Law Times

Page 4 OctOber 2, 2017 • Law times www.lawtimesnews.com NEWS NEWS NEWS OHRC announces legal action over prisoners' rights BY ALEXIA KAPRALOS For Law Times T he Ontario Human Rights Commission has filed a contraven- tion application with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, stating that the Ontario government has breached a 2013 settlement aimed at the treat- ment of mentally ill inmates, specifically those facing segrega- tion in provincial prisons. The announcement calling for accountability was made at the Ontario Legislature by Renu Mandhane, chief commissioner of the OHRC, Paul Champ, law- yer at Champ and Associates, Sen. Kim Pate and Yusuf Faqiri, brother of the late Soleiman Faqiri, a mentally ill victim of prison staff brutality. "When the government signs on the dotted line, it should be held accountable for its prom- ises. That is what the rule of law requires," says Mandhane. "Through the application to the tribunal, we are once again calling on Ontario to meet its obligations under the Human Rights Code and to honour the commitments it made four years ago." Pate says that segregation creates and exacerbates mental illness. Often, inmates commit suicide while confined. The 2013 settlement, in Jahn v. Ontario (Community Safety and Correctional Services), has been ignored by the Ontario gov- ernment as rates of segregation continue to climb, says Champ, lawyer for Christina Jahn, the woman who spent more than 200 days in solitary confinement at the Ottawa-Carleton Deten- tion Centre. The main points of the settle- ment, for which the OHRC is still fighting, are policy changes prohibiting the use of confine- ment for inmates with mental illness (except in "exceptional" circumstances, although the overarching goal is to eliminate the practice entirely), providing mental health screenings for all inmates during admission, ongoing proper supports and documentation of the use of seg- regation to provide data, which, currently, is non-existent. "In bringing this complaint forward, it was really shocking to learn how the province and the ministry really didn't care about this population," says Champ. "There was no data. We demanded data on how many people were being held in seg- regation, how long they're being held in segregation and how many people with mental illness were being held." Last May, Ontario's independ- ent adviser on corrections re- form, Howard Sapers, was part of a report on the province's use of segregation for mentally ill and suicidal inmates, validating the overuse of segregation and that inmates' human rights were being compromised. Soleiman Faqiri's story, told by his brother Yusuf at the press conference, illustrates why the mistreatment of mentally ill in- mates continues to be a problem. He says his brother, who had schizophrenia, was temporarily imprisoned in the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ont. for 11 days before he was al- legedly beaten to death, accord- ing to a corner's report, last De- cember by corrections officers. Apparently, it was well docu- mented that Faqiri had schizo- phrenia and he was awaiting transfer to the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sci- ences for a medical evaluation. "My brother needed a bed and a doctor and, instead, he got handcuffs and fists," says Faqiri. For nine-and-a-half months, nothing has been done legally nor has the family heard of any developments in the case. "We need to have account- ability for Soleiman's needless death because we do not want to have another tragedy like So- leiman's," says Faqiri. "He's not coming back, but there are other people who need to be saved." The United Nations says that anything more than 15 days in segregation is considered tor- ture; however, in Canada, those days often reach the hundreds. Pate says that Canada, as a devel- oped nation, should be paving the way to reduce or diminish this practice altogether. To go one step farther, Pate suggests Canada follow other countries' models to stop invest- ing in prisons and start address- ing marginalized and mentally ill peoples' needs from the root and invest in community pro- grams and health-care initia- tives before crime happens. "It's time to call an end to abu- sive segregation," says Pate. LT Renu Mandhane says the Ontario govern- ment 'should be held accountable for its promises.' Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto Wednesday, September 27, 2017 – AM Shawn Naseem Abrahim Kyle Connolly Abrey Adeze Matilda Achebe-Bethea Arturo Ernesto Acosta Hamza Ahmad Staffan Henrik Akerlund Saara Ali Anthony Anton Brijneet Singh Arora Muhammad Asif Anjalie Narmadha Astrup-Heber Ayda A-Tabrizi Michael David Awadalla-Shalaby Jamie Alexander Thomas Aylward Olayemi Jacob Ayoola Farshad Azadian Shida Azari Christian Azzi Tasy Tommy Bacolias Alain Andre Robert Bartleman Graham Smith Bebbington Lia Jerry Donais Bellefontaine Joanna Ruth Berry Zarko Bilal Jesse Aaron Boretsky Daniel Ross Brockenshire Hilary Anne Brown Jenny Andrea Buitrago Carranza Justin Bussoli Yusuf Farhan Buttar Montano Christopher Cabezas Manuel Cesar Reno Sannoy Cadiz Zachary Ryan Campbell James Roland Carpino Avi Jack Charney Jamin Chen Daria Chyc Vittoria Elizabeth Cino Michael David Clouse Loren Abramowitz Cohen Alexandra Christine Colizza Christina Françoise Comacchio Matthew David Higham Cook Chelsea Leigh Cooper Marisa Lisa Corona Han Rui Cui Alexia Maria D'Angelo Leslie Anne Mac Dougall De Meulles Guilhem Pierre Gonzague De Roquefeuil Emily Rebecca Delaney Aleem Dharshi Anoop Singh Dhillon Paul Anthony Di Libero Ashley Rose Diiorio Maura Elizabeth Dunk John McRobert East Sarah Simone Eddy Nika Tania Farahani Mark Allan Feigenbaum Hector Virgilio Flores Lozano Kevin Seth Fortinsky David James Francis Kelsey Rose Fuerst Jessica Gandhi Jodi Simone Gentles Anne-Marie Geue Jotty Gill Mandeep Kaur Gill Pawanjot Kaur Gill Ayesha Girgla Aranka Georgina Golphy Marni Kathryn Goodman Ajitinder Singh Grewal Natalya Isabella Guérin Ignazio Gulizia Na Guo Judith Caroline Hemming Jamelah Sulieman Hersh Laas Toomas Hess Stefan Danelo Peters Hnatiuk Kwong Yuet Ho Evan David Holt Kelsey Dawn Horning Mahtab Hosseini Najva-Sadat Hosseini Min Hou Veronica Howard Amanda Lee Hoy Daniel James Michael Hughes Kristyn Melanie Hutchinson Nhi Thuc Hien Huynh Paul Joseph Irish Osman Ismaili Neha Leena Issar Sarah Victoria Iwosa Sarah Helen Jamshidimoghadam Sri Krishna Jandhyala Min Jin Stephanie Michelle Joe Corrine Verodska Joseph David Aalim Kanhai Izabella Karapetyan Leanna Gabrielle Katz Christine Michelle Kauk Rahul Kaushal Jillian Paige Kellar Nakita Cheyenne Kelsey Amisajuhim Khan Tariq Wasey Khan Jonathan Kiang Paul Kim Heather Angelique Kirk Pefoyo Viviane Kone Augustine Emily Krawchenko Nicole Emilia Kucherenko Jared Samuel Lecker Ryan Daniel Lemay Ryan Ting-Hymn Li Seohee Lim Larrisa Pak Gi Ling Jia Yin Liu Alexander Robb Lockhart Victoria Teresa Locs Andrew Peter Loucks Brent Addison Love Dayna Carley Lubelski Molly Adams MacDonald Tinashe Thomsen Madzingo Noushin Mazrooyi Sebdani Athena Cassandra Mc Bean Marshall Harris McDonald Christina Rose Cora McLaughlin Liam Edward Robert McNeely Vincent François Gustave Mendo Katlynn Toyoshi Mary Mills Deul Rae Min Diana Vera Mojica Nadia Maria Morra Olohirere Ngozichukwu Musa Jonathan Ryan Nadler Gurjit Nagra Sidra Naseem Desmond Ka-Ho Ngai Jeffrey Glen Nguyen Aishah Nofal Rana Nosrat Panah Gashti Maria Aurora Nunez Matthew William O'Neil Tyra Louise Ohman Anthony Joshua Orazietti Michelle Adormaa Owusu Prabhsimran Kaur Pannu Philip Paradisis Robert George Alois Pasalic Lan Rhonda Huong Pham Ritchie Djénane Philogène Matthew Edward Pike Victoria Polyakevich Angela Irma Pretotto David Jeremy Protomanni Vilma Radfar Samira Rahmani Liam Ravi Randhawa Richard Mark Rapkowski Anthony Vincent Rasetti Taymour Raza Sahil Razdan Therin Jade Rhaintre Harpreet Kumar Rindi Lianne Michelle Roberge Diana Ashley Roopnarine Saffina Lakhanpal Sadioura Olga Samsonova Mohsin Sattar Cameron James Scott Kimberley Hailey Sebag Rebecca Lindsay Erin Senior Monica Seth Amy Elizabeth Halfpenny Short Sukhdeep Singh Sidhu Derrick Antony Silvestro Karen Isabel Simpson George Bajrang Roop Jr Singh Mark Benedict Skikavich Nicholas William Smith Patrick Raghavan Smith Amanda Megan Somek Brandon Edward Spalvieri Carman Ann Stafford Kathryn Allyson Marie Stevens Joshua Emery Stevenson Jason Scott Streicher Surina Kumari Sud Ryan Adam Susman Parul Suthar Joshua Ogden John Szajewski Daniel John T'seleie Shirin Taghavikhansari Parth Taneja Meenakshi Tewari Manmeet Kaur Thind Harmandeep Singh Toor Marc Edward Troughton Baljinder Singh Tung Sekyen Scholastica Tyoden Philip Lionel Underwood Pratheeb Uthayakumar Erika Lee Verret Larissa Kristina Anesen Viel Jessica Virk Ngoc Tram Lorraine Vo Michael Gary von Keitz Jessica Elizabeth Vriend Margaret Elizabeth Anne Waddington Andrew Peng Wang Jenna Lee Ward Manjeet Kaur Warval Alexander David Wilkes Marguerite Joan Wilson David Alexander Wolfe Danielle Alexandra Oriana Wood Mohamed Shabeer Zafar Ding Chao Zhang Lu Zhao Angelica Patricia Zinke Source: Law Society of Upper Canada There were 225 new lawyers called to the bar on Sept. 27. At the ceremony, Harry S. LaForme received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. LaForme is a member of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation. In 2004, he joined the Ontario Court of Appeal. According to the Law Society of Upper Canada news re- lease, LaForme is the "first Indigenous person to be appointed to a Canadian appellate court." "Called to the Bar in 1979, Justice LaForme is recognized as a highly respected and dedicated leader within the legal profession and the Indigenous community," said the news release. 2017 Call To The Bar

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