Re: Raymond Mitchell
ORB File No: 5591
Hearing held on: Monday, March 9, 2026
Place of hearing: 151 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario (Via Zoom Video Conference)
Pursuant to: Section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code
Before:
Alternate Chairperson: Mr. J. Goldenberg
Members: Dr. R. Wood Hill Dr. W. Loza Ms. K. Weisbaum Mr. A. Bouvier
Parties Appearing:
Accused: Raymond Mitchell Counsel: Ms. A. Szigeti
Person in charge of hospital: Counsel: Ms. J. Lefebvre
Attorney General of Ontario: Counsel: Ms. S. Curry
REASONS FOR DISPOSITION
(Dated March 24, 2026)
On April 7, 2010, Mr. Raymond Mitchell was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder on charges of assault with intent to resist arrest and assault causing bodily harm.
Mr. Mitchell is currently subject to a Disposition of the Ontario Review Board dated October 10, 2024, by which he was ordered to be detained at the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care – High Secure Provincial Forensic Programs.
Index Offence
- The circumstances giving rise to the Index Offences are extracted from last year’s Board Reasons, as follows:
“Assault with Intent to Resist Arrest (Peterborough, May 11, 2009) On the afternoon of this day, Mr. Mitchell had been ‘trespassed’ by a security supervisor, Mr. V., at Peterborough Square. An hour later, Mr. V. observed Mr. Mitchell back in the food court area and advised him that he was under arrest for trespassing on the premises when prohibited. Mr. Mitchell ignored the arrest and began throwing punches at Mr. V., striking him in the face several times. They struggled, with Mr. V. repeatedly asking him to stop resisting and Mr. Mitchell refusing.
A co-worker came to Mr. V.’s assistance. The pair brought Mr. Mitchell to the ground, handcuffed and escorted him to the Security Office, and police were called. Mr. Mitchell complained his handcuffs were too tight, and while Mr. V. was checking them, he stood up and struck Mr. V. on the chin with his right elbow, then spat in his face. Mr. Mitchell was returned to his chair. PC Kelly arrived about five minutes later and found Mr. V. to be out of breath and visibly shaken, bleeding from his mouth, and with a long string of spit across his face. PC Kelly took over, placed Mr. Mitchell under arrest for assault, and read him his legal rights and caution. Mr. V., having a split upper lip and sore right jaw, advised he was not injured.
Assault Causing Bodily Harm (Whitby, June 15, 2009)
On this day, while undergoing a psychiatric assessment at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences (‘Ontario Shores’), relating to the May 11th assault and two theft charges, Mr. Mitchell reportedly struck a nursing staff “with a closed fist two or three times”, in a “sudden, impulsive and random” attack, against a nurse who “was not interacting with the patient at the time of the incident.”
Following the incident, Mr. Mitchell was noted to “smirk or laugh at himself,” to be unable to articulate why he behaved as he did or any sense of remorse or empathy, and to be responding to stimuli. Two days later, he reported that “he hit him [the nurse] because he heard him call him ‘goof’ and possibly other names”, that he “believes that staff are putting voices in his head trying to make him crazy”, and that “the voices are saying ‘Starling’ (?) and are [placed] in his head through special electronic equipment that staff controlled.” The impression given to psychiatrist Dr. Gill at Ontario Shores, was of florid psychosis, persecutory delusions, thought insertion and feeling controlled. Police officers attended, arrested Mr. Mitchell, and transported him from the hospital.”
Dual Status
In addition, on October 31, 2025, Mr. Mitchell was sentenced to five years with respect to two assaults carried out by Mr. Mitchell on December 31, 2023. As a result of Mr. Mitchell’s conviction and sentence, he became a Dual Diagnosis offender.
The parties had a number of Pre-Hearing Conferences in an attempt to clarify the issues to be determined. We note that Dr. Ava-Ann Allman, a representative of Correctional Services Canada (“CSC”) participated in a number of the later PHC conferences.
The parties agreed that the issues for the hearing would be the annual review of Mr. Mitchell’s Disposition and secondly, to determine whether the evidence would justify a placement hearing.
We think it appropriate to note the following timeline.
On December 31, 2023, while being detained at Waypoint, Mr. Mitchell assaulted two of the female staff members at Waypoint. One of the staff members suffered a traumatic brain injury.
In February 2024, as a result of the charges that were laid, Mr. Mitchell was transferred to the Central North Correction Centre (“CNCC”) That transfer took place on February 9, 2024.
On October 31, 2024, Mr. Mitchell was sentenced to five years incarceration. We subsequently learned, as a result of the time already spent in custody, the balance of his sentence was 28 months.
On November 19, 2025, as a result of the sentence being greater than two years, Mr. Mitchell was transferred from the provincial facility CNCC to a federal facility, namely the Joyceville Institution.
The date set for this hearing was March 9, 2026, at 10:00 a.m.
Just shortly before the March 9 hearing date, the parties learned that Mr. Mitchell had been transferred from the Joyceville Institution to the Matsqui Institution, British Columbia.
It appeared the parties learned of this transfer by reason of a communication, presumably from the Matsqui Institution, that due to the time difference Mr. Mitchell would not be able to participate if the hearing started at 10:00 a.m. in Ontario. The Board understands that the parties agreed to this hearing starting at 12:00 noon. It had previously been agreed that this would be a virtual hearing.
All counsel were present at the 12:00 noon start. Mr. Mitchell was not present. This panel learned for the first time that Mr. Mitchell had been transferred to the Matsqui Institution Dr. Allman was in attendance at the virtual hearing. She was kind enough to phone someone at the Matsqui Institution and relayed the information to the panel that he would be available in approximately 15 minutes.
