Windsor wants to be part of a pilot for forced mental health, addictions treatment

If the province decides to move forward with a pilot program that forces people with mental health and addictions issues to get treatment, the City of Windsor wants in. 

At the end of Monday's city council meeting, councillors agreed for staff to write a letter to the province expressing Windsor's interest in being consulted on and considered to take part in any sort of pilot that arises.

"The current system is not working," Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said following the meeting. 

"No city has all of the resources that are required to be able to deal with the problems that we see happening on our streets ... [for] some of the extreme cases, there is a role for institutionalized mental health care." 

Downtown councillor Renaldo Agostino, who created the motion, also said the letter should emphasize Windsor's support of the recent motion passed by the Ontario Big City Mayor's group regarding mental health, homelessness and addiction. 

That motion calls on the provincial and federal governments to do more to address the crisis unfolding across Ontario, including to review and update the current Mental Health Act, bolster and expand mandatory treatment programs and prohibit open, public use of illicit substances. 

Brampton recently called for provincial pilot project

The conversation around involuntary treatment in Ontario ramped up earlier this month after the City of Brampton's mayor Patrick Brown requested the province allow for involuntary treatment.

He proposed a pilot project that allows first responders to put people suffering from severe addictions, mental health disorders and brain injuries into a psychiatric facility against their will, if deemed necessary by a doctor. 

This would require changes to the province's Mental Health Act, something Premier Doug Ford has said he could be open to. 

At this time, the provincial government hasn't said it will be launching any type of pilot program related to involuntary treatment. 

Currently in Ontario, an involuntary patient is someone who is detained in hospital without their consent and can't leave without permission. This happens after a psychiatric assessment determines that the person's mental health illness could lead to them harming themselves or others. There is a process involved that entitles the person to challenge this decision. 

Dilkens says he thinks institutionalized care is beneficial in extreme cases and that he's not in favour of, "sending a bus around town picking up every person who is maybe addicted or maybe showing strange behaviours, that's not what this is about, that's not what I'm supporting." 

But institutionalized care raises legal and medical questions. 

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, a registered charity that advocates for people's civil liberties and human rights, has said this strategy is "unconstitutional" and "unlawful."

Meanwhile, in Windsor-Essex, health officials have been sounding the alarm on an increasingly toxic drug crisis that has been putting a strain on the health-care system. 

In 2023, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit logged 1,189 drug-related visits to the emergency department. 

Though this number is likely higher, as the visits for October, November and December couldn't be properly reported as the systems were down due to a cyberattack at the time. 

British Columbia expanding its involuntary care

British Columbia has already been doing this. 

Under its Mental Health Act, a person can be detained in a psychiatric facility if deemed necessary by a doctor to protect the person's health and safety, along with the safety of others. 

Last month, the B.C. government said it will expand involuntary care and will open "highly secure" facilities to house people detained under the Mental Health Act throughout the province. 

The premier said mental health units at correctional facilities will open throughout the province and there will also be regional facilities to offer long-term care and housing for people with mental health needs. 

Following this announcement, the Canadian Mental Health Association's B.C. branch released a statement saying it's concerned.

It says there is a not enough evidence showing whether involuntary treatment of people with substance use disorder is effective. Adding that instead, "existing evidence actually suggests that involuntary treatment leads to an increased risk of death due to drug poisoning upon release." 

It continued to say it's worried that the province's move to detain more people without addressing the gaps or effectiveness of care will not lead to positive outcomes.