Justice and mental disorder

When a person shows obvious signs of a serious mental disorder, you are entitled to intervene to protect both the person and others. If fact, you are required to do so.

Whether the person is a stranger who plans to kill himself in a public place, a neighbour who threatens to jump out of a window, or a good friend who appears to have lost contact with reality and refuses to eat, you must intervene to ensure that the person sees a doctor quickly.

• If the person agrees to go to hospital
• If the person refuses to go to hospital
• Confinement
• Challenging a decision
• For more information

If the person agrees to go to hospital

If the person agrees to go to hospital, a doctor will be able to determine whether or not he or she should be kept there. The doctor does not need a court order to proceed with a psychiatric evaluation.

If the person refuses to go to hospital

Application to the Court of Québec

If the person refuses to go to hospital, you must submit a written application to the Court of Québec sitting in the judicial district where the person resides in order to have the person undergo a psychiatric evaluation. In Montréal, Laval and Québec, the application may be submitted to the municipal court in an emergency.

The judge must, if possible, hear the person who is to undergo the examination, except when the judge considers that it would clearly be useless, for example when the application is submitted with a report, signed by a doctor, confirming the need for the person to undergo a psychiatric examination.

Unless the judge grants an exemption, the application must be served¹ on the person concerned by a bailiff, who hands a copy of the application directly to the person. The application must also be served on a reasonable person of the family of the person concerned, on a friend of the person concerned, or on the person having custody; in other cases, the application must be served on the Curateur public.

An application to the court is only necessary if the person concerned refuses to see a doctor. You must make sure that the person in question really does not want to go to hospital. All too often, applications are filed needlessly because no-one took the time to ask the person whether he or she wanted to go to a hospital for treatment.

Anyone applying to the court for the hospitalization of a person with a mental disorder must prove that the person in question has been informed of the application.

When legal proceedings are undertaken, it is possible to request assistance from a lawyer. Anyone eligible may apply for legal aid for this purpose; if the person requiring hospitalization is eligible for legal aid , the person submitting the application to the court is also deemed to be eligible.

If necessary, call the police!

If you are unable to convince the person to go to hospital, you can ask for help to force compliance, for example from the police. In this case, you must contact either the Sûreté du Québec, your municipal police department or a Criminal and Penal Prosecuting Attorney at the courthouse in the judicial district where the person resides. They will determine the best way to proceed in the circumstances.

If the person’s behaviour seems to make it likely that he or she will damage property, injure someone else or commit an offence under Criminal Code, or if the person makes death threats, the police may proceed with an arrest. The case will then be handled in keeping with the usual procedure for an offence under the Criminal Code: arrest without a warrant, summons, appearance before a judge, and court order for a mental assessment.

Under the powers vested in them by law, police officers who have serious grounds to believe that the mental state of an individual presents a grave and immediate danger can also take the person to hospital, even unwillingly, if so requested by a relative or social worker.

Top

Confinement

When a person with a mental disorder is taken to hospital, willingly or unwillingly, the person may be placed under confinement for a specified time. This is known as confinement in an institution.

Preventive confinement

On arrival at the hospital, a doctor who considers that the person’s mental state presents a grave and immediate danger to the person or to others may place the person under observation without consent and without a court order, for a period of not more than 72 hours². This is known as preventive confinement.

Temporary confinement

A doctor may not conduct examinations on a person under preventive confinement without the person’s free and enlightened consent.

As a result, if the doctor wishes to conduct a psychiatric examination, an application for a court order must be filed with the Court of Québec, generally by the hospital concerned.

If an order is issued, the initial examination must be conducted by a doctor within 24 hours.

If the doctor concludes that confinement is not necessary, the person must be released. In other cases, a second psychiatric examination must be conducted by another doctor within 48 hours from the issue of the court order.

Confinement following a court order is known as temporary confinement.

If the person is not placed under preventive confinement, the time granted for conducting psychiatric examinations under a court order is calculated from the time when the person concerned is taken in charge by the hospital.

Confinement authorized by a court

If both psychiatric reports conclude that the person should be confined in an institution, and if the person continues to refuse confinement, the Court of Québec may make a judgement ordering the person:

• to submit to confinement for the time determined by the judge (generally 21 to 30 days);
• to submit to the examinations required to determine if the person’s mental state continues to present a danger to the person or to others.

Confinement following a court judgement is known as authorized confinement.

If necessary, authorized confinement may be extended for varying periods of time.

Challenging a decision

If you do not agree with a decision made in your case, or with a decision made to extend your confinement in an institution, you may apply to the Tribunal administratif du Québec .

________
1. Service is a formality under which one party brings a proceeding (or decision) to the attention of the other party following strict legal rules; a document is generally served by a bailiff, or using registered mail.
2. If preventive confinement ends on a Saturday or Sunday, or on a non-juridical day such as Christmas, New Year’s Day, Labour Day, etc., it may be extended until the next business day

The types of protective supervision for persons with an incapacity:
     • Curateur public
Commission d'examen des troubles mentaux:
     • Tribunal administratif du Québec
The addresses and telephone numbers of Québec courthouses:
     • Courthouses
The judicial district a municipality is located in:
     • Search for a judicial district
The community legal centre in your region:
     • Commission des services juridiques

The content of this document is given for information purposes only and has no legal value.

For more informations, please contact us.

Top

Latest update: November 10, 2010