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Residents' transfer without consent breaches Charter rights: lawyers
Tony Lofaro, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Moving mentally disabled patients out of the Rideau Regional Centre near Smiths Falls and into group homes -- a move
proposed by the Ontario government -- will devastate them, says the relative of one resident.
Norm Bergevin's older brother, Gilles, was transferred from the residential facility 25 years ago to a special-care nursing
home near Hawkesbury, but he lasted only eight months before being returned to the place he has called home for most
of his adult life.
"It was a disaster," Mr. Bergevin, said yesterday about his 58-year-old brother's stay at the nursing home. Gilles Bergevin
hated the move so much that he protested the relocation by refusing to eat.
Yesterday, Mr. Bergevin was among 60 family members and friends attending a judicial review being conducted by the
Ontario Divisional Court and a three-judge panel, which is looking into the provincial government's plan to close
Ontario's three remaining institutions for mentally disabled adults -- the Rideau Regional Centre, the Huronia Regional
Centre in Orillia and the Southwestern Regional Centre, near Chatham. The government believes releasing the residents
--some of whom are severely developmentally delayed -- into a group-home setting will be better for them.
But family members argue the adults pose a serious risk to themselves and to others if they are released into the
community.
According to Mr. Bergevin, his brother is largely immobile with spina bifida and has the mental capacity of a small child.
But he is happy living with fellow residents at the Rideau Regional Centre. "It was torture for my mother to see him refuse
to eat," he said. "Eventually he was returned to the Rideau Regional Centre and everything was back to normal."
The Rideau Regional Centre, which opened in 1951, has about 412 residents with profound to severe mental disabilities.
The average age of residents is 54 and most have spent decades living at the centre.
The provincial government has set a timeline of 2009 to close the three institutions, although it is unclear how the
estimated 1,000 residents still living in the facilities will be absorbed into urban group homes in the province.
At yesterday's review, lawyers representing the residents at the Rideau Regional Centre and the Huronia Regional Centre
argued that the Ontario Minister of Community and Social Services has no legal authority to close down the facilities, and
the transfer of these residents without properly obtained informed consent is a breach of their rights under the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
"The minister is taking away the safety net for our families' loved ones," said lawyer Douglas Elliott, who represents about
340 residents at the Huronia Regional Centre.
"A mother's love, a father's concern, a sister's affection is the most reliable guide to what is best for any person."
Mr. Bergevin also believes family members are best-suited to decide what is the appropriate level of care for their loved
ones in the facilities.
"I'm hoping the court will find the government does not have the authority to make that decision (transferring residents
to group homes). I'm (also) hoping the court will say that parents and family should have the ultimate say in where their
loved ones will go.
"Right now we're being told nothing. All I know is that they're going to move him out, the place will close down and I still
don't have a clue where they're going to send my brother."
The judicial review continues today.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2005