There are many more verdicts of not criminally responsible due to mental disorders in Quebec than elsewhere, experts reported Wednesday at the coroner’s inquest into the death of police officer Maureen Breau.
She was killed last year by Isaac Brouillard Lessard when she went to his home in Louiseville to place him under arrest. After the 35-year-old man attacked her with a knife, the other police officers shot him dead. The Sûreté du Québec police officer did not survive her injuries.
According to what was reported to the coroner, Isaac Brouillard Lessard had received five verdicts of not criminally responsible due to mental disorders over the years, after being charged with offenses. He was released in 2022 even though the Mental Disorders Review Board noted that he “still represented, due to his mental state, a significant risk to public safety”.
The mental health care system is at the heart of this investigation led by coroner Géhane Kamel.
In particular, it should shed light on how those who are found not criminally responsible for their actions due to their mental disorders are treated by the judicial system.
On Wednesday, forensic psychiatrist Mathieu Dufour, head of the psychiatry department at the National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry Philippe-Pinel, said there are many more patients under the aegis of the Commission for the Examination of Mental Disorders in Quebec than in Ontario. In 2022, there were 1962 patients in Quebec compared to 1650 in Ontario. However, the Ontario population is almost double that of Quebec, notes the psychiatrist.
This “significant” volume has “a direct impact on the organization of care and the capacity of services,” noted Anne Crocker, Director of the Justice and Mental Health Observatory, who also testified before the coroner.
One of the reasons for this gap is that in Quebec, “there are many more verdicts of not criminal responsibility” due to mental disorders, particularly for “less severe” crimes, he says, such as burglary. probation conditions or shoplifting. Once this verdict is rendered, the people are placed under the responsibility of the Mental Disorders Examination Commission. It acts as a court responsible for assessing the importance of the risk they represent for the safety of the public, and must eventually decide whether the patient should be released or whether he should remain detained in a hospital.
In Quebec, judicialization is sometimes used to have better access to mental health care, noted the Dr From the oven.
Except that forensic psychiatry (a field of psychiatry in which clinical expertise is applied to legal issues, such as criminal liability) costs five times more than general psychiatry, argued Mme Crocker. We need to think about where we want to put our resources, she declared before the coroner.
Quebec also has the lowest rate of psychiatrists appointed based on the number of active cases, she added.