What Does the Election Mean for BC Mental Health Law?

While officials still need to count some votes from the October 24, 2020 provincial election, it’s clear that the NDP will form a majority government for BC. What does that mean for mental health law?

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Independent Legal Advice Service for Mental Health Detainees

First, we can expect the creation of the long awaited independent legal advice service for Mental Health Act detainees. BC conspicuously stands out as one of the few Canadian provinces that still does not have a legal advice service for mental health detainees.[i]  Following concerns raised by legal organizations and recommendations by the BC Ombudsperson, in 2019 then Minister of Attorney General David Eby committed to putting forward the legislative amendments and securing the funding necessary to create the service.[ii] Providing legal advice to people when they are detained has the potential to be a significant step forward to improve transparency and the quality of the experience people have with the mental health system. We look forward to working with the new government to ensure this service is implemented in a meaningful and accessible way.

Investigations that will Impact Mental Health Law

Two important investigations were underway in BC before the election was called. The first was an independent investigation into systemic Indigenous-specific racism in health care, established in June 2020 by then Minister of Health Adrian Dix. In other jurisdictions, it has been documented that Indigenous and racialized people are more likely to experience mental health detention and involuntary treatment.[iii] While BC does not yet track race disaggregated data for people subject to coercive health care, we know that Indigenous people experience discrimination in the mental health system, like all state systems.

The Legislative Assembly established the second investigation in July 2020, called the Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act. It was intended to make recommendations to the BC Legislative Assembly about reforming laws governing police. The investigation’s terms of reference included consideration of the “role of police with respect to complex social issues including mental health and wellness, addictions, and harm reduction; and in consideration of any appropriate changes to relevant sections of the Mental Health Act.” While this Special Committee was terminated when the election was called (along with all business before the Legislative Assembly), the Legislative Assembly can now appoint a new parliamentary committee to examine policing. 

These two investigations will make important recommendations to incorporate into reforms to the mental health laws and systems in BC to implement accountability mechanisms to address race-based discrimination and cultural safety measures.

Modernizing the BC Mental Health Act

While these piecemeal reforms represent vital steps forward to ensuring access to justice for people impacted by coercive health care systems, BC’s Mental Health Act could clearly benefit from a focused reform process. With detentions under BC’s Mental Health Act increasing dramatically in recent years, it has become even harder to get access to the mental health services that people want.[iv] And improving access to mental health services was one of the expressed priorities of the NDP campaign.

Between unfettered disciplinary powers, seclusion, restraints, coercive treatment, and the exclusion of family and friends from important decisions, it has been widely documented that BC’s Mental Health Act fails to safeguard the human rights of the very people it intends to protect.[v] We look forward to working with the new government to transform BC’s Mental Health Act to one that promotes human rights and evidence-based health care.

[i] Committed to Change: Protecting the Rights of Involuntary Patients under the Mental Health Act, Ombudsperson’s Special Report No. 42 (March 2019), p. 84.

[ii] Ombudsperson’s Special Report No. 42, p. 100-103.

[iii] For example, in Queensland Australia data shows that involuntary assessments, the procedural pathway to authorize involuntary treatment, are disproportionally used on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders: Queensland Health Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Mental Health Strategy 2016-2021, Queensland Health (September 2016), p. 11. See also “Count me in 2010” (June 2010) Care Quality Commission and National Mental Health Development Unit (UK), p. 22-25.

[iv] Detentions under the Act grew by 71% between 2005/06 and 2016/17: Ombudsperson’s Special Report No. 42, p. 15.

[v] No Pill For This Ill: Our Community Vision for Mental Health, Carnegie Community Action Project (April 2018); Operating in Darkness: BC’s Mental Health Act Detention System, Community Legal Assistance Society (November 2017); End of Mission Statement by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Ms. Catalina Devandas-Aguilar, on her visit to Canada (April 12, 2019).