Re: Jason L. McGuire
ORB File No: 8021
Hearing held on: Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Place of hearing: Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care 401 Sunset Drive, St. Thomas
Pursuant to: Section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code
Before:
Alternate Chairperson: Mr. R. Steinberg Members: Dr. T. Verny Dr. M. Kalia Ms. K. Tomaszewski Ms. C. Plyley
Parties Appearing:
Accused: Jason L. McGuire Counsel: Ms. T.L. Brandon
The person in charge of hospital: Counsel: Ms. J. Zamprogna
Attorney General of Ontario: Counsel: Ms. K. Dalrymple
REASONS FOR DISPOSITION
(Dated May 13, 2025)
Introduction
Mr. Jason McGuire was found not criminally responsible on February 2, 2022, of two counts of criminal harassment, four counts of mischief under $5000, and one count each of break and enter, assaulting a peace officer, and failing to comply with a release order. He is presently subject to a disposition dated April 30, 2024, which orders his detention at the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care in St. Thomas, Ontario, and grants him privileges, the most liberal of which permits him to live in Southwestern Ontario in accommodation approved by the person in charge.
The Board convened a hearing at the hospital on April 29, 2025, to review the disposition, as required by s. 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code. At the outset of the hearing counsel for the hospital stated her support for the hospital recommendation that the necessary and appropriate disposition for the coming year involved continuation of all terms of the present disposition, save for conditions 4(b) and 4(c), which require that Mr. McGuire refrain from contact or communication with the criminal harassment complainant and that he remain more than 100 meters away from her place of residence, worship, employment, or education.
Counsel for the Attorney General sought the maintenance of all conditions in the present disposition, and counsel for Mr. McGuire took no position with respect to the hospital recommendation regarding deletion of the conditions but otherwise supported the hospital recommendation.
Index Offences
The facts of the index offences are set out in the April 29, 2025, hospital report, which was filed as Exhibit 1 at the hearing. Mr. McGuire had been a patient at Bluewater Health and on May 21, 2020, he attended the security desk at that facility and asked to speak to a female employee. She had observed him outside her residence several months before May 2020, had become concerned about his conduct, and therefore reported his attendance at the security desk to the police. When approached the next day Mr. McGuire informed police that the employee had a $100,000 cheque for him. He was then arrested for the offence of criminal harassment.
On November 7, 2020, police attended a residence where it was reported Mr. McGuire was attempting to gain entry. When he was denied entry, he climbed on top of a motor vehicle, causing damage to it. He was attempting to tell the complainant that his son had been shot, although no such event had taken place. Mr. McGuire then climbed on top of the roof of another two-storey residence and ripped an antenna out of place, damaging the roof shingles and the turbine vent on the roof of the house, causing damage totalling $3,800.
On January 30, 2021, Mr. McGuire broke the glass door of the Goodwill minibus located in a parking lot in the City of Sarnia and was arrested for the offence of mischief. He had been arrested earlier that day and charged with breaking and entering the main building and garage of a rural residence. When police approached Mr. McGuire, they determined the soles of his shoes matched the footprints observed approaching the doors of the two structures and he was arrested for the offence of break and enter.
Mr. McGuire trespassed on the property of Smith’s Funeral Home in Sarnia on June 9, 2021. He had climbed a tree in a wooded area on the property and had refused to leave despite having been requested to do so on three occasions. When attending police officers attempted to take control of him to effect an arrest, he began resisting and kicking violently and was arrested for one count of assaulting a police officer and one count of resisting arrest.
On October 11, 2021, police responded to a complaint (by the same female who had been subject to the May 2020 criminal harassment offence) that Mr. McGuire had been observed in front of her residence staring at the home. When she approached him, he left the area but was located within 200 feet of the residence and was arrested for the offence of criminal harassment and failure to comply with a release order, as on that date he was subject to two separate recognizances prohibiting him from being in or around the residence of the female complainant.
