The Ontario Review Board says it is in favour of an external review of processes at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health following the escape of two patients with violent histories.
“A second set of eyes on any situation certainly can’t do any harm,” said ORB chief Richard Schneider, speaking about the plans announced Wednesday by CAMH.
At a news conference, the centre’s president and CEO Catherine Zahn told reporters a panel would undertake an external review of the processes and privileges of CAMH’s forensic patients.
“The review will look at incidents over the past several months to inform CAMH practice in the context of the broader forensic psychiatry system, and to provide concrete recommendations for our organization,” Zahn said.
On Monday, Toronto police said officers were called to CAMH where Ahmed Sualim, 27, had briefly walked away before he was located hours later. He had previously been found not criminally responsible for a string of armed robberies.
Just weeks earlier, Zhebin Cong, 48, who had killed his roommate with a meat cleaver in 2014, left the facility and fled the country undetected.
It took police nearly two weeks to notify the public Cong was missing. The service has since launched its own review.
The ORB, which oversees people found unfit to stand trial or not criminally responsible because of mental disorder, told Global News it supports the external review but cautions the public against thinking the situation is a crisis.
“Events of this sort are exceedingly rare,” Schneider said.
“Individuals under the ORB’s supervision run into trouble far less than individuals placed into communities through any other vehicle.”
CAMH is working to find a chair for its review and assemble a panel of experts.
It expects a final report by the end of the year.
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