that is that currently when a person is an NCR accused and they are put into a detention that is a psychiatric hospital, it's on the basis of their mental illness. This legislation will change that to being put into detention on the basis of the brutality of the crime.

Justice committee  That's my prediction based on the fact that the criminal justice system will now have to do extra things such as designate someone as high risk and deal with changes in status.

Justice committee  Yes. Bill C-54 will do absolutely nothing to reduce the risk of first-time offenders, who are the main offenders. It will do nothing in terms of reducing the risk of returning people who are NCR back into the community. In fact, it may increase the risk, because the bill makes it impossible to test somebody by giving them unescorted passes on grounds before giving them more greater levels of privileges.

Justice committee  Well, you're right. Review boards, which by the way also were not consulted in the drafting of this bill, always take into account the dangerousness of the person, and protection of the public is one of its major issues. They always do that. To add another designation of high risk based on something which is not scientifically verified, and which is not dependent on the assessment by an entire team who know the person, who actually live with the person, seems to me to be dangerous and will add unnecessary stigma to a very marginalized group.

Justice committee  In order to make that designation, the court is going to have to come to a determination that the person is high risk.

Justice committee  Right, but before they get to a hospital, they will be in a jail.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  I'm not prepared to go into details on that. I think you'll be hearing from the Mental Health Commission, which will have much better details on that. I can tell you that the reoffence rates for NCR accused are far lower than they are for people who are criminals who go through the criminal justice system.

Justice committee  There's a difference because people who are found NCR are people who have a mental illness, which is the reason they committed their offence. Mental illness is treatable, so when they are treated, their risk drops. In contrast, people who are not NCR are criminals who committed a crime intentionally, and of course we do not have treatment for criminality, so that explains the difference in the rates.

Justice committee  No, there isn't. I gave you the analogy of a woman who, because of a delusion, thinks that she's giving people something to make them better, but it turns out to be poison. As you can see, the consequences of that delusion depend on many other factors, so deciding what to do with that person on the basis of what happened, of how many people took the poison, is really a wrong way to do it.

Justice committee  There are about 130 full-time members.

Justice committee  Neither CAPL nor the Canadian Psychiatric Association, which is a much larger association, was consulted.

Justice committee  The criminal justice system, especially in terms of dealing with people with severe mental illness, is overloaded already. Adding extra measures would backlog the system and would almost certainly result in mentally ill people being placed in jail, spending time in jail, not being treated, rather than being heard and treated.

Justice committee  Thank you very much for this kind invitation to present to you on behalf of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, and to sit next to Dr. Gaston, to whom I extend my sincere condolences. I believe I was chosen for this honour because I am president of the Canadian Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, which is the largest organization of psychiatrists who specialize in assessing, managing, and treating the population that Bill C-54 will directly impact.