Re Jeremy Porter, 2026 CanLII 45678

Ontario Review Board

Re: Jeremy Porter

ORB File No: 8259

Hearing held on: Thursday, April 16, 2026

Place of hearing: Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care

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

Before:

Alternate Chairperson: Ms. S. Kert

Members: Dr. S. Simpson Dr. S. Wiseman Ms. K. Tomaszewski Ms. C. Plyley

Parties Appearing:

Accused: Jeremy Porter Counsel: Mr. W. Glover

The person in charge of hospital: Counsel: Ms. J. Zamprogna

Attorney General of Ontario: Counsel: Mr. J. Huber

REASONS FOR DISPOSITION

(Dated May 12, 2026)

Introduction

1. On March 14, 2023, Jeremy Porter was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (NCR) on a charge of assault with a weapon, contrary to the Criminal Code. He is currently subject to a disposition of the Ontario Review Board (the Board) dated April 15, 2025, ordering his detention at the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care (the Hospital) with privileges up to and including residence in the community of Elgin County and Middlesex Counties in supervised accommodation.

2. On Thursday, April 16, 2026, the Board convened a hearing to review Mr. Porter’s disposition pursuant to section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code. Mr. Porter was present at the hearing and represented by counsel, Mr. Glover. The issues to be determined at the hearing were whether Mr. Porter continued to constitute a significant threat to the safety of the public as defined in section 672.5401 of the Criminal Code and, if so, to determine the necessary and appropriate disposition that was also the least onerous and least restrictive taking into account the factors set out in section 672.54 of the Criminal Code.

3. The parties were requested to provide their initial without-prejudice positions with respect to the issues before the Board. Counsel for the Hospital indicated that it was the Hospital’s position that Mr. Porter continued to represent a significant threat to the public and that the necessary and appropriate disposition was a continuation of the current order with the only change to the terms and conditions being the addition of indirectly supervised passes for up to 72 hours in Southern and Southwestern Ontario, with an approved itinerary.

4. Counsel for the Attorney General and Counsel for Mr. Porter both supported the Hospital position with respect to significant threat, and the recommended Disposition. The Board had before it a joint position. All parties maintained their initial positions in final submissions.

5. The evidence at the hearing consisted of the Hospital Report dated February 27, 2026 (Exhibit 1), and the oral evidence of Dr. Ardani, Mr. Porter’s treating psychiatrist.

6. For the reasons that follow, the Board finds that Mr. Porter continues to represent a significant threat to the safety of the public and that the necessary and appropriate disposition is a detention order with the additional passes jointly recommended by the parties.

Index Offences

7. The circumstances surrounding the index offences as summarized from last year’s Reasons for Disposition are as follows:

On October 27, 2022, at 09:37 am Police attended New Beginnings at 38 Chester Street, St. Thomas. Police spoke with the complainant who reports that she was stabbed in the face with a stick by a male named Jeremy. Police reviewed video footage of the incident and identified Jeremy PORTER as his face was uncovered and plainly visible. PORTER is well-known to Police.

Background Information

8. The Children’s Aid Society (“CAS”) had significant involvement in Mr. Porter’s life from the age of ten. By the age of 12, Mr. Porter had been living in and out of two different group homes.

9. Between the ages of 12 and 16, he was mostly living in group homes, or with foster families, under the care of CAS. At the age of 16, he returned to his family home and lived with his mother for less than a year. Thereafter, he lived a transient lifestyle, intermittently living with family members, intimate partners, and being of no fixed address. He also had multiple incarcerations and served significant jail time.

10. Mr. Porter attended school from junior kindergarten to high school in St. Thomas, Ontario. He had both behavioural and learning challenges. However, when he was assessed with multiple psychological testing tools no intellectual disabilities were noted. He was able to read and write but struggled with mathematics. During high school, he continued to struggle with learning difficulties and dropped out during Grade 11.

11. Mr. Porter worked in several general labour jobs including roofing, bricklaying and plumbing up until 2010. He has not worked since 2010 and is currently receiving Ontario Disability Support payments.

12. Mr. Porter has a teenaged daughter and son from two different relationships. Both are in the custody and care of their respective mothers.

