When I arrested that night under the Mental Health Act by Toronto Police it was for fictitious and unlawful reasons. I should have never been arrested. In fact, I would have preferred that I faced charges instead of being forced to commit myself under the degrading gaze of psychiatric workers.
Obviously the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) knew me previously from a complaint I lodged against them with Toronto Public Health. They admitted to this in the investigative report done by the Toronto Police Service –albeit key facts were jumbled and completely made-up stuff added in. I complained that I witnessed an obvious health hazard which a TTC worker dismissed. It wasn’t until I persisted that anything was actually done about it. The train with the health hazard eventually was put out-of-service. This incident happened not many days before my arrest on the 11th September, 2012.
So when the TTC arrested me under the Trespass to Property Act for engaging in a prohibited activity it was their prerogative. Although I had every justified reason to report the crime committed against me that night on the 11th (counselling a person to commit suicide contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada section 241.a.), the TTC were not seriously gonna do anything about it. It’s disgusting that they couldn’t take my complaint seriously and rectify the problem – but, again, it’s… their… prerogative.
In any case, what I would have liked was to be given the chance to fight the monetary penalties that arise from this illegal offence and to go before a judge in a court of law. Believe you me, this is exactly what you would want too. You do not want to be subjected to the denigration and humiliation of having to be looked down on by psychiatric workers.
Remember that when you enter a psychiatric facility they look at all your problems under the prism of mental illness. In other words, anything completely innocuous or otherwise can be seen in a different light, will now be seen as a mental health issue. In contrast, if you go before a judge then you present your evidence and fight the charges as a “normal” person.
In addition, if you are dragged in by police into a mental health facility then it looks even more “suspicious”!! You’re immediately guilty until proven sane. Whereas in a court of law, the dominant principle has always been innocent until proven guilty.
The last thing you want is to enter the room of a shrink and have them graffiti your image with their opinions and conjectures. Mental health professionals will even admit that mental illness is not easily as diagnosable as physical illness. They’re worlds apart. Anything, I mean anything, can be seen as a mental illness indicator. Your individuality, your idiosyncrasies, your uniqueness – what makes you you can be worked against you.
Also, you have to remember that I had to be extremely alert, “educated” and “eloquent” in order to protect myself that night I was arrested. Imagine instead if I were crying, didn’t want to speak, and agitated. All this would have been normal behaviour considering that I had a TTC employee just tell me to kill myself and then I was the person to be arrested. But, of course, this is a LUXURY, a PRIVILEGE. As soon as you let your guard down and get emotional, this can and will be used against you. It’s asinine!
Moreover, there is a lot of talk about removing the stigma associated with mental illness, but honestly it’s a long road to go. The stigma exists, it’s there, it’s present, and it’s widespread. There is also a huge lack of education when it comes to mental health issues. People don’t really know what mental illness exactly means and there are a lot of myths surrounding mental health. Once you’ve been branded with this psychiatric care, it becomes almost impossible to shake off. In fact, mental illness can and will be used against you.
When people hear the word “psychiatric” all sorts of images come to their mind. Immediately they think white straitjackets, unpredictable people, dangerous, heavily medicated, and basically a pariah to society. They don’t think that mental illness is a spectrum of many different types of issues and then there are different levels of severity. They don’t think the mentally ill can be any “normal” person on the street – it can even be you.
I was handcuffed and forced to admit myself for psychiatric assessment which was extremely traumatic for me. The Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) accepted my submission of this fact. Contrary to what some have claimed in news articles I have read recently, being taken to a psychiatric hospital is not a more humane choice.
Barry Swadron, a lawyer, said this in a Toronto Star article:
“If (people with mental illness) are acting in a disorderly manner, you can be sure that there’s some crime they could be charged with. But to take them directly to a psychiatric facility where they’re going to be examined is a far more humane approach,”
What he means is that the Toronto Police Mobile Crisis Intervention Team (MCIT) mandate is to reduce hospitalizations AND criminalization. In the documentary about the MCIT, I wrote about on my blog earlier, I told you that the MCIT 73% of the time leaves people in the community after they come in contact with them. Essentially, leaving people in the community is probably the most humane thing you can do. However, if somebody is suffering a severe breakdown then it becomes a medical issue in need of immediate attention and not a jail cell – in this I concur. Similarly, if you were bleeding profusely from the leg then police are required to make a medical clearance and take you to hospital. Regardless, being arrested by the MCIT and taken to hospital does not make you immune from further penalties or charges. You can still be charged and it happens.
Here’s what should have happened in my case when the MCIT arrived inside the TTC security office (setting aside for now the corruption, collusion, and hidden motives by TTC and Toronto Police).
Constable Mitchell Till and the nurse should have asked the TTC handcuffs to be removed from me. The nurse should have asked the TTC employees to stop hovering over me and leave the room. The nurse should have been apologetic. The police officer should have seriously taken my allegation and proceed with an investigation. The police officer should have found it bizarre that the TTC would contact the MCIT unit and not just regular police.
They should have given me their contact information to discuss what happened at a later time and information to referrals to community organizations where a counsellor can be made available. The police officer should have advised me to immediately contact a lawyer. They then should have left.
This was the most appropriate and common sense thing that could have been done that night. This was essentially what the medical student and physician who later saw me did.
It was a travesty and disgrace what happened to me.
Abused & Depressed 