Re: Olyjah Brady, 2025 CanLII 15861

Re: Olyjah Brady

ORB File No: 7438

Hearing held on: Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Place of hearing: Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences

Pursuant to: Section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code

Before: Alternate Chairperson: Mr. C. Flanagan Members: Dr. B. Sheppard Dr. M. Kalia Ms. J. Greenwood Mr. J. Cyr

Parties Appearing: Accused: Olyjah Brady Counsel: Mr. C. Hynes The person in charge of hospital: Representative: Dr. K. De Freitas Attorney General of Ontario: Counsel: Ms. N. MacDonald

REASONS FOR DISPOSITION

(Dated February 25, 2025)

Introduction

1On October 22, 2018, Mr. Olyjah Brady was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder on charges of assault with a weapon, assault and mischief under $5000, all contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada. He is currently subject to a Disposition dated December 12, 2023, detaining him at the Forensic Program at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (“Ontario Shores”). The Disposition contains privileges including hospital and grounds indirectly supervised and up to community living.

2On January 28, 2025, a panel of the Board convened in person at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences to review that Disposition. Mr. Brady was present and represented by his counsel, Mr. Chris Hynes.

The Index Offence

3The details of the index offence are set out in last year’s Reasons for Disposition as follows:

“August 1,2018 the accused attended the Emergency Department at Centenary Hospital for medical treatment. Victim #1 offered to take the accused’s vital signs to which the accused agreed. Victim #1 placed a sensor on the accused’s finger. The accused picked up the vitals computer monitor and threw it at Victim #1 (Charge #1) striking her right leg. The accused then threw several items off the top of a desk (Charge #3). As Victim #2 attempted to assist Victim #1 the accused pushed her (Charge #2). Police were called.

Upon arrival officers placed the accused under arrest and transported him to 43 Division. He was held for a bail hearing.”

Diagnoses

4Mr. Brady’s diagnoses include:

• Schizophrenia;
• Other (or unknown) Substance Use Disorder, severe; and
• Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Positions of the Parties

5At the outset of the hearing, the parties were canvassed as to their initial positions. Dr. De Freitas presented evidence on her own behalf and advised the hospital’s position was for a Detention Order and no change to the Disposition. Ms. MacDonald, on behalf of the Attorney General, indicated her support for that position. Mr. Hynes, on behalf of Mr. Brady, indicated this was a joint position for Disposition, and that the issue of significant threat was conceded.

Background

6Mr. Brady’s background is outlined in the Hospital Report. Mr. Brady is currently twenty-nine years old. He is currently incapable to consent to treatment and his mother is his substitute decision maker.

7When Mr. Brady was a child, he was assessed at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (“CAMH”) due to his behavioural problems. Psychological testing revealed he had reading problems, delayed visual processing and Mr. Brady was diagnosed with a reading disability along with a learning disability of written expression.

8Mr. Brady has a self-reported history of alcohol and cannabis use. Prior to the index offences, he had been living with his family. He became increasingly aggressive and menacing in that home and threatened suicide on several occasions, with one documented attempt. The Hospital Report details numerous prior admissions to hospital between 2014 and 2018, and includes many voluntary hospital admissions. In 2018, he was admitted involuntarily after violently acting out towards his mother along with noncompliance with medication.

9After the NCR finding, Mr. Brady was initially held at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care. Treatment with clozapine began in 2019 after which his level of cooperation and response to staff direction significantly improved. He was transferred to Ontario Shores Forensic Assessment Unit on July 31, 2020.

10Mr. Brady has continued in the past year to reside on a secure forensic unit. He had significant improvements compared to previous reporting years. The team attributes the positive changes to a behavioural contract that outlines specific behaviours that Mr. Brady must engage in, in order to have privileges. This has helped him meet team expectations for his behavior and maintain his privileges.

11Although Mr. Brady made tremendous progress, there remained some challenges and notable incidents, including inappropriate sexualized comments to staff, intrusive boundaries, not following directions, and verbal and physical aggression. Decision making and impulsivity continue to be areas for improvement for Mr. Brady.

12In November 2024, Mr. Brady was assaulted by a co-peer during a hospital grounds walk. The incident became a source of stress and went into the room where the co-peer was to assault him. This required security and staff intervention. As a result, Mr. Brady was transferred to the Forensic Rehabilitation Unit (FRU) on November 15th, 2024.

Evidence at the Hearing

13Dr. De Freitas testified at the hearing and relied on the Hospital Report written by Dr. Bhullar, which Dr. De Freitas adopted. The Hospital Report, which is dated January 9, 2025, was marked as Exhibit 1. In Dr. De Freitas’ evidence, she explained that Mr. Brady was moved from one secure unit to her secure unit two-and-a-half months ago. This was due to the aforementioned incident that Mr. Brady had with a co-patient who assaulted him, and he assaulted that peer in return. As a result, the team has been working to implement his behavioural plan. However, there were some setbacks as a new team worked to learn about Mr. Brady and he in turn worked with them. Other than these occasional incidents, Mr. Brady has been doing well.

