Blue Like You

Archive for the ‘Mental illness’ Category

I think I’m one of many Canadians recovering from the horror of what happened on that Greyhound bus en route to Winnipeg. It’s hard enough to read the details. Just imagine being one of the people who witnessed it.

The whole thing is difficult to process. We struggle to understand how one human being could act in such a savage way, and yet be so emotionally detached from his actions.

Vince Weiguang Li, 40, of Edmonton has now been charged with second degree murder.

There are calls for increased security measures, although the nature of Greyhound Bus transportation makes it difficult to enforce airport-type precautions.

Surely though there must be a way to check for weapons before boarding. I’ve had my backpack searched at Wonderland. You have to go through metal detectors there and at many concerts and sports events these days. Why can’t something be set up to give passengers and staff a chance to ferret out psychopaths with weapons?

We can’t stop a random act of violence, but we should be able to get on a bus knowing that fellow passengers’ bags have been checked for concealed weapons.

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Sunday Update: I highly recommend this column by Lorne Gunter - A random, senseless act (Edmonton Journal).

The murder of Hunter Brown and subsequent arrest of Trevor Lapierre underscores the desperate need for more mental health funding.

In today’s Record (Families of people with mental illness often have little influence over care), Christiane Sadeler, executive Director of the Community Safety & Crime Prevention Council states:

…it’s clear that Lapierre is “a very troubled young man. I must admit I was a little puzzled to see he was discharged,” she said.

She said when mental health legislation was changed, community supports were to be put in place. “I would claim there is not nearly enough,” she said.

Of course, we all know by now that most of our so-called health tax goes to general revenues.

Sadeler also critiques our legal system as it pertains to the mentally ill:

“Families are in a difficult position because of the current mental health legislation,” she said. “They can encourage and support, but they have no capacity to have someone detained.”

She said the original intent of changes made more than a decade ago to the Mental Health Act was “to ensure over-containment of people with mental health issues doesn’t happen.

“Maybe the legislation, in some cases goes, beyond what was originally intended.”

Where is Dalton McGuinty’s voice in all this?

The complex protocol required for admission to an acute psychiatric unit is also detailed in the article. An accompanying piece shows how much police time goes into dealing with the mentally ill.

Clearly, something needs to be done to improve the system in terms of funding for beds and community support, as well as possibly another look into revamping the Ontario Mental Health Act to facilitate the process for getting help for people who are so troubled and irrational that they don’t realize how badly they need mental health care.