The conference spanned six sessions ranging from Indigenous wellness concepts and structural discrimination to climate change impacts and emerging technologies. Keynote addresses featured Dr. Kwame McKenzie, Chief Executive Officer of the Wellesley Institute, on climate change and mental health, and Professor Tracy Vaillancourt, Canada Research Chair in School-Based Mental Health and Violence at uOttawa on social media and youth mental health.
The two days included a session on medical assistance in dying that examined decision making capacity, legislative language, and equality arguments around the expansion of MAID to mental illness as a sole factor.
In other sessions speakers addressed the constitutional dimensions of mandated treatment for substance use disorders, recent developments in restraint and seclusion laws, and supported decision-making as an alternative to coercive interventions. The criminal justice panel discussed the boundaries of the Not Criminally Responsible (NCR) designation in light of significant recent decisions like R. v. Minassian and evaluated the impact of the "high risk accused" designation for people found NCR.
The conference also emphasized perspectives from lived experience, with presentations from representatives of the Empowerment Council, a voice for the collective community of mental health and addiction service users and sessions exploring how interveners bring experiential knowledge to litigation. The program ended with a look at new frontiers including virtual reality in forensic mental health assessment, AI-powered mental health tools, and the regulation of psychedelics. Connecting traditional mental health law topics with developments in technology and environmental health, the conference encapsulated the evolution toward more inclusive, rights-based, and forward-thinking approaches to mental health.
Reframing Mental Health Law was made possible by support from the Law Commission of Canada, the University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute, and The Royal's Institute for Mental Health Research.