14Moving forward, the treatment team has a plan to work with him to decrease these behaviours with the goal of helping him become less argumentative and belligerent. Dr. De Freitas indicated the team hopes that this behaviour can taper off, so that he can work towards exercising his indirectly supervised privileges. Dr. De Freitas was positive about Mr. Brady noting that the team hopes that if all goes well, he will be able to move to a general forensic unit within this next reporting year. Dr. De Freitas gave evidence that Mr. Brady is medication compliant but despite being treated with several medications, including clozapine, he continues to have residual psychotic symptoms and as a result the team is working with him to deal with those.

15Ms. MacDonald asked Dr. De Freitas questions, on behalf of the Attorney General, and clarified one of the diagnoses outlined in the Hospital Report. On page one of the Hospital Report, marked as Exhibit 1, there is reference to a current diagnosis which indicates Mr. Brady has other (or unknown) substance use disorder, severe.

16When asked about this by Ms. MacDonald, Dr. De Freitas clarified that the issue that Mr. Brady had with the substance was cocaine and perhaps a more appropriate diagnosis was polysubstance abuse. Dr. De Freitas also gave evidence that Mr. Brady is working with a social worker who is assisting him with concurrent disorders treatment. Dr. De Freitas was also asked about the impact of the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder and whether that presents a management issue with respect to Mr. Brady's behaviour. Dr. De Freitas indicated that that diagnosis does contribute to some problematic behaviours, but the team is hoping to work with him on those.

17Dr. De Freitas gave evidence that although Mr. Brady is diagnosed with a neuro development issue and has some cognitive limitations, prior cognitive testing indicated that he was in the average range. However, Dr. De Freitas indicated that Developmental Services Ontario (DSO) will be performing assessments and testing to clarify Mr. Brady's diagnosis and determine whether or not he meets their criteria.

18Defence counsel, Mr. Hynes, did not ask Dr. De Freitas any questions in relation to her evidence.

19The panel asked Dr. De Freitas questions to clarify several parts of the hospital report. Dr. De Freitas indicated to the panel that the team is hopeful that Mr. Brady will be ready for community living within the next reporting year and that it is important that the Disposition contain a provision permitting community living to allow the team to put Mr. Brady on a waiting list for housing within the community should he be moved to a general forensic unit.

20Dr. De Freitas was also asked questions about whether Mr. Brady has appropriately used his privileges and passes to enter the community. The evidence before the panel was that Mr. Brady has positive support from his mother in the community and has used four-hour passes to visit his mother over Christmas which the treatment team supported. The team is managing Mr. Brady's expectations about being able to visit his mother.

21Dr. De Freitas was also asked questions from the panel about her alliance with Mr. Brady and his cooperation with the treatment team. She indicated that she has known Mr. Brady for some time but has been working with him for the last two-and-a-half months and that overall, she would say their relationship is positive and that he can be quite charming at times.

22As for insight, Dr. De Freitas indicated that Mr. Brady's insight is limited. He is incapable with respect to treatment decisions and continues to have some psychotic symptoms. She indicated that when they are discussing more mundane matters, he is quite organized but can really struggle when they start to discuss other types of matters. He has a number of cognitive limitations, and this may present an issue in terms of the types of programming that Mr. Brady can engage in. Dr. De Freitas indicated that Mr. Brady is working with a social worker, completing CBT programming and that social worker is also including substance abuse education for Mr. Brady to hopefully educate him about the consequences of using substances on his mental health. When asked what Mr. Brady's goal is, Dr. De Freitas indicated, that he hopes to be able to live in the community.

23Although the Hospital Report, marked as Exhibit 1, was written by Dr. Bhullar, Dr. De Freitas adopted its contents and the assessment of risk of Mr. Brady.

Analysis and Conclusion

24The panel unanimously accepts Dr. De Freitas' evidence that Mr. Brady continues to represent a significant threat to the safety of the public. The Hospital Report notes risk factors and a re-offense scenario that outline Mr. Brady’s major mental illness, substance use, past behaviour and violence and his poor insight and need for treatment. All of these present risks which are carefully managed within the secure setting of the hospital. Mr. Brady has had a positive year overall despite some incidents and seems to have a good therapeutic alliance with his current treatment team which he has been working with for the last two-and-a-half months.

25The parties made a joint recommendation for a Detention Order and no change to the current Disposition. As such, the panel accepts that this is the least onerous, least restrictive Disposition for Mr. Brady, noting that this Disposition includes the ability of the hospital to move him to a general forensic unit and to allow for community living if Mr. Brady is ready to avail himself of that privilege. The panel notes, as did the panel last year, that when Mr. Brady is ready to access living in the community, the inclusion of a community living clause permits the team to add him to the waitlists and that is beneficial to him so that he can work towards finding a suitable placement in the community. The panel agrees that this is appropriate to include and hopes that this is something Mr. Brady can work towards over the coming year.

26In consideration of all of the evidence, the submissions of the parties, and criteria set forth in s. 672.54 of the Criminal Code, the paramount consideration being the safety of the public and in addition to the mental condition of Mr. Brady, his reintegration into society and his other needs, that the necessary and appropriate Disposition is for no change to his current Disposition.