The bill requires that several stages have to be gone through in order to submit a request to the court. Subsequently, the case will be heard by the court that has the file, either the provincial court or the superior court.
As defined in the Criminal Code—and the minister mentioned this just now—when an accused is found not criminally responsible for a serious offence, a serious personal injury offence, the crown may make a special request for a hearing to be held on the matter. During that hearing, a number of aspects of evidence have to be presented.
If I am not mistaken, this is mentioned in clause 12 of the bill, where the court is asked to consider evidence such as the nature and circumstances of the offence, the accused's current mental condition, the past and expected course of the accused's treatment, and, something that is likely to be very relevant for the court, the opinions of expert witnesses and psychiatrists appearing to provide evidence.
As the minister mentioned just now, after examining the evidence, the court may invoke one of two situations if the court is satisfied that there is a substantial likelihood that the accused will commit violence that could endanger the life or safety of another person and if it is of the opinion that the original offence for which the accused was found not criminally responsible was of such a brutal nature as to indicate a risk of grave harm to others.
In either of those situations, the court may declare that an accused is high-risk. At that point, the accused will be subject to a detention order and the case will be sent to the review board that will review it. Reviews can be conducted annually, or every two or three years, depending on the particular circumstances of each case. If, at a later date, the review board is of the opinion that the danger has decreased, the court may reconsider the case to see if there are grounds for revoking the high-risk accused designation. Actually, the review board may send the case back to the court, which will hold a new hearing to determine if the threshold is still met or if, on the other hand, the designation may be revoked.