Canada to pay at least $20 million for breaching Charter Rights of Prisoners

Patrick White, March 25, 2019, The Globe and Mail //tgam.ca/2HUPOqf

Ontario Superior Court Justice Paul Perell ruled Monday that the federal prison agency’s treatment of at least 2,000 mentally ill inmates violated Sections 7 and 12 of the Charter of Rights, which protect against arbitrary state actions and cruel and unusual punishment.

“The funds are to remedy the harm caused to society which has suffered from the Correctional Service’s failure to comply with the Charter”

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• Justice Perell: “Administrative segregation exacerbates and causes mental illness and is not a cure for anything. “
• $20 million Class Action Judgement will go to “additional mental health or program resources for structural changes to penal institutions as the court on further motion may direct. “
• Individuals issue trials for specific damages and punitive damages can go ahead and rely on the judgement that Charter rights were breached.
• The Judge actually recommended the plaintiff expand the class to include individuals who had a “mental illness” with a medical diagnosis or where one “could have occurred”. This way plaintiffs could get compensation even if the medical services were absent.
• There is more room for lawsuits against the Provincial Governments and broader health and mental health cases.
• Record for this summary judgment motion was 31,000 pages

Case: Brazeau v. Attorney General (Canada), 2019 ONSC 1888 //bit.ly/2CH16e7