Big city mayors want province to review involuntary treatment rules

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website dedicated exclusively to covering provincial politics in Queen’s Park.

Amid growing concern over the rise of homeless encampments, mayors from Ontario’s biggest cities on Friday called on the provincial government to launch a review of mental health laws to determine whether expand involuntary treatment for people with mental health and addiction problems.

The call followed lengthy discussions among members of the Ontario Big City Mayors (OBCM) caucus at a meeting in Markham.

The original motion that mayors were to consider Friday called for legislative changes to allow for a “compulsory community and residential mental health and addiction treatment system” and suggested that the provincial and federal governments invoke the clause nonetheless to avoid possible constitutional challenges and ensure “that people who need it can access treatment.”

But what they agreed upon at the end of their meeting was a watered-down version.

“There are diverse views in our caucus,” London Mayor Josh Morgan said at a news conference that was delayed by more than two hours because of the discussions.

Morgan said the mayors’ request is to “immediately review and update” the Mental Health Act and the Health Care Consent Act in consultation with medical professionals and municipalities to determine if mandatory treatment is “the right thing to do.”

“We don’t have a position on whether that’s the case at the moment, but we believe there are discussions in the review of the Mental Health Act and other relevant acts that are likely to include a discussion on this and that should be experts, the government provincial to determine if this is right for the province of Ontario,” he said, adding that the acts are outdated and “do not reflect the current realities of the crisis on our streets.”

Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall, one of the mayors who submitted the original resolution for consideration, said he was happy with where the mayors landed.

“When I sit there and make calls for the City of Barrie to ask for more mandatory treatment and rehabilitation, I don’t know what those lines look like in terms of where they need to be created, what the access roads are, what the paths are out of it,” Nuttall said. “What you see here in this motion is a call to the provincial government to determine whether to strengthen what already exists in terms of mandatory care in this province.”

He said outstanding questions include if and when that review will take place and when they will find out whether mandatory treatment provisions are “strengthened” or left as they are.

Friday’s meeting followed the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) writing an open letter to major city mayors asking them to reject the original motion. The association described the proposed use of the clause as “shocking”, however.

It also came after Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown’s failed attempt to win widespread support at Peel regional council for his proposal to launch a pilot project where people with mental health problems and addiction are subject to involuntary medical care.

Big city mayors also reaffirmed their commitment to their ‘Solve the Crisis’ campaign, which includes calls for the appointment of a single ministry and minister to “address the full spectrum of housing needs , as well as mental health, addictions and global supports.”

Other calls after their meeting included the province taking intervention status in court case decisions “restricting the ability of municipalities to regulate and ban encampments” and developing a “series of treatment programs for compassionate care fully funded and with resources that strengthen the community system.” Residential-based mental health and addiction treatment,” Morgan said.

Grace Lee, a spokeswoman for the prime minister, said “people are rightly frustrated with the camps”.

“We should not have people occupying public land. As the Premier has indicated, we are exploring all legal tools available to the province to restore public safety by clearing these camps and moving people to safe and stable housing.”

— With files from Alan S. Hale