Ontario Review Board
Re: Jason McGuire
ORB File No: 8021
Hearing held on: Tuesday, April 14, 2026
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: Ms. S. Kert Members: Dr. S. Simpson Dr. S. Wiseman Ms. K. Tomaszewski Ms. C. Plyley
Parties Appearing:
Accused: Jason McGuire Counsel: Ms. T.L. Brandon
The person in charge of hospital: Counsel: Ms. J. Zamprogna
Attorney General of Ontario: Counsel: Mr. J. Huber
REASONS FOR DISPOSITION
(Dated May 25, 2026)
Introduction
[1]. 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 May 8, 2025, 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.
[2]. The Board convened a hearing at the hospital on April 14, 2026, to review the disposition, as required by s. 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code. Counsel for the hospital submitted that the necessary and appropriate disposition for the coming year involved continuation of all terms of the present disposition, save for reducing the reporting requirements to not less than two times per month.
[3]. Counsel for the Attorney General and for Mr. McGuire both supported the hospital recommendation.
Index Offences
[4]. The facts of the index offences are set out in the February 26, 2026, hospital report, which was filed as Exhibit 1 at the hearing, and are summarized below.
[5]. 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.
[6]. 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.
[7]. 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.
[8]. Mr. McGuire trespassed on the property of a 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.
[9]. On October 11, 2021, police responded to a complaint (by the same female who had been the subject of the May 2020 criminal harassment charge) 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
[10]. Mr. McGuire’s history is set out in detail in Exhibit 1. He is fifty-one 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.
[11]. 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.
[12]. 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.
[13]. 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.
[14]. On May 10, 2023, Mr. McGuire was discharged to a community placement at C.K. Clarke Centre, a twenty-four-hour supervised transitional, rehabilitative housing program in London, Ontario. He lived at that residence until June 17, 2025, when he moved to Indwell housing in St. Thomas.
Evidence at the Hearing
[15]. Dr. Arun Prakash, Mr. McGuire’s attending psychiatrist, provided oral evidence on behalf of the hospital at the hearing. He adopted the contents of Exhibit 1.
[16]. Dr. Prakash told the panel that:
- Mr. McGuire has had a very good year.
- Mr. McGuire moved to Indwell accommodation in St. Thomas on July 17, 2025. This is transitional housing available for up to four years. The Indwell facility is less structured and less supportive than the Clarke Centre. The level of supervision can be tailored to the needs of each resident. Indwell staff are available Monday to Friday from 9 to 5. The hospital also has an OT on-site.
- Mr. McGuire’s only medication is a long-acting injectable form, which is administered by the hospital.
- When he lived at the Clarke Centre, Mr. McGuire was isolative and he did not participate in programming. Since moving to Indwell, Mr. McGuire has been much more actively participating in programing.
- There have been no positive symptoms of mental illness this year, i.e. no thought disorganization, hypomania or paranoia. Mr. McGuire has been stable with some mood fluctuation.
- He is pleasant and cooperative, and the staff who assist him at Indwell have voiced no concerns. Mr. McGuire’s sleep has improved.
- Mr. McGuire works at tasks around Indwell, including setting the table and cleaning.
- Last summer Mr. McGuire’s name came up for a subsidized rent geared to income independent unit. Both the outreach team and Mr. McGