Case information

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Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Charter of Rights – Principles of fundamental justice guaranteed by s. 7 of the Charter – Criminal law – Mental disorder – Whether the Ontario Review Board, when reviewing a disposition pursuant to s. 672.54 of the Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46 can rely on its own expertise to form the primary opinion evidence on which to base its decision or to justify a particular substantive result – Whether the Ontario Review Board fulfilled its statutory mandate and complied with s. 7 of the Charter when it made a disposition on a file review alone and without regard to the current mental status of the person before it – Whether it was reasonable to detain a person and maintain the jurisdiction of the Board pursuant to section 672.54 of the Criminal Code on the basis of a file review alone – Charter s. 7.

The index offence was a failure to comply with a recognizance following a charge of threatening death in 2012. The applicant was found not criminally responsible (NCR) for breaching his recognizance and held at St. Joseph’s. (He was subsequently acquitted of the threatening death charge.) He was diagnosed with delusional disorder, persecutory type and assessed as incapable of consenting to treatment. The applicant’s request for an absolute discharge was denied by the Ontario Review Board. The applicant was transferred from Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care to St. Joseph’s pursuant to a hybrid disposition. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.