Ms. Szigeti appeared for Mr. Mitchell. As indicated, she had found out about the transfer a few days ago. Ms. Szigeti advised that she would need an opportunity to speak privately with her client in order to confirm her instructions. Ms. Szigeti raised concerns that we had no documents or evidence from the Matsqui Institution, and it made it difficult, if not impossible, to know whether Mr. Mitchell’s mental health concerns could be satisfied with the detention in the Matsqui Institution. The panel also was concerned that we did not have a current Hospital Report from Waypoint. Ms. Lefebvre appeared on behalf of Waypoint. She advised that Waypoint had not prepared a current Hospital Report but had asked an ORB staff member to circulate the Hospital Report dated July 24, 2024. In addition, the panel learned from Dr. Allman that she had no contact whatsoever with Mr. Mitchell. She is a psychologist and would be able to assist the panel in interpreting any of the documents that had been produced. It appears that the documents that were produced all come from CNCC and that we had little or no documents from CSC.
The Alternate Chair noted the practical roadblocks to a hearing dealing with whether or not the Board should find that a placement hearing was appropriate. The Alternate Chair also raised the issue of simply proceeding with the annual review of Mr. Mitchell’s Disposition.
The panel agreed to permit Ms. Szigeti to have further time with her client and then to meet with counsel for the hospital and counsel for the Attorney General with respect to proceeding with the annual review only. The Board granted that request and the matter stood down for approximately 45 minutes.
When the matter resumed, Ms. Szigeti advised that her client did not wish to proceed with any issue regarding placement but was prepared to proceed with the annual review of his Disposition. Ms. Szigeti advised that the parties, Mr. Mitchell, Waypoint, and the Attorney General, jointly agreed that at the present time Mr. Mitchell remains a significant threat to public safety and that the necessary and appropriate Disposition is a continuation of the Disposition identical to the existing Disposition.
Ms. Szigeti would not be disputing the issue of significant threat and acknowledged she would not be making any submissions contrary to a Board finding of significant threat. Ms. Szigeti agreed that the necessary and appropriate Disposition would be a continuation of his Detention Order.
Ms. Lefebvre also agreed that Mr. Mitchell remains a significant threat to public safety. Ms. Lefebvre pointed to the assaults carried out on December 31, 2023, as cogent evidence that Mr. Mitchell remains a significant threat to public safety. Ms. Lefebvre asked the Board to file as an exhibit the 2024 Hospital Report and consider the number of occasions when Mr. Mitchell acted out in an assaultive manner. The parties were content for the Board to accept the 2024 Hospital Report and to make it an exhibit in this hearing.
Ms. Curry appeared for the Attorney General. She also submitted that there is abundant evidence that Mr. Mitchell remains a significant threat to public safety and a history under the Board of assaultive conduct. Indeed, one of the two original NCR findings was related to an assault.
Dr. Allman, as is the practice with CSC, would not be taking a position should the Board be doing a placement hearing and did not feel it necessary, or her role, to make submissions on the issue of significant threat. Dr. Allman was kind enough to provide information as to Mr. Mitchell’s Warrant Expiration Date which happens to be February 29, 2028. She also provided information when Mr. Mitchell might be in a position to apply for day parole, full parole, or his statutory release date.
Findings of the Board
The Board accepts the joint recommendation of counsel and agrees that Mr. Mitchell remains a significant threat to public safety.
In addition, the Board has had the benefit of reviewing the 2024 Hospital Report.
“I was called around noon today for a double code (blue + white) related to Raymond…Staff told me that Raymond brutally assaulted two female staff members this morning in response to discovering he did not have enough money in his PIN account to make a trip to the canteen today. There was no evidence of psychosis as a contributing factor to this assault. A code white was called. Staff had put hands on, using CPI techniques, to intervene. Raymond was then secluded in his room and the rest of the unit was locked down.
A code blue was simultaneously called for the staff members that Raymond assaulted. He punched and kicked staff members several times in the face, head and back. This caused lacerations, bruising and likely concussion. Paramedics arrived on site at the same time as I did and took the staff members to GBGH for assessment. Security took photos of staff members and of the unit. The incident was also captured on CCTV. I stayed for the code blue/white debrief. SNM [shift nurse manager] will be calling the TIST [Traumatic Incident Support Team] to support staff, who were visibly shaken and distressed about what had happened.
I spoke to Raymond thru the x6 inch crack in the door. I found him to be calm and forthcoming. He told me that one of the staff members he assaulted was "manipulative and tormenting me". He blamed her for provoking him and stated that he felt he had to act with violence to prove his point. He indicated that either this staff member will need to change units, or he will, as they do not get along. He showed absolutely no remorse or insight into his violent and destructive behavior. There was no evidence of psychosis including paranoia, command hallucinations, or disorganization. This leads me to believe that this assault was behavioral and that Raymond would probably be better served in a high security correctional facility at this time I understand that the staff member in question intends to press charges and that senior management will likely also notify police.”
Accordingly, we do find Mr. Mitchell to remain a significant threat to public safety. We do find the necessary and appropriate Disposition is a continuation of a Detention Order with the exact terms set out in the 2024 Disposition.
We thank counsel for their cooperation in proceeding with the annual review.
DATED this 24th day of March 2026, at the City of Toronto, in the Toronto Region.
Mr. J. Goldenberg Alternate Chairperson
__________________ Office of the Registrar Ontario Review Board