04/08/2026
Last week’s decision marked a significant milestone for our client, the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD), whose decade-long challenge has resulted in an important advancement for the rights of people involuntarily detained under BC's Mental Health Act.
The Court found that British Columbia is the only province that does not require an assessment of a person's capacity to make treatment decisions before authorizing involuntary psychiatric treatment, and that this approach is unconstitutional.
This outcome would not have been possible without the courage of the witnesses who shared their lived experiences of involuntary detention and the profound impacts of being excluded from decisions about their own care.
We are grateful to the legal team at McCarthy Tétrault, whose expertise, advocacy, and support helped make this litigation possible, and the intervenor, Health Justice. The Law Foundation of BC provides us with funding for our systemic legal reform work.
Finally, we extend our deepest appreciation to the dedicated CLAS team, past and present, who devoted years of work to this Charter challenge. Their commitment, together with CCD's leadership and perseverance, has helped secure a decision that will have a lasting impact on the rights and dignity of people receiving mental health care in British Columbia.
