Good afternoon.
We will talk about the following provisions in particular: clause 9, regarding the preponderance of the safety of the public; clause 10, concerning the definition of a significant threat to the safety of the public; and clause 12, which adds the notion of a high-risk accused to the Criminal Code, and all the provisions consistent with that notion.
We feel that these provisions reduce the exercise of the rights of people who are living or have lived with mental health issues. We also feel that they reinforce the stigmatization of those people, foster prejudice and restrict access to credible, transparent and impartial recourse respectful of rights.
Although we are not legal experts, we feel that those three provisions greatly undermine the principles of fundamental justice and the very spirit of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
This bill proposes returning to the past. You probably all remember that some of those provisions were repealed in 2005, only to be reintroduced in 2013. There are some slight differences, but the idea is the same.
In addition, this bill reinforces disinformation. It establishes a link between mental health and violence, even though, most of the time, people who are living with or have lived with mental health issues are victims of violence and are only subject to the coercive system of medicine.
We will not talk to you about research. You have had a tremendous amount of time and have heard about Anne Crocker's research results.
People think that individuals who have been found not criminally responsible go home free, but that is totally untrue. They often remain incarcerated longer than they would had they been found criminally responsible for their actions.
Moreover, people believe that mental health issues are due to a chemical imbalance in the brain or are hereditary. No research currently exists that can prove that. Unfortunately, this bill will not prevent unreasonable actions.
The AGIDD-SMQ thinks that these measures restrict human rights because they are unreasonable and cannot be justified in a free and democratic society, as set out in section 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In addition, these measures violate the principles of fundamental justice—human dignity, freedom and the respect for autonomy, pursuant to section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
For all the above-stated reasons, we ask that clauses 9, 10 and 12 be repealed, along with any relevant provisions.