Substance Use History

13. The Hospital Report summarizes Mr. Porter’s substance use history as follows:

Mr. Porter began smoking cannabis when he was ten. He smoked cannabis daily until he was incarcerated in 2018. He mentioned that he started smoking cannabis after being released from jail in October 2022. His last use was on the day of the index offence (October 27, 2022).

Mr. Porter started drinking alcohol when he was approximately 15, initially consuming mostly beer. His use of alcohol escalated rapidly, and he mentioned that he suffered from alcohol use disorder for about 5 years, up to the age of 20.

During his adolescent years, Mr. Porter used the hallucinogen psilocybin (magic mushroom) between the ages of 16 and 19, and the designer hallucinogen/stimulant MDMA (ecstasy) from the ages of 16 to 23. His cocaine use started when he was 18 and lasted for about 8 years. He started using crystal methamphetamine at the age of 24, and his last use was approximately two weeks before the index offence.

Legal History

14. Mr. Porter has a criminal record stretching from 2009 until the Index Offences in 2022. It includes numerous assaults, the most serious being an Assault Causing Bodily Harm for which he received the equivalent of 182 days in jail in 2022. In 2018, a sentence of 365 days was imposed for unlawfully being in a dwelling house and assaulting a peace officer (two counts). His record also contains numerous offences of failing to comply with various court orders and many property offences.

Psychiatric History

15. Mr. Porter has a lengthy psychiatric history. At the age of eight, he was diagnosed with ADHD. He also received different diagnoses including Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder before the age of 18. He attended a program for children with special needs in London for anger management in his early adolescent years.

16. As an adult Mr. Porter had multiple hospital admissions due to mental health problems. His first admission was due to a suicide attempt in 2004 when he was 18 and overdosed on his mother’s medications. Between 2004 and 2007, he had approximately ten admissions and was diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder, conduct disorder, multiple substance use disorders, including cannabis, opioids, and alcohol, ADHD, and antisocial personality disorder. During this period, he endorsed many psychiatric symptoms, including, but not limited to, psychotic symptoms. He also endorsed hallucinations and delusions, which were attributed to substance use. Between 2006 and 2012, he was followed up by the Canadian Mental Health Association and the outpatient clinic of St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital. He was generally compliant with his medications, and his mental health showed improvement.

17. Mr. Porter had no documented contact with mental health professionals between 2012 and 2018. From August 2018 to August 2020, he was diagnosed with and received treatment for schizoaffective disorder (depressive type). During this period, he was hospitalized in the Secure Treatment Unit of Royal Ottawa Health Care Group. He was discharged from the hospital to the care of an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team.

18. In October 2020, Mr. Porter was admitted to Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care pursuant to an NCR Assessment Order. He was experiencing psychotic symptoms which were diagnosed as a substance-induced psychotic disorder, unspecified schizophrenia spectrum disorder and unspecified psychotic disorder. It was noted that his psychotic symptoms occurred in the context of substance use, although an underlying psychotic disorder remained a diagnostic consideration.

Current Diagnoses

19. Mr. Porter is currently diagnosed with: Schizophrenia; Multiple Substance Use Disorders (in remission in a controlled environment); Antisocial Personality Disorder (by history); ADHD (by history). A diagnosis of cognitive impairment has been ruled out.