Background and History
Mr. McGuire’s history is set out in detail in Exhibit 1. He is fifty years of age. Reports from the Stratford General Hospital indicate he had a history of opioid use prior to 2010. He has reported the occasional use of crystal methamphetamine and alcohol and would typically drink several beers daily, experiencing blackouts from its use. His family has reported he began drinking alcohol as a teenager and using methamphetamine and opioids in his twenties and thirties, with his use escalating over time.
The hospital report sets out Mr. McGuire’s criminal history, which includes several convictions between 1992 and 2019 for numerous failures to comply with probation and bail orders, four counts of assault, assaulting a police officer, uttering threats, and four convictions for criminal harassment.
His psychiatric history commenced in September 2008, when he was thirty-three years of age. He had called police claiming there were people in orange shirts in the community wanting to shoot him. He had ingested crystal methamphetamine and was certified under the provisions of the Mental Health Act. He was again certified under the Mental Health Act on February 10, 2010, having used opioids and crystal methamphetamine and, as in September 2008, was again diagnosed with substance-induced psychosis. The hospital report notes Mr. McGuire was well known to the Bluewater mental health team in Sarnia, Ontario, due to his frequent attendances following substance use and resulting psychosis.
Mr. McGuire dropped out of high school in grade eleven to join the workforce and worked in construction and his father’s drywall business. He has two sons, born in 2004 and 2006. Notably, his family has reported that he stalked their mother after his relationship with her ended. Mr. McGuire has denied having other children, although his family estimates he has five or six children in total.
The hospital report sets out Mr. McGuire’s treatment while subject to the jurisdiction of the Ontario Review Board and details his course of treatment in the past year. He moved on May 10, 2023, to a community placement at C.K. Clarke Centre, a twenty-four-hour supervised transitional, rehabilitative housing program in London, Ontario. He has continued to live at that residence since, under the care of Dr. Ajay Prakash, Forensic Outreach Psychiatrist, and the Forensic Outpatient Team. He will soon transition out of Clarke Centre and other group home alternatives are being explored.
In the past year Mr. McGuire has not exhibited any evidence of psychosis. The clause requiring abstention from alcohol and drugs was removed from last year’s disposition to test his ability to remain abstinent with less supervision. The hospital report notes that on July 20, 2024, Mr. McGuire attended a wedding in Tillsonburg on an overnight pass and consumed three beers. Urine drug screening following the pass returned a positive screen for cocaine. He had previously informed staff of his intention to consume alcohol at the event but denied consuming cocaine. Clarke Centre staff reported he exhibited no obvious changes to his mental status when he returned from the pass.
Although not a management concern, Mr. McGuire has demonstrated some difficulties with his cognitive abilities during assessments, particularly with multi-step or complex tasks, and has required additional support when completing tasks involving more complicated cognitive processing. No formal cognitive testing has been conducted to date but is intended to be undertaken and completed in the coming year.
Mr. McGuire’s primary goal remains securing employment with LiUNA (the Labourers’ International Union of North America) for construction-related work. However, he has had difficulty completing the five training courses required to be eligible to return to employment with LiUNA. He has only completed one of the training sessions and missed other required training sessions. He continues to have cognitive deficits in reasoning and problem solving. He started a position as a landscaper with a firm in London, Ontario on January 20, 2025, working one or two times per week, on an as needed basis.
Treatment providers want to place Mr. McGuire in a semi-independent housing environment in the coming year. Visvacare, a semi-independent housing facility providing 1:1 support, life skills workshops, meal preparation, and on-site staff, is being focused upon by treatment providers as possible residential accommodation.
The hospital report describes Mr. McGuire’s level of insight into his mental illness as remaining inconsistent. On September 24, 2024, he voiced plans to use marijuana and alcohol once a month when living in the community independently. He denied the need for any future participation in addictions programming.
His insight into his need for treatment is described as limited and his insight into his future risk for violence and re-offence is described as having decreased. He denies the index offences occurred, maintains he did nothing wrong, and reasons there is therefore no future risk of re-offending.
