Justice committee  In Toronto, we have the benefit of also having a mental health court. If people were suffering from such a profound psychiatric disability that they were unable to function within a drug treatment court, a referral would be made to the mental health court in Toronto. However, tha

Justice committee  Speaking to Toronto, we have the benefit of a very broad spectrum of community services that are committed to the program, everything from harm reduction providers to a client card that our graduates made up that is provided in the safe crack pipe and needle distribution kits to

Justice committee  I would put the median age somewhere around 37 or 38, although we've had participants in their late teens, early twenties, and people in their late sixties, close to 70 years old, participating in the program. Currently, we have more men than women in Toronto, but that's a dynami

Justice committee  As I said, these are existing services that these people are accessing, albeit in a very uncoordinated fashion. So a person is entitled to receive treatment in Ontario. Ontario pays for that, so we're utilizing that same treatment. It's just that we're doing it more efficiently,

Justice committee  I would agree, based on my own experience in working within the treatment field and in social services. I remember your visit. I feel that a participant in a drug treatment court program in Canada is probably one of the most closely supervised people in the country, perhaps even

Justice committee  Actually, I do know the exact amount and I can't remember it. Basically, there's a cap on what any court can receive, and we are receiving at that level. But it's pretty much equal to what another court in a similar-sized city would be getting.

Justice committee  Health care costs.

Justice committee  Speaking as an outsider to the justice system—my background is in psychology—my impression of these courts is that they are far less adversarial than those within the traditional court system. I would encourage you to go see one. There's one here in Ottawa, and if you'd like to v

Justice committee  Once the person enters into the program, the treatment is provided within the community. The person is released into the community on a special bail, but we initially will be dictating the address they can live at. In addition to receiving treatment immediately, they're also ret

Justice committee  Before we release them from custody, I have two staff in the court, called court liaisons, who are part of the assessment process. After they've interviewed the individual and determined that there's an issue around housing—even for people who do have housing but it's deemed unsu

Justice committee  Essentially, the program we offer is the same program that's available to people who aren't involved in the drug treatment court program. However, one of the added benefits of the drug treatment court is that people have immediate access to treatment. They'll be released from cou

Justice committee  No, the incarcerated person will actually get the treatment more quickly.

Justice committee  A person who's just coming in, who doesn't have any charges and wants access to treatment, would be going through the standard process. They might wait six to eight weeks in Ontario.

Justice committee  I can't really speak to the prison system. They would be eligible to enter treatment once they've completed their sentence, certainly, and I know there is some treatment available within the prison system. However, I'm sorry, I'm really not familiar with how much is available and

Justice committee  In Toronto, we haven't seen really significant numbers of applicants with FAS or FASD. Our staff have been trained, are aware of, and certainly look for any indicators of FASD. We would certainly then be looking to specialize the treatment to accommodate those individuals, includ