Evidence at the Hearing

20. Dr. Ardani indicated that he was Mr. Porter’s attending physician and had read and adopted the Hospital Report.

21. Dr. Ardani provided the following evidence:

• Mr. Porter has had a very good year.
• Over the past three years, Mr. Porter’s medications have been “more optimized”. He has been trialed with six different antipsychotic medications and is currently responding well to clozapine and zuclopenthixol.
• As a result, currently, Mr. Porter is not exhibiting any positive symptoms of schizophrenia, although he still experiences some mild negative symptoms, including impaired executive functioning. Mr. Porter’s insight has improved across all domains.
• Mr. Porter has been adherent to taking his medications, although this was not historically the case. He experiences some adverse side effects but now knows that without the medications he would experience psychosis.
• Mr. Porter’s ability to remain adherent to medications has yet to be assessed in a less structured/supervised environment.
• The clozapine is still being optimized. Smoking lowers his clozapine levels, but Mr. Porter has agreed to medication optimization, and to try to limit the number of cigarettes he smokes so he can reach and maintain stable clozapine levels.
• Although he has a significant history of substance use, Mr. Porter has remained abstinent from substances since December 2024. His insight into the negative impacts of substance use is much better than it has been for many years.
• Mr. Porter attends AA three to four times per week and Celebrate Recovery on Sundays.
• Mr. Porter remains vulnerable to relapse into substance use but he currently has sufficient stability and insight to support a move to living in the community. His ability to remain abstinent outside the Hospital setting has yet to be assessed.
• The dose of suboxone has been reduced because Mr. Porter says he does not crave opioids, but because Mr. Porter will soon be transitioning to living in the community, the plan is to maintain the current dose as protection against relapse during the upcoming stress of transition to community living.
• Mr. Porter has a more significant history of stimulant use, and a historical diagnosis of ADHD. He approached the team about using ADHD medication (a stimulant) to address stimulant cravings. Since this medication has been optimized, Dr. Ardani has noticed that Mr. Porter is better able to focus his attention. Mr. Porter’s functioning has improved and a diagnosis of cognitive impairment has been ruled out.
• Mr. Porter has successfully structured his days with activities in the community. In addition to attending AA and Celebrate Recovery, Mr. Porter also volunteers at a local thrift store four to five times per week. He is a valued member of the store’s team. Last December they called the Hospital to ask if Mr. Porter could have more passes to come to volunteer during the busy Christmas shopping season. Mr. Porter is also active in recreational programming.
• Last fall the treatment team believed Mr. Porter required the external support and supervision of a group home for successful community living. Mr. Porter had a history of unsuccessful attempts to live independently, in St. Thomas.
• Because of his history in St. Thomas and because the index offence occurred in a St. Thomas group home, none of the group homes in the St. Thomas area would accept Mr. Porter’s application.
• The team decided to assess Mr. Porter’s ability to live independently by trialing him in the Hospital apartment. This was extended from the standard time of three months for an additional month. That trial period was generally successful.
• Currently, Mr. Porter is capable of independent living in the local area when combined with layered support. This is a result of his response to medications and his growing insight across all domains.
• Mr. Porter was accepted by FSHP (Forensic Supportive Housing Program) through the St. Leonard’s Society two weeks prior to the hearing. At the time of the hearing Mr. Porter was actively applying to different apartments in St. Thomas.
• The program will provide some financial support (in addition to the ODSP Mr. Porter receives) to assist with independent living, including when he is no longer involved with the forensic system.
• Mr. Porter will have a worker who will meet with him up to three times per week. Mr. Porter will have support for finances and budgeting; structured programs; applying for volunteering and employment opportunities. The worker will inform the forensic outreach team if Mr. Porter is not adherent to his medications or shows signs of decompensation.
• Mr. Porter’s medications are provided in blister packs, which the outreach team monitors, and clozapine levels are monitored as frequently as is required.
• Mr. Porter will be able to continue his current activities in the community while he is living in the community.
• Mr. Porter has a very good relationship with the treatment team. He has successfully developed enough skills to live independently in the community, with support, and now has support for community living. In Dr. Ardani’s opinion, this level of support is currently sufficient to manage Mr. Porter’s risk to the public.
• Mr. Porter does not want to live in a group home because he believes the busyness of the group home and the likely accessibility of substances and negative peer influences will be destabilizing for him. Dr. Ardani agreed and stated that it is very important for Mr. Porter to live in an environment where he is not in contact with antisocial peers.
• Mr. Porter has not displayed any antisocial behaviours this year. Dr. Ardani thinks it is very possible that Mr. Porter’s social history and lack of support during his formative years, and very early exposure to substance use, may have been significant factors contributing to past antisocial behaviour. It is possible that these behaviours flowed from his social circumstances rather than from personality.
• As a result, it is essential that the Hospital be able to approve Mr. Porter’s accommodation to ensure that he does not live in a similar situation around negative peer influence.
• Mr. Porter’s sister is in the process of becoming an approved person. The reason for the passes to Southern and Southwestern Ontario is to enable Mr. Porter to visit her in the Toronto area and to stay overnight. This is an important part of Mr. Porter’s reintegration. Dr. Ardani was confident that with his sister’s support Mr. Porter would be able to travel and visit her safely. The team will take an incremental approach to the use of these passes.
• Mr. Glover was able to inform Dr. Ardani that Mr. Porter had gone to dinner with his daughter (for the first time) the evening prior to the hearing. Dr. Ardani told the Board that he was delighted to hear this. The team has provided Mr. Porter with much support to reconnect with his daughter.

