COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO
Before: Doherty, Laskin and Feldman JJ.A.
IN THE MATTER OF: MICHAEL ALEXANDER (AKA MICHAEL McGRATH)
AN APPEAL UNDER PART XX.1 OF THE CODE
Counsel: Sara Abraham, for Michael Alexander Michael Fawcett, for the Crown Janice Blackburn, for the Person in Charge, Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care
Heard: March 19, 2014
On appeal against the disposition of the Ontario Review Board, dated May 16, 2013.
APPEAL BOOK ENDORSEMENT
1The disposition is not unreasonable. It was common ground that the appellant posed a “significant risk”. It was open to the Board to accept the medical evidence as to the most appropriate hospital in which to detain the appellant. We defer to that decision.
2The appellant was given every opportunity to present his version of the events even after he, with the assistance of counsel, chose not to call evidence. There is no reason to think that the Board did not take the appellant’s comments into consideration.
3Although the Board did not refer to the appellant’s explanation for refusing to take medication, it is his refusal to take the medication rather than his explanation for that refusal that was most germane to the Board’s decision.
4The Board did not lose jurisdiction in granting the adjournment sought by both the appellant and the hospital. In any event, any potential loss of jurisdiction is cured by s. 672.53. The appellant cannot demonstrate any prejudice much less “substantial prejudice”.
5The appeal is dismissed.