Mercedes Perez and co-counsel Karen Steward (Advocacy Centre for the Elderly) represented the intervenor Mental Health Legal Committee (MHLC) at the Supreme Court of Canada today in Ewert v. Canada. The case involved a Charter challenge to the Correctional Service of Canada’s use of psychiatric actuarial risk assessment tools, such as the Violence Risk Appraisal […]
Category: Notable Cases
In a statement of claim filed in July 2017, Philip Alafe has sued the Brantford police over his treatment while he was held overnight in a police cell in July 2015. Kelley Bryan and Alex Procope are representing Mr. Alafe in the claim. In April 2017, Justice Lenz of the Ontario Court of Justice stayed Mr. Alafe’s charges […]
An Ontario judge has found that psychiatric patients at the Oak Ridge division of the Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre (today the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care) endured gross violations of their human dignity and human rights and were tortured both mentally and physically while detained. The case was a multi-plaintiff proceeding commenced in 2000 […]
The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario ruled on April 21, 2017 that the Peel police discriminated against Staff Sergeant BJ Sandhu when they failed to recommend him for promotion to the rank of Inspector. The Tribunal found that Staff Sergeant Sandhu is a decorated officer whose excellent policing skills, combined with his cultural and linguistic […]
Kelley Bryan, along with Karen Spector representing the intervener ARCH, appeared in the Court of Appeal on March 24, 2017 to argue that individuals in the civil mental health system should be able to assert Charter rights before the Consent and Capacity Board. Currently, if a person’s Charter rights are violated while in psychiatric […]
Mercedes successfully represented the appellant in an appeal from a decision of the Ontario Review Board. The Board had downgraded the appellant’s conditional discharge to a detention order. On appeal, the Court of Appeal for Ontario agreed that the Board’s decision was unreasonable and restored the appellant’s conditional discharge. Read the Court of Appeal’s decision […]
Mercedes was appointed amicus curiae by the Ontario Court of Appeal in a treatment incapacity appeal. She made arguments supporting the appellant’s position that she was capable of making psychiatric treatment decisions. Read the Court’s decision here. […]
Mercedes successfully represented the parents of a six year older boy on life support at the Hospital for Sick Children. The hospital sought to remove the boy from a life support system called ECMO, a decision his parents opposed. The Consent and Capacity Board agreed with Mercedes that the parents were making treatment decisions in […]
Mercedes Perez was co-counsel to the interveners Mental Health Legal Committee and the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic in a successful judicial review application in Divisional Court. The case determined that a transgendered person who initiated a complaint against a doctor to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario was not thereafter prevented from […]
Along with Suzan Fraser of Fraser Advocacy, Kelley represented the Mental Health Legal Committee in an intervention before the Court of Appeal for Ontario. The case addressed, in part, the duty of fairness owed by the Ontario Review Board to accused persons. In particular, the Court accepted that the Board should disclose to an NCR accused […]