Mr. McGuire is incapable of making decisions related to his treatment and his mother is his substitute decision maker. No changes have been made to his medication regimen in the past year, and his mental status has remained stable.
The hospital report notes that Mr. McGuire has an extensive history of substance use which is a destabilizing influence that contributed to the commission of the index offences. He has demonstrated little to no insight into his need for ongoing support of his addictions and perceives no purpose to participating in future addictions programming.
He has a limited personal support system, which includes his mother and a few other family members. His mother lives in Sarnia and continues to interact with him, primarily via telephone on a monthly basis.
Risk assessments are contained in the hospital report. Mr. McGuire’s risk to public safety has not changed from last year and he remains assessed as a low risk while living in a community supervised environment with forensic supports in place. If his liberties are increased his risk of violence is anticipated to increase from moderate to high.
The authors of the hospital report opine that absent forensic supervision Mr. McGuire would likely not seek professional support to maintain his treatment plan while living in the community and would attempt to manage his community stability independently. Due to his limited insight and cognitive deficits, he would likely cope with pressures in the community by engaging in substance use, as he has done in the past, and would gradually fall away from treatment. His psychotic symptoms are expected to intensify in the context of medication non-adherence and substance use, which would likely result in antisocial and violent behaviour, including stalking and physical aggression, which would increase his risk of future violence and re-offence.
The authors opine that Mr. McGuire continues to pose a risk of serious physical or psychological harm to members of the public, as he suffers from a major mental illness (presently diagnosed as schizophrenia, with other diagnoses including substance use disorder and personality traits (paranoid, avoidant, and narcissistic traits) – by history; has a history of violence driven by psychotic symptoms; has cognitive deficits that require continued added supports to maintain his stability while living in the community; has underdeveloped insight into his substance use issues; has experienced decreased insight into his index offences, mental illness, need for treatment, and future risk of violence in the past reporting year; has limited personal supports, and will continue to rely on professional supports, with more time being required to establish parallel community professional support; will be confronted in the coming year with stressors resulting from transitions, balancing new living environments, and employment; and faces an uncertain living situation, as he will be transitioned out of Clarke Centre in May 2025.
Treatment providers therefore conclude Mr. McGuire remains a significant threat to the safety of the public and recommend that he continue to be subject to a detention order, as the hospital must be able to approve his accommodation as he transitions from Clarke Centre and provide required supervision and support, given his cognitive difficulties and underdeveloped insight across all domains.
The removal of clauses 4(b) and (c) from the present disposition, which require Mr. McGuire to refrain from direct or indirect contact or communication with the criminal harassment complainant or attending within 100 meters of her place of residence, worship, employment, or education, is also recommended, as on February 5, 2025, he acknowledged his perception of her indebtedness to him was delusional and maintained his current medication has resolved the delusions he previously had about her. He stated he does not know where she lives and has no desire to see her again. The recommendation supports continuation of all other conditions in the present disposition.
Evidence at the Hearing
Dr. A. Prakash, Mr. McGuire’s attending psychiatrist, testified on behalf of the hospital at the hearing. He adopted the contents of Exhibit 1 and updated it by indicating that Mr. McGuire will be moving to Indwell accommodation in St. Thomas in June or July of 2025. It is transitional housing available for up to four years. Mr. McGuire is content to move to the facility, but his ultimate goal is to return to Sarnia, where his mother resides. Dr. Prakash described the Indwell facility as less structured and supportive than the Clarke Centre, which will allow testing of Mr. McGuire’s independent living skills. The level of supervision is tailored to the needs of each resident, and can include twenty-four-hour, seven days per week supervision if necessary.
The Indwell residence will provide an opportunity to test Mr. McGuire’s abstention from drugs and alcohol and his ability to function in the community and live independently. Dr. Prakash supported the deletion of the two disposition conditions outlined in paragraph 2, above, but was not opposed to their continuation for the coming year. He noted the hospital has not notified the criminal harassment complainant of the recommendation for the deletion of those terms.
