News

Minister Van Loan Attends Meeting on the Connections Between the Criminal Justice and Mental Health in Canada

By Mary Beth Wolicky, Communications Specialist, Transformation Team

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan delivered opening remarks at the Forum on the Nexus of Criminal Justice and Mental Health in Canada, in Ottawa, June 15-16, 2009 . This national meeting brought together a small group of recognized experts and leaders in the fields of mental health and criminal justice, as well as government and related partners from across Canada . They looked at system-wide challenges to addressing mental health issues within the broader criminal justice system and mental health field, with the goal of formulating future steps and furthering the dialogue on how to meet these challenges.

The Honourable Peter Van Loan delivering his speech to the attendees at the meeting.

Meeting participants included several members of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, including the Chair, former Senator Michael Kirby.

Each participant highlighted several key issues that, in their expert opinion, need to be addressed. These key issues fall into four general themes: human resources, education, partnerships, and interventions. Forum attendees participated in a series of small-group workshops, identifying gaps, barriers, opportunities and partnerships in the nexus of the criminal justice and mental health systems. The workshops focussed on three areas of the continuum of care: prior to entering the mental health and criminal justice systems, while in custody, and upon release to the community.

Information from the Forum is being used to develop an overarching action plan for next steps.

In his closing remarks, CSC Commissioner Don Head thanked all participants for taking the time to come together to explore this important issue. He said that CSC is committed to collaborating with all partners to help make improvements in the area of mental health services. In addition, he committed to developing a follow-up plan specific to CSC to respond to several themes that came out of the Forum discussions.

Former Senator Michael Kirby, the Honourable Peter Van Loan Minister of Public Safety Canada and Mr. Don Head, Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada.

This Forum follows CSC's Symposium on Mental Health held in May 2008, which brought together international and Canadian experts to examine practical solutions for improving our mental health services. The symposium was organized in direct response to Recommendation 56 from the CSC Review Panel to consult with other correctional jurisdictions on their "best practices" related to the assessment and treatment of offenders in mental health treatment centres.

This is one more initiative focussed on addressing the mental health component of the Transformation Agenda and our CSC corporate priority to improve capacities to address mental health needs of offenders.