22. No additional oral evidence was adduced by the parties.

Analysis and Conclusion

23. Although the issue of significant threat was not contested at the hearing, the Board nevertheless makes an independent finding that Mr. Porter does represent a significant threat to the safety of the public. He suffers from a major mental illness, schizophrenia, and although he has responded well to his current treatment regimen, he continues to experience negative symptoms of that illness. His treatment continues to be optimized, but it is relatively early days in his stability. He has also been diagnosed with multiple substance use disorders, antisocial personality disorder and ADHD. While Mr. Porter has been abstinent from substance use for about sixteen months, his ability to remain abstinent in the community away from the structure of the hospital has yet to be assessed. He also has a lengthy criminal record including numerous convictions for aggressive behaviour as well as breaches of court orders. At this time, it is unclear whether this behaviour stems from personality disorder or negative social influences and substance use.

24. The Board also relies on the re-offence scenario set out on page 60 of the Hospital report:

Without the structure and support provided by forensic supervision, Mr. Porter would likely encounter significant stressors, including a return to unstable or transient housing and limited access to pro‑social supports. In such a context, he would be at high risk for lapses in medication adherence and disengagement from treatment, which would likely contribute to a relapse in substance use. A decline in adherence and increased substance use would raise the likelihood of psychiatric decompensation, with a re‑emergence of psychotic symptoms such as persecutory delusions and auditory or visual hallucinations. A recurrence of psychosis would impair his ability to accurately interpret the intentions or identities of people around him, resulting in compromised judgment during interpersonal interactions. As symptoms intensified, he would likely become increasingly agitated, and the combination of psychosis and substance use would reduce his inhibition and heighten his perception of threat. In such a state, he would likely respond aggressively to benign or misinterpreted stimuli in his environment, similar to the circumstances that contributed to the index offence.

25. The Board finds that the evidence also amply supports the joint submission that the necessary and appropriate disposition is a continuation of the current detention order with the addition of indirectly supervised passes as jointly recommended by the parties. Dr. Ardani’s evidence supports the conclusion that the Hospital requires the authority to approve accommodation in order to ensure that Mr. Porter does not live in an environment with antisocial peers and exposure to substances, and that he continues to receive an appropriate level of supervision and support.

26. While it appears that Mr. Porter has made tremendous progress this year, for which he is to be commended, the Board did not consider that a conditional discharge is realistic at this time. Mr. Porter has been stable for a short period of time, and his medications continue to be optimized. The upcoming year will be a period of transition and novel stressors, as Mr. Porter navigates living independently in the community.

27. Mr. Porter’s ability to continue to be adherent to medications (which are oral), and his ability to continue to abstain from substances, have yet to be assessed while he is living in the community, in a supported but much less supervised environment than the Hospital.

28. The Board finds that the addition of indirectly supervised passes to Southern and Southwestern Ontario is necessary to support Mr. Porter’s continued reintegration into the community and the strengthening of his family ties and are appropriate in the context of Mr. Porter’s current stability, sobriety, increasing insight, and his sister becoming an approved person.

29. Accordingly, having considered the four factors set out in s. 672.54 of the Criminal Code, public safety being paramount, the Board concludes that the continuation of all terms of the current detention disposition, with the inclusion of indirectly supervised passes as recommended by the parties, is necessary and appropriate for the coming year.

DATED this 12^th^ day of May 2026, at the City of Toronto, in the Region of Toronto.

Ms. K. Tomaszewski

Legal Member

Office of the Registrar

Ontario Review Board