He acknowledged during questioning by Ms. Dalrymple that Mr. McGuire had several convictions for criminal harassment, referred to the complainant on February 5, 2025, as “some chick I knew”, and was aware of her residence address at the time of the criminal harassment offences. However, the doctor noted that Mr. McGuire no longer believes the delusion that drove him to commit those offences and has stated that he could no longer recognize the complainant. He added that Mr. McGuire was not subject to mental health treatment at the time of the commission of those offences, has been stable and compliant with his medication regimen in the past year, and has made no attempt to contact the criminal harassment complainant since his admission to the Southwest Centre, after being found not criminally responsible, on February 4, 2022.
Dr. Prakash will continue to see Mr. McGuire every three months after he transitions to the Indwell housing facility. Mr. McGuire will also continue to report not less than four times per month. He is in receipt of Ontario Disability Support payments, which will continue to cover the cost of his medication.
A victim impact statement dated January 21, 2022, authored by the criminal harassment complainant, a mental health nurse, was filed as Exhibit 2 at the hearing. Its contents reveal the serious effects she suffered by the commission of those offences and her fear of harm for both her and her children. Dr. Prakash agreed with Ms. Brandon’s suggestion that Mr. McGuire has stated he does not recognize the complainant’s name and would not recognize her, although he recalled the town in which she lived at the time of the index offences.
No evidence was adduced by counsel for the Attorney General or the accused.
In final submissions counsel for the hospital maintained the necessary and appropriate disposition involved continuation of the terms of the present disposition, with the deletion of the two terms set out in paragraph 2, above. Counsel for the Attorney General sought maintenance of all terms of the present disposition, and counsel for Mr. McGuire indicated that while he did not mind the two terms continuing for the coming year, he nevertheless supported their omission and supported continuation of the remaining terms for the coming year.
Conclusion
Having heard the evidence and considered the exhibits and the submissions to the parties, the panel concludes that Mr. McGuire remains a significant threat to the safety of the public. His insight into the index offences, his need for medication and treatment, and the adverse effects of substance use on his mental state remain limited. He suffers from a major mental illness and has a history of violence driven by psychotic symptoms. His cognitive deficits continue to require added support to maintain his stability while living in the community. He is transitioning to more independent housing in June or July and will need to continue to rely on professional supports, with more time being required to establish community professional support. The index offences, particularly the criminal harassment counts, were serious, and we note that Mr. McGuire had previous convictions for that offence. A discharge on conditions would be inadequate to secure his quick return to the hospital in the event of mental decompensation, and the hospital continues to require authority to determine his residential placement.
The panel has considered the hospital suggestion that the conditions prohibiting contact with or proximity to the complainant be deleted. We have concluded that they ought to remain for the coming year due to the seriousness of the criminal harassment offences, the adverse effects on the complainant as described in Exhibit 2, the lack of opposition to their retention by Mr. McGuire, and the absence of updated information with respect to the sentiments of the complainant and her present circumstances, which the panel recommends be information sought out by counsel for the Attorney General and filed as disposition information for the next annual hearing.
Accordingly, having considered the four factors set out in s. 672.54 of the Criminal Code, public safety being paramount, the panel concludes that the continuation of all terms of the disposition of April 30, 2024, remain necessary and appropriate for the coming year. Continued inclusion of the prohibitions against contact with and geographical proximity to the criminal harassment complainant will not affect the scope of Mr. McGuire’s liberty. In concluding that maintenance of the prohibitions ought to be maintained we note his history of antisocial behaviour and related substance abuse, as well as paranoid, avoidant, and narcissistic personality traits, his several convictions for failing to comply with court orders, the lack of updated information regarding the complainant and her children, and the fact that he will be tested in the coming year with respect to the exercise of other liberties.
DATED this 13th day of May 2025, at the City of Toronto, in the Region of Toronto.
Mr. R. Steinberg Alternate Chairperson
Office of the Registrar Ontario Review Board