National Action Plan on Mental Health and Criminal Justice
The Mental Health Commission of Canada is leading the development of an action plan for Canada to support the mental health of people who interact with the criminal justice system by enabling personal, social, and systems change.
The action plan was inspired by continuous calls for action on decades-old efforts to produce meaningful change. It is supported by leaders and experts in the field and by people with lived and living experience of criminal justice involvement and mental health concerns or illnesses, and organizations and individuals representing the perspectives of or working closely with priority populations (e.g., First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, African, Caribbean, and Black communities, and women).
This multi-year initiative began in 2021, and over two years of various research and engagement activities have gone into informing the action plan including research reports looking at national and international frameworks and strategies, regular meetings with our advisory committee and working groups, and a national survey that was distributed widely with our networks.
The information collected is now being synthesized to prepare a draft of the action plan. The final action plan is expected to be released in late 2025.
The action plan was inspired by continuous calls for action on decades-old efforts to produce meaningful change. It is supported by leaders and experts in the field and by people with lived and living experience of criminal justice involvement and mental health concerns or illnesses, and organizations and individuals representing the perspectives of or working closely with priority populations (e.g., First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, African, Caribbean, and Black communities, and women).
This multi-year initiative began in 2021, and over two years of various research and engagement activities have gone into informing the action plan including research reports looking at national and international frameworks and strategies, regular meetings with our advisory committee and working groups, and a national survey that was distributed widely with our networks.
The information collected is now being synthesized to prepare a draft of the action plan. The final action plan is expected to be released in late 2025.
What is the issue?
People living with mental health concerns and illnesses are over represented in the criminal justice system, with approximately 73% of men and 79% of women1 who are federally incarcerated in Canada meeting the criteria for one or more current mental disorders.
There’s also a significant over representation of priority populations including:
- First Nations, Inuit, and Métis who represent 30% of the incarcerated population, despite representing about 4.9% of Canada’s population
- African, Caribbean, and Black communities who account for 9% of the total incarcerated population in federal corrections, despite representing about 4% of adults in Canada.
People who work in the system also experience unique challenges that can have a significant impact on their psychological health and safety in the workplace. A 2019 report2 highlighted that public safety personnel, including correctional officers, dispatchers, and police officers, are almost 4.5 times more likely than the general population to experience symptoms of mental disorders. These statistics highlight that there is a lot of work to do to improve mental health outcomes for everyone involved in the justice system.
Scope of the action plan
While the action plan is still under development, we envision it will include calls to action related to these five areas of focus:
- Divert people living with mental illness and substance use disorders from the criminal justice system whenever possible.
- Support the mental health of justice-involved individuals at all junctures of the criminal justice and forensic mental health systems.
- Provide continuity of care and support post-release.
- Support the psychological health and safety of individuals working within the criminal justice and forensic mental health systems.
- Address legislative and other system-level changes that are critical for reform.
The action plan will also emphasize the need to address and challenge the stigma associated with justice involvement, as well as the added stigma of living with a mental health concern or illness.
To highlight the importance of this action plan, watch this video that includes quotes from Mo Korchinski, executive director of Unlocking the Gates Services Society, and A.J. Grant-Nicholson, principal at Grant-Nicholson Law.
To highlight the importance of this action plan, watch this video that includes quotes from Mo Korchinski, executive director of Unlocking the Gates Services Society, and A.J. Grant-Nicholson, principal at Grant-Nicholson Law.
References
1 Mental Health Commission of Canada. (2020). The mental health needs of justice-involved persons: A rapid scoping review of the literature. https://mentalhealthcommission.ca/resource/the-mental-health-needs-of-justice-involved-persons-a-rapid-scoping-review-of-the-literature/
2 The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE). (2019). Mental injury among justice workers. https://nupge.ca/research/mental-injury-among-justice-workers/