Framework for a review of the Mental Health Act

The BC government recently announced that there will be a review of the Mental Health Act. BC’s current Mental Health Act is outdated and has not been modernized to reflect best practices in supporting the well-being and safety of everyone it impacts. A careful and well-informed review of the Act, and how it is being used, is an important opportunity to improve BC’s mental health and substance use system.

What is needed for an effective review of the Mental Health Act?

Health Justice’s goal was to learn what will make BC’s review effective and meaningful. We engaged Lived Experience Experts Group, Indigenous Leadership Group, as well as external partners. We also researched mental health law review processes used by other provinces and countries. This is what we learned.

Foundational principles

  • Centre the dignity and humanity of the people in need of support by assessing compliance with international and domestic human rights law. For example, the Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Rights of the Child, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN Declaration), Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Human Rights Code.

  • In consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples, include an assessment of the Mental Health Act for consistency with the UN Declaration as required by section 3 of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, and measures necessary to ensure the Mental Health Act is consistent with the UN Declaration which may include measures necessary to legally protect access to culturally safe treatment and combat anti-Indigenous racism. Any proposed measures to implement outcomes of the review should follow the UN Declaration Interim Approach.

  • Consider the impacts of geographic diversity(e.g. community size, remoteness), as well as diversity related to protected personal characteristics(e.g. race, Indigeneity, gender, physical disability) that might shape how Mental Health Act impacts people.

  • Recognize the holistic and complex context in which the Mental Health Act operates, including interconnections with other systems and institutions like colonialism and the Indian Act, racism, child welfare, poverty, policing, and the criminal justice system.

Structure of review

  • The review process should be independent from Crown political processes and the bodies that implement the Mental Health Act. Any person(s) leading the review should be chosen based on transparent criteria and should have knowledge of the history and ongoing impacts of colonization on Indigenous people and human rights in addition to other expertise.

  • The review should be informed and led by diverse expertise, with meaningful representation from people with lived and living experience, family/personal supporters, clinicians, healthcare workers and unions, legal experts, and Indigenous leaders or experts.

  • The review should consider andlearn from other jurisdictions by including mental health law expertise from other jurisdictions in Canada and internationally.

Scope of review

The review of the Mental Health Act should consider…

  • Because a person may experience overlapping or sequential detention and involuntary treatment under multiple laws, the review should consider the Mental Health Act in context with intersecting laws that are relied upon as authority for detention and involuntary treatment in the health system (Adult Guardianship Act, Health Care (Consent) and Care Facilities (Admissions) Act).

  • The review should consider not just the entirety of the Act, but also how the Act is being applied, including the breadth of discretion authorized, training, caseloads, provincial guidance and monitoring, quality improvement, and safeguards in place to ensure unarbitrary and unbiased decision-making.

  • The review should consider the pathways directly into and out of detention and involuntary treatment, including discharge planning, policing, community crisis response, child and youth mental health services, community adult mental health services, and the criminal justice/corrections systems, with a focus on immediately before and after involuntary treatment.

  • The review should consider the quality of treatment and the conditions in detaining facilities under the Mental Health Act, including cultural safety and needs due to geographic diversity or diversity related to protected personal characteristics.

  • The review should consider the most current evidence base for detention and involuntary treatment in supporting short and long-term wellbeing.

Supporters of this framework

If your organization is interested in supporting this framework, please reach out to mhareview@healthjustice.ca.

  • AVI Health and Community Services Society

  • BC Association of Social Workers

  • BC Civil Liberties Association

  • BC Federation of Labour (BCFED)

  • BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU)

  • BC Non-Profit Housing Association

  • BC Poverty Reduction Coalition

  • Canadian Drug Policy Coalition

  • Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT - BC)

  • CMHA BC (Canadian Mental Health Association BC Division)

  • CMHA Cariboo Chilcotin

  • CMHA Kelowna

  • CMHA Kamloops

  • CMHA Kootenays

  • CMHA Mid-Island

  • CMHA Northern BC

  • CMHA North and West Vancouver

  • CMHA Port Alberni

  • CMHA Shuswap Revelstoke

  • CMHA South Cariboo

  • CMHA South Okanagan Similkameen

Logos of organizations that have signed on to show support for this framework.

  • CMHA Vernon & District

  • Community Action Initiative

  • Community Legal Assistance Society (CLAS)

  • Crisis Centre of BC

  • Crisis Centre for Northern BC

  • Disability Alliance BC

  • Family Support Institute of BC

  • Federation of BC Youth in Care Networks

  • Harm Reduction Nurses Association (HRNA)

  • Homelessness Services Association of BC (HSABC)

  • Inclusion BC

  • Matsqui-Abbotsford Impact Society

  • Mental Health Recovery Partners, South Island (MHRPSI)

  • MOSAIC (Multi-lingual Orientation Service Association for Immigrant Communities)

  • Northwest Indigenous Council (NWIC)

  • Prisoners’ Legal Services (PLS)

  • Vancouver Island Crisis Society

  • Vancouver Island Voices for Eating Disorders (VIVED)

  • West Coast LEAF

  • Workers for Ethical Substance Use Policy (WESUP)

Health Justice is funded by grants and donations. We are grateful for multi-year financial support from:

  • Law Foundation of BC

  • Vancouver Foundation

  • Conconi Family Foundation

  • IRAS (Independent Rights Advice Service)

In addition, we are incredibly grateful for every person or organization who supports our work.

Learn more about other ways BC's Mental Health Act could be changed.

Learn more about other ways BC's Mental Health Act could be changed.