The bus driver arrested in the wake of the Laval tragedy had not sought mental health support from local public services, Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant said Thursday.
The Minister obtained this information from the public network of health care and social services.
“We did not find [de preuves] that he had mental health problems in the past, there were no pending applications,” he said in an exchange with the parliamentary press.
The Minister’s press attaché, Lambert Drainville, then specified that the verifications carried out had been made at the Integrated Center for Health Care and Social Services in Laval, as well as throughout the public network. He was unable to clarify the situation for private consulting services.
The driver of the Société de transport de Laval (STL), Pierre Ny St-Amand, was arrested on Wednesday after the bus he was driving crashed into a daycare centre, killing two children. Nine counts were filed against him, two of first degree murder, one of attempted murder, two of aggravated assault and four of assault.
A doctor at the hospital where he was admitted asked that the accused be transferred to a psychiatric wing because of his “dangerousness”, lawyers in charge of the case reported on Wednesday.
Thursday, Mr. Carmant acknowledged that it is still too early to know if the mental health of the accused is in question in the drama.
“The event that happened yesterday was unpredictable, whether it was someone who was unhappy or in distress, something happened to explain that,” he said.
However, the Minister considered it important to specify that the public services were not requested.
“All we know is that he is not waiting for mental health service, the information has been passed on to me and I think it is important to share it in the context where it is said that it is an individual who, potentially, had a mental health problem,” he said.
Mr Carmant said the government set up a program in November 2020 to try to reach people who do not seek help when they suffer from mental health problems.
“Now, what we want to do is go a little further and screen for mental health problems,” explained the minister.
Mr. Carmant said that it is possible for relatives to report a person in distress through the Info-Social 811 telephone service, which allows them to quickly contact a professional in the event of a psychosocial problem.
“If you know someone who is in distress, raise your hand for them, 811 Info-Social, he said. I talk about it all the time, you can get help from mental health professionals who are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. »