B.C. given six months to rewrite involuntary psychiatric-treatment rules

VANCOUVER — The British Columbia government has been given six months to reform laws governing psychiatric treatment for people involuntarily admitted to mental-health facilities.

The B.C. Supreme Court found that parts of the province’s consent and representation framework allowed facility directors to authorize treatment without requiring an assessment of a patient’s decision-making capacity or providing independent oversight.

The court described British Columbia as an outlier among Canadian jurisdictions. It found that the existing framework perpetuated the assumption that people with mental disorders necessarily lack the capacity to consent to or refuse treatment.

The ruling does not eliminate involuntary admission or prevent the treatment of patients who cannot make informed medical decisions. The court accepted that providing necessary treatment is a pressing public objective, but concluded that B.C.’s approach was more restrictive than comparable laws elsewhere in Canada.

The declaration of invalidity has been suspended for six months, giving the province time to develop Charter-compliant legislation and determine what new consent, capacity-assessment and review safeguards will be introduced.