Judges push back
It is wrong to suggest deinstitutionalization of people living with mental illness is responsible for the pressure on forensic beds (Judges Push Back Against Mental Hospitals – Nov. 17). There are now more forensic beds in the system than there were 30 years ago. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health now has 1,400 people in their forensic program compared to 400 in 1992.
This is due in part to Criminal Code amendments that changed legal standards for the insanity defence and has made it possible to order treatment and assessments for people who have committed minor crimes. A recent study by Greg Brown shows that 40% of provincial jail inmates have some form of mental illness or addiction problem, and 6.6% have serious mental illness.
Toronto judges could make use of the provincial bed registry and allow assessments and treatment orders at other designated facilities when there is capacity. Consideration could also be given to designating special needs units within provincial jails as psychiatric facilities. However the fundamental problem is the lack of community capacity to serve people living with mental illness.
Steve Lurie, Executive Director, Canadian Mental Health Association, Toronto Branch
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To prevent people with mental illness from languishing in a jail cell, we need a comprehensive response. We must stop them from becoming criminalized in the first place by providing supportive care in the community. CAMH has a comprehensive program in place to do this. We must enhance our forensic programs to divert people from the criminal justice system into mental health, and we must ensure that we have the capacity to care for the seriously ill patients who require hospitalization. We at CAMH continue to work closely with the Province of Ontario toward all these ends.
Putting all of our public resources into only one area (hospitalization for all) as this article suggests is not the best way to build an effective system that serves people with serious mental illness or their communities.
Dr. Catherine Zahn, President and CEO, CAMH, Toronto
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Will and Kate
“The royal engagement is remarkable because it is so ordinary.” (Will And Kate Plus Date – Nov. 17). I suppose the banner photograph on the front page and the accompanying 8-page souvenir edition are truly representative of that ordinariness?
If, as you say, the Royal Family is modernizing quickly, may we expect that that family will pay for the forthcoming marriage and honeymoon out of its own purse and that any offspring resulting from this union may be educated at state-run institutions?
James P. B. Kelly, Unionville, Ont.
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I deeply admire Queen Elizabeth but hope when she dies that Canada will divorce the monarchy.
The majority of Canadians do not want to be subject to a King of England, even if he has a lovely wife.
David Schatzky, Toronto
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Regent Park
Resident anxiety, and worse, usually accompanies rapid urban change, and Anna Mehler Paperny correctly highlights some of the fears associated with the loss of a familiar habitat in Toronto’s Regent Park. (Is Regent Park Revitalization Crumbling? – Nov 17). In an ideal world, urban change occurs incrementally while leaving social and economic networks intact. In fact, this ideal has been a big part of the 20-year Regent Park program from the beginning, and the recent shootings probably are unconnected to it.
The new design is based upon evidence acquired from other successful projects, including Toronto’s mixed income St. Lawrence neighbourhood. The aim is to undo the social and physical isolation caused by the original project by re-establishing street patterns, public spaces, and building relationships. What appears at first glance to be a massive uprooting of the community is turning out to be a measured stabilizing strategy, reinforced by the provision of employment for residents and the formidable success of the Pathways to Education project.
