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Federal Documents Look at Mental Health System Role in Mtl College Shooting

Posted on: Sunday, 1 April 2007, 18:00 CDT

By DENE MOORE

MONTREAL (CP) - Provinces don't have the mental health resources to prevent tragedies like the shooting spree at a Montreal college last fall, say internal federal briefing documents.

A draft report prepared for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day after the shootings at Dawson College last September questions whether the mental health system could be tapped to detect and prevent violence involving mental illness.

The discussion and any conclusions have been purged from the heavily edited documents, obtained by The Canadian Press using access to information laws.

But the briefing notes do say there are not enough mental health resources to provide preventive treatment.

"Each province has mental health legislation designed to protect the mentally ill and ensure they receive appropriate care and treatment," says the draft report prepared a couple of weeks after Kimveer Gill stormed the downtown Montreal school on Sept. 13, 2006.

"However, provincial mental health legislation is not designed to protect public safety."

Gill's family has blamed mental illness for the shooting spree, which left 18-year-old Anastasia De Sousa dead and 20 others wounded.

The federal report says federal jurisdiction is limited when it comes to preventing of harm or identifying risks before an offence occurs.

"The (Criminal) Code has no preventative provisions for the mentally ill," it says, other than a rarely used provision that allows courts to detain people proven an imminent risk to commit violent crime.

Dr. Renee Fugere, president of the Canadian Academy of Psychiatry and the Law and a board member of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, says the assessment is accurate: the mental health system is under-funded and short-staffed.

But she says linking that to the college shooting or other violent crimes is not accurate.

Such killers don't often suffer recognizable mental illnesses that would bring them in contact with the mental health system prior to their crimes, said Fugere, a psychiatrist at Montreal's Pinel Institute.

Murderers like Gill are more likely to suffer antisocial disorders, she said.

"These people want the public to know they exist," Fugere said. "One day, based on a various circumstances, they will act out."

She said victims are usually unknown.

"Essentially, you're not able to prevent this kind of offence. . . because these individuals don't draw the attention of anybody."

When it comes to random violence like the college shooting, Fugere says restricting access to weapons may be the only means of prevention.

"In order to have victims, you need a perpetrator and you need a motive... but you also need weapons. If the access to weapons is easy, then you increase your risk," she says.

"The other things you're not able to control that much."

The federal report also documents the kind of media coverage the college shooting generated.

"The shootings, as expected, also brought up the issue of gun control," media monitors noted.

The documents note that Bill C-21, the Conservative law abolishing the long-gun registry, had not been scheduled for second reading and "it's unclear when this legislation will go forward."

"This government's proposal to eliminate the requirement to register non-restricted firearms has come under renewed criticism," says the document.

Source: Canadian Press

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