Re Aresh Anwar, 2026 CanLII 32130

Re: Aresh Anwar (aka Alexandre Bernier)

ORB File No: 7299

Hearing held on: Friday, February 27, 2026

Place of hearing: Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care

Pursuant to: Sections 672.48(1) and 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code

Before:

Alternate Chairperson: Ms. L. Maunder

Members: Dr. P. Darby, Dr. L. Lightfoot, Ms. M. Chamberlain, Mr. J. Cyr

Parties Appearing:

Accused: Aresh Anwar (aka Alexandre Bernier) (did not attend) Counsel: Mr. V. Zenobio

Person in charge of Hospital: Representative: Ms. T. Murdock

Attorney General of Ontario: Counsel: Ms. S. Curry

REASONS FOR DISPOSITION

(Dated March 31, 2026)

1In January 2018, Aresh Anwar was found unfit to stand trial on Criminal Code of Canada (“the Code”) charges of assault, utter threat, and breach of probation. Mr. Anwar has been detained at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care – Brebeuf Program for Regional Forensics (“Brebeuf”) since then.

2Mr. Aresh did not attend the hearing. We excused him pursuant to s.672.5(10)(a).

3At this annual review of his disposition, two issues had to be resolved by the panel: Was Mr. Anwar unfit and what was the necessary and appropriate disposition. The panel found that Mr. Anwar remained unfit to stand trial and that the necessary and appropriate disposition was his continued detention at Brebeuf with some minor changes to his privileges, discussed below, as jointly submitted by the parties.

Mr. Anwar Remains Unfit

4In deciding whether Mr. Anwar remained unfit to stand trial, the panel had regard to the definition of fitness as set out in s.2 of the Code and elaborated upon, by the Supreme Court of Canada, in R v Bharwani (2025 SCC 26).

5Dr. A. Jones, who has been treating Mr. Anwar since he was found unfit and re-assessed his fitness a few days before the hearing, testified that in her opinion he remained unfit to stand trial. The panel agreed.

6Mr. Anwar carries diagnoses of schizophrenia, intellectual disability disorder, and unspecified substance-related disorder. Mr. Anwar’s schizophrenia is treated with antipsychotic medications, and his mental state is stable, albeit with some residual paranoia and fixed delusions. Mr. Anwar’s intellectual disability, combined with a high level of anxiety around returning to court, also interferes with his fitness.

7Due to anxiety, Mr. Anwar does not tolerate discussions for any length of time about his charges or returning to court. As a result, fitness coaching has been attempted but never got very far. Mr. Anwar’s intellectual functioning was assessed in 2023, and he scored in the “extremely low” range on the Full Scale IQ composite score, as well as on the Adaptive Behaviour Assessment System 3 tool. Dr. Jones emphasized the difficulty of making progress towards fitness without Mr. Anwar’s cooperation – his anxiety prevents him from engaging with the concerted educational efforts that would be required to render him fit given his intellectual deficits.

8Mr. Anwar denies he has outstanding charges and has done so for many years. He does not have a reality-based understanding of his legal situation and would not be able to make or communicate decisions regarding his defence.

9Dr. Jones testified that Mr. Anwar might be permanently unfit but, as he remains a significant threat to the safety of the public, she did not assess this to the point of reaching a conclusion. As will become clear in our discussion of the necessary and appropriate disposition below, we agreed with this assessment (as did all the parties).

The Necessary and Appropriate Disposition

10The panel was thus obliged to render the “necessary and appropriate” disposition keeping in mind the safety of the public as the paramount consideration, as well as the mental condition of the accused, the reintegration of the accused into society, and the accused’s other needs. See s.672.54 of the Code.

11The panel agreed with the parties that the necessary and appropriate disposition remained a detention order with community living privileges. Mr. Anwar needs high levels of support and structure to remain medication adherent. He needs to be closely monitored while living in the community to ensure that his substance use is not leading to decompensation in his mental state. His housing needs to be approved so that he doesn’t move to an independent apartment without the supports critical to keeping him stable and safe.

12By way of elaboration, Mr. Anwar has a long-standing diagnosis of schizophrenia and history of medication non-compliance. In the years prior to the index offences, Mr. Anwar was hospitalized on several occasions, as well as found unfit to stand trial on other charges and subject to treatment orders.

13When experiencing psychosis, Mr. Anwar was agitated, paranoid, aggressive, disorganized and, in the later years, acknowledged auditory hallucinations and was observed responding to internal stimuli. He accumulated a lengthy criminal record, much of it property or compliance related but also assaults, armed robbery, and indecent act.

14Mr. Anwar was untreated and experiencing symptoms of psychosis in November 2017 when he is alleged to have yelled and spat on the face of a woman he did not know on an elevator, before following her out of the elevator and continuing to yell until neighbours intervened on her behalf. Mr. Anwar is also alleged to have threatened to kill and rip the face off a police officer when arrested. These are the index offences.

15Under the jurisdiction of the Board, Mr. Anwar has been agreeable to taking antipsychotic medications, but he has limited insight into the benefits of treatment and has said he does not want to continue to take medications when left to his own devices.

16Mr. Anwar also has a history of substance use. While he is an inconsistent historian, prior to the index offences (as revealed in clinical records from the time), Mr. Anwar reported using heroin, crystal methamphetamine, cocaine, cannabis, alcohol, and ecstasy. Under the jurisdiction of the Board, substance use has been a recurring issue. Mr. Anwar has used cannabis extensively without noticeable impacts on his mental state. Mr. Anwar has also used cocaine leading to symptoms of psychosis. Mr. Anwar has very little insight into the risks of substance use on his mental state and no internal motivation to abstain. He has declined one-to-one counselling and other substance use related programs. He reports feeling better using drugs and in recent years has used while in hospital (and exercising passes into the community) and when living in the community.

17Dr. Jones’s evidence was that the treatment team needs to be able to rapidly intervene to cut short Mr. Anwar’s substance use (when he tests positive for substances other than cannabis) to avoid a deterioration in his mental state that would increase his risk to the safety of the public. The last several times Mr. Anwar has been living in the community, he has been brought back to hospital in the context of substance use (positive tests for cocaine) and him not reporting as required.

18Mr. Anwar was in the hospital throughout the reporting year, having returned to hospital last March. Mr. Anwar said he did not like the group home he had been at and didn’t want to return. Cautious efforts to see if he could manage back at that facility failed – he felt paranoid there. The team has tried to place Mr. Anwer in other supported accommodations without success. Mr. Anwer was fearful at one home and said it was “not clean.” He rejected another.

19In her testimony, Dr. Jones explained that Mr. Anwar is on a waitlist for a group home near Gravenhurst. She was optimistic that the rural setting might be better suited to Mr. Anwar, particularly in terms of access to substances.

20For his part, Mr. Anwar would like to return to Toronto and live in a shelter (as he did at the time of the index offence) or in an apartment. Mr. Anwar has no family support (he has family in Quebec but does not accept they are his family) or other supports other than through forensic services. The team does not support such a move and views it as high risk.

21All of this evidence convinced the panel that if Mr. Anwar were not adherent to his medications, he would become agitated, more preoccupied by paranoia and delusions, and aggressive. We were satisfied that Mr. Anwar needed supportive housing to remain medication adherent given his stated preference not to take medication, his level of functioning, and the inevitability of him using substances. A detention order was necessary to ensure that Mr. Anwar was discharged to appropriate housing with necessary supports. Anything less would lead to his mental deterioration and eventual aggression, putting the safety of the public at risk.

22The hospital requested that Mr. Anwar’s disposition be changed such that, while he remained in hospital, Mr. Anwar would need to have an approved itinerary to enter the community (within the catchment area of Waypoint) indirectly supervised. Dr. Jones explained that given how Mr. Anwar uses his access to the community, it would be a red flag if he were entering the community, indirectly supervised. Mr. Anwar would not need an approved itinerary to enter the community within 25 meters of his community residence once he was exercising his community living privilege. The hospital also asked to change the term regarding him entering the community within 300 kilometers of Waypoint such that he no longer required an approved itinerary and escort – he would be permitted to be accompanied with an approved itinerary or simply accompanied.

23The only part of these changes that increased the restrictions of Mr. Anwar’s liberty was the first change and Dr. Jones explained why that was necessary. Given the evidence we received regarding Mr. Anwar’s use of cocaine this year, while residing in hospital, and its negative impact on his mental state, we agreed the change was necessary and appropriate (as conceded by Mr. Anwar, through counsel.)