Re Candice Campbell, 2025 CanLII 102467

Ontario Review Board

Re: Candice Campbell

ORB File No: 8745

Hearing held on: Thursday, August 28, 2025

Place of hearing: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health 1001 Queen Street West, Toronto

Pursuant to: Section 672.47(1) of the Criminal Code

Before:

Alternate Chairperson: Mr. M.D. Segal Members: Dr. P. Prendergast Dr. M. Mamak Mr. R. Bigelow Mr. S. Duffy

Parties Appearing:

Accused: Candice Campbell Counsel: Mr. J. Bogle

The person in charge of hospital: Counsel: Ms. S. Rosales-Zelaya

Attorney General of Ontario: Counsel: Ms. V. Culp

REASONS FOR DISPOSITION

(Dated October 8, 2025)

Introduction

1. Candice Campbell, age 28, was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder on a charge of arson, contrary to the Criminal Code. The Court declined to make a disposition and referred the matter to the Ontario Review Board (the “Board”) to make a disposition.

2. On August 28, 2025, Ms. Campbell had her initial hearing at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (the “hospital”). The Board had before it Exhibit 1, a Hospital Report dated August 14, 2025. It also had before it Exhibit 2, the criminal court file, that included an Agreed Statement of Facts, a CPIC print out, a transcript dated March 19, 2025, Informations, a Non-Communication Order and an earlier Assessment conducted by Dr. L. Van of September 4, 2024.

3. All parties agreed that a Detention Order with community living privileges was appropriate. Ms. Campbell was living with her family in Brampton, Ontario at the time of the hearing. The hospital had proposed a series of conditions. All parties were agreed that those conditions should be supplemented with a no-contact provision and a weapons prohibition.

4. It was clarified that the NCR finding was solely based on one count of arson. Ms. Campbell had also faced a charge of assault bodily harm, but it was withdrawn on March 19, 2025.

Index Offence

5. Ms. Campbell and Mr. Fahad Zaman Hanif were in an intimate partner relationship for one and a half years starting in 2018. The two parties had not any contact since they ended their relationship. On October 27, 2023, Mr. Hanif was present at his residence. At 2:30 p.m. Ms. Campbell attended unannounced. Ms. Campbell said she could read his mind and believed he was still in love with her. Mr. Hanif did not want any further contact and left. Moments later, Ms. Campbell returned and asked for his phone number which was refused. The next evening, she attended his residence again. At 1:45 a.m. she gathered leaves and attempted to use a lighter to start a fire at the side of his house. She was not successful and left but returned half an hour later with a canister of gasoline. She poured gasoline along the side of the house and tried to start a fire several times.

Criminal Record

6. Ms. Campbell received a Conditional Discharge for assault in 2019 and was convicted of failing to comply with a release order in 2020.

Diagnoses

7. Schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder.

Background

8. Ms. Campbell was born in Jamaica. She immigrated to Canada at age 9. She resides in Brampton with her mother, brother and half-sister. She is supported financially by her family and works as well at Tim Horton's. She is single and has no dependents. She is a permanent resident. Her childhood was unremarkable. At 18 or 19 she had a relationship which she reported as verbally and emotionally abusive. Ms. Campbell identifies as being Christian and very involved with church. Ms. Campbell has good relations with her family and siblings on her mother and father’s side. Ms. Campbell has a partial college education having attended one year at George Brown and pre-health studies. She has an interest in pursuing nursing. She attended a term in January of 2025 on registered practical nursing but needs to improve her grades in several courses to continue. She is hopeful of returning to school in September. Currently she is in a relationship.

9. Ms. Campbell is on Abilify Maintena, 400 mg, receiving an injection every 28 days.

Substance Use

10. Ms. Campbell began consuming cannabis at 14 or 15, using frequently and some days daily. She has acknowledged she smoked too much in past. She continues to use cannabis but at apparently lesser amounts than in prior days.

Mental Health

11. In May 2022, she was admitted to the Credit Valley Hospital, brought in by police for having a knife and threatening passengers on public transportation. She was discharged in June 2022. She had a two-week admission in May 2023. In between her NCR assessment and her risk assessment she was briefly hospitalized at Brampton Civic Hospital for her mental health concerns in November 2024. Ms. Campbell was seen by Dr. Mansour at the Brampton Civic Hospital. There is a Community Treatment Order in place which was renewed in August of 2025.

12. The hospital notes that there is a concern that the Mental Health Act would be insufficient to respond if Ms. Campbell rapidly decomposed.

13. The re-offence scenario in the Hospital Report indicates:

“In risk assessments, one of the best predictors is an individual’s history of violence. Ms. Campbell’s history of violence appears to be limited to times when experiencing acute symptoms of psychosis.

Should Ms. Campbell reoffend violently, it would likely occur in the context of a recurrence of symptoms of psychosis, with associated paranoid thinking, disorganized behaviour, and irritability. Such episodes may be precipitated by a number of factors, including medication non-adherence, sleep deprivation, substance use, stress, or occur spontaneously. If mentally decompensated, Ms. Campbell would likely develop paranoia and persecutory delusions about strangers. She may carry a weapon to protect herself. She would be vulnerable to misperceiving interactions with strangers as threats to her safety and would likely respond violently to strangers in a public setting. Additionally, if experiencing symptoms of psychosis, Ms. Campbell may also develop delusions such as religious preoccupation about God and carrying out His mission. Depending on the nature of her delusions, she may behave in an aggressive or erratic manner towards others, putting them at risk of physical or psychological harm.

Ms. Campbell presently exhibited limited insight and judgment into managing her risk factors. Without external controls, she would likely discontinue medications and disengage from psychiatric supports. Additionally, she remains vulnerable to the destabilizing effects of psychosocial stressors, including those conferred by vocational and educational pursuits; this may exacerbate cannabis use. As well, the effectiveness of her current treatment in conferring long-term stability of her symptoms remains unknown.”

14. The Hospital Report also contains a risk assessment:

“It is our opinion that Ms. Campbell represents a significant threat to the safety of the public.

In consideration of pertinent risk and protective factors, Ms. Campbell’s risk of future violence is anticipated to be Moderate to High in the absence of a detention order of the ORB. In contrast, should she be subject to a detention order with the ability to rapidly and pre-emptively intervene at early signs of clinical instability, her risk of future violence would be Low.

Ms. Campbell’s risk of future violence flows from her major mental disorder (schizophrenia). She has a history of poor adherence to antipsychotic medication due to limited insight into her mental illness and need for treatment. To her credit, since the issuance of a CTO in December 2024, Ms. Campbell has been adherent to her monthly injection, resulting in improvement in her mental status, and improvement in her functioning (relationships, school, and work). She states that she does not believe she needs to take this medication but only does so to avoid being taken to hospital. Her outpatient psychiatrist has also noted that with the improvement in her mental status, within six months from this report, she will likely not meet criteria for a CTO. Ms. Campbell also has limited insight into the role of cannabis use on her mental state and her risk of violence. As such, she continues to use cannabis. When psychiatrically decompensated, Ms. Campbell has escalated her cannabis use, resulting in worsening of her mental state. Without external controls and extrinsic motivators, Ms. Campbell is unlikely to remain adherent to treatment, follow up with psychiatric supports, or engage in psychotherapeutic interventions. Ms. Campbell’s mother, Ms. Raymond, is supportive and appreciates the importance of psychiatric treatment and is her substitute decision maker. However, Ms. Raymond has also expressed that she is unsure if Ms. Campbell needs to be on a CTO long term and has expressed concern that long administration of antipsychotic medications could be “addictive.”

As such, due to her limited insight into the need for antipsychotic medication, history of poor adherence to treatment, and ongoing cannabis use, Ms. Campbell is vulnerable to psychotic decompensation. Should such symptoms start to emerge, it would be necessary to intervene in an expedited manner prior to acute decompensation to protect the safety of the public. Ms. Campbell is likely to become more guarded and disengage from psychiatric supports. The Mental Health Act is not anticipated to be sufficient to ensure such expedited interventions.

Ms. Campbell remains in the early stages of her recovery. The understanding of her illness and treatment needs is still evolving and will become better elucidated with longitudinal monitoring and follow-up. A longer period of sustained stability, with time in the interim to further strengthen her coping skills, abstain from substance use and practice use of tools learned in psychotherapeutic interventions, will assist in ascertaining whether her risk can be managed absent the more assertive interventions of a detention order.”

15. Ms. Campbell has a history of missing outpatient appearances. Ms. Campbell was late for this ORB hearing.

Evidence at Hearing

16. Dr. L. Van, the patient’s psychiatrist, testified. Dr. Van identified that these were early days. Ms. Campbell has only been started on her injectable recently. The hospital needs to further assess the patient's mental health.

17. Dr. Van noted that Ms. Campbell’s family with whom she resides is prosocial and that Ms. Campbell wishes to return to school in September.

18. Ms. Campbell will be followed by the Forensic Outpatient Service. In Dr. Van’s view a Detention Order is necessary to permit speedy intervention if a decompensation occurs. The Board was informed that the CTO renewed in August 2025 may not be necessarily renewed after that. They are only valid for six months. Dr. Van indicated that discussions need take place between the hospital and Dr. Mansour regarding the potential interplay between the CTO and the Detention Order. As Dr. Van noted, CTOs are directed at treatment, but Detention Orders are directed at the management of risk. Ms. Campbell is not capable of consenting to treatment.

19. Dr. Van indicated that while recommended reporting is not less than every two weeks, it can be expected that Ms. Campbell will likely be seen more frequently than that at the outset of this initial Disposition.

20. In Dr. Van’s view, the extent of Ms. Campbell's cannabis use is a concern, certainly psychosis could be impacted by cannabis use with deleterious impacts on her mental health. Work on Ms. Campbell's insight is required. Attention will be required to address gaps in reacting to and coping with stress.

21. Dr. Van indicated that Ms. Campbell’s reliance on cannabis involves balancing the cannabis use in relation to Ms. Campbell’s reliance on it for coping and the risk of cannabis consumption on her mental health. Ms. Campbell has indicated disagreement regarding a cannabis ban, but she has also said she is prepared to abide by it.

22. Dr. Van indicated that all meetings would have to occur at the CAMH campus.

23. Dr. Van testified since that she was not sure if Ms. Campbell was familiar with the ORBs workings and that hopefully her counsel could assist in that regard.

Analysis

24. The Board agrees with the joint recommendation. Ms. Campbell is brand new to the ORB. Her mental health struggles have been evident for the last few years. Cannabis use is an ongoing issue that exacerbates her mental health and may increase the risk to the public in relation to violence. Transition to long-acting injection is relatively recent. At times Ms. Campbell has disavowed that she has a mental disorder. The conditions of the Detention Order will be:

• reporting no less than once every two weeks;
• abstain from alcohol and non-medically prescribed substances and/or other intoxicants;
• submit samples;
• refrain from possession of incendiary devices and firearms;
• no contact with the victim, Fahad Zahman Hanif, and non-attendance where he is known to attend.

25. A final word. Ms. Campbell has a history of non-attendance and late attendance in relation to her mental health journey, including on the CTOs and in relation to her assessment. She also has a history of medication noncompliance. The Board is of the view that Ms. Campbell could benefit from orientation to what the Board is, its mandated processes, and the importance of all attendances including for treatment and counseling. That responsibility, while it may be supplemented by counsel’s advice, fall squarely to the hospital. In the Board’s experiences, hospitals do offer such orientation for new patients. We wish Ms. Campbell well in the upcoming year.

DATED this 8^th^ day of October 2025, at the City of Toronto, in the Region of Toronto.

Mr. M.D. Segal Alternate Chairperson

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Office of the Registrar Ontario Review Board