Should Alberta Change How People with Serious Mental Illness Can Be Detained?
Official title: Mental Health Act engagement
Why This Matters
Know someone struggling with serious mental illness? This law affects when and how they can be held in hospital against their will. It also determines what rights they have if detained—and who gets to make treatment decisions for them.
What Could Change
Bill 17 proposed changes to who can authorize detention, how patients are informed of their rights, and when technology can be used for community treatment supervision. The amendments aimed to bring Alberta into compliance with the Charter by July 2020.
Key Issues
- How should the rights of people with serious mental illness be balanced against public safety and the right not to be detained without good reason?
- How should people be informed of their rights if they are detained?
- Which health professionals should be able to decide whether someone can be detained or supervise community treatment?
- How can technology better support patients and improve efficiency?
- Should patients' ability to make their own treatment decisions be changed?
What Happened
Feedback from this consultation informed amendments to the Mental Health Act proposed in Bill 17: the Mental Health Amendment Act, which was introduced to bring Alberta into compliance with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by July 17, 2020.