Embedded below is the opening statement by the Governments lawyer, on the Charter Challenge – which BCSS strongly endorses. If the government’s defense of the Act fails, capable involuntary patients will be allowed to refuse the treatment necessary for their recovery. Great harms will follow for patients, families and the system.

The following quote was included in the overview (starting on page 3). The document makes a solid argument for maintaining the Act.

“There is nothing compassionate in abandoning our fellow citizens to their own devices in their most difficult hour, captive to their delusions and mania. There is nothing moral or just about denying treatment to a person whose cognition and free will are constrained or controlled by hallucinations or suicidal ideation when those conditions are treatable. We are dealing with some of the most devastating medical illnesses which distort and impair the mind in ways that can cause immense suffering to patients, their families and others.” 

 –Counsel for the Defendant, Attorney General of British Columbia 

The reason BCSS supports the government in this case is that if the plaintiff ( the “other side”) is successful in their challenge, people with severe mental illness – especially those who do not realize that they are ill – will face greater suffering and further brain damage without involuntarily hospitalization and treatment.

The plaintiff (the Council of Canadians with Disabilities) contends that involuntary patients who are capable must be allowed to refuse the treatment necessary for recovery and release.

BCSS have shown plenty of research that demonstrates that untreated patients suffer more, are detained longer, assault nurses and other patients more and block beds for others.

The trial and arguments will conclude November 6; the judge’s decision may take some months to be rendered.