In November 2019, the Law Foundation Board approved funding for an application designed to research potentially beneficial reforms to BC’s Mental Health Act. In March 2020, the non-profit organization Health Justice was established to carry out this three-year law reform project.
The Mental Health Act governs detention and involuntary treatment in psychiatric wards and facilities throughout the province for people with mental disabilities. The need for innovative law reform work in this area was clear — the substantive approach of the legislation has remained relatively unchanged since the statute was created in 1964. People with involuntary status under the Mental Health Act can experience a range of deprivations of freedom and human rights, from losing their right to make health care decisions to being subject to mechanical restraints and solitarily confined in seclusion rooms.
Health Justice is conducting legal research, human rights education, and advocacy to promote reforms to the Mental Health Act that would give effect to modern human rights principles and evidence-based health care practices. The organization’s work is led in collaboration with people with personal experience of detention and involuntary treatment under the legislation.
Access to justice for Mental Health Act detainees is a high priority for Health Justice. Since its inception, it has focused on the increased access to justice barriers and isolation experienced by involuntary patients detained in psychiatric wards and facilities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Justice has also provided community education and legal analysis in response to a bill proposing to amend the Mental Health Act to introduce a new form of detention and involuntary health care for children and youth in BC.
BC is one of the few provinces in Canada that does not have a service to provide independent legal advice and assistance for people detained under the Mental Health Act. Health Justice is synthesizing research and evaluations of successful models used in other provinces and international jurisdictions to ensure that people with involuntary status are enabled to access independent advice and supported in exercising their rights.
To find out more about Health Justice and its work, go to healthjustice.ca.