Public Safety committee  I wouldn't get very far to say we need x number more beds. I do think there is disproportionate money put into mental health as opposed to other types of health. The Mental Health Commission of Canada, I think, has been fairly clear about that. That's fairly well established. T

Public Safety committee  I don't know that I can give you specifics. There are projects out there. There are models out there already. Certainly on a provincial level, there is housing for the mentally ill out there. There are, for example, safe beds in Ontario that are designed as crisis beds for people

Public Safety committee  Yes, they do, but usually there is assistance from mental health professionals as to whether or not that person should be there. So in Ottawa we screen people who have been arrested by police and who have been identified as having a potential mental health issue. We also offer an

Public Safety committee  There are different provincial things for community treatment--civil orders--to get someone with a mental illness who needs treatment, but doesn't recognize that they need treatment, to remain in treatment. This is usually for people with schizophrenia or related illnesses who ne

Public Safety committee  There are a few costs. One of them is that they are involved in more institutional issues, so in fact, you end up with an increase in segregation and an increase in altercations with guards, which results in sick time, injury time, and so on. You end up with potential suicides. Y

Public Safety committee  Well, it's straightforward in a way to tell someone with bipolar illness just to take their medication, but it's difficult to actually have them do it when they don't have insight. Some of the things you put around them in the mental health court are support workers, housing, hel

Public Safety committee  I don't think you can really draw clear parallels with the United States, because sentences are so much longer for what we would consider often relatively minor offences in Canada. Obviously there's a much greater incentive in a court that says, if you do this, you won't go to ja

Public Safety committee  Thank you. My name is Dr. Helen Ward. I'm a psychiatrist. I'm in charge of the forensic program at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, which is the local psychiatric facility. I'm also a member of the Ottawa Mental Health Court organizing committee and I'm here to talk to you