Yesterday, Quebec City police arrested a woman diagnosed with COVID-19 for defying a quarantine order. What are provincial and federal government powers to enforce a quarantine? What other powers are available to governments to address public health emergencies such as COVID-19? Legislation exists at both provincial and federal levels to tackle such issues. Ontario – […]
Tag: Civil Rights
Today, a judge of the Superior Court of Justice ordered bail in a bail review case in part due to concerns over potential outbreaks of COVID-19 within Ontario prisons. In R. v. J.S., the court found a material change in circumstances and granted bail, specifically commenting as follows: “In my view, the greatly elevated risk […]
Alex commented on two capacity cases in an article in this month’s The Walrus magazine. The article: Why Aren’t We Free to Age on Our Own Terms? discusses Public Guardians and incapacity findings across the country and is a great read. Disputing an incapacity finding is unfortunately not a straight forward task. The path to […]
On October 18, 2019, Alex returned to guest speak on the topic of advocacy in capacity law practice the Windsor Law Mental Health and the Law course. Topics included professional ethics and personal morality, avoiding paternalism, client-directed advocacy, maintaining independence and the practical retainer issues in a social justice advocacy role. […]
Alex Procope presented his paper: The Ongoing History of Section 3 Counsel: Origins of the Role and a Path Forward at day 1 of the 22nd Estates and Trusts Summit program on October 16, 2019. The Estates and Trusts summit is the largest professional development program presented by the Law Society of Ontario and was […]
Alex Procope will be speaking as a guest instructor in the University of Toronto Faculty of Social Work course: Special Issues in Gerontological Social Work taught by Laura Tamblyn Watts on March 25, 2019. Alex will be speaking about Mental Health and Aging, including detentions and assessments under Ontario’s Mental Health Act, hearings at the […]
Mercedes Perez, appointed by the Superior Court of Justice as amicus curiae, successfully raised procedural fairness issues in an appeal from a treatment incapacity decision of the Consent and Capacity Board. The decision has been published in the March 15, 2019 edition of the Ontario Reports. The appellant suffered from schizaffective disorder and had been […]
Mercedes Perez along with Karen Steward of the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly represented the Mental Health Legal Committee (MHLC) in an intervention at the Supreme Court of Canada in Ewert v. Canada. The decision was released on June 13, 2018. The Supreme Court’s decision was a big win for prisoners of Indigenous descent who […]
The Law and Mental Disorder Association (LAMDA) has prepared an open letter to the anonymous donor of $100 million to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, urging that some portion of the very generous donation be directed to meet some of the needs of those suffering with mental health issues. Perez Bryan Procope LLP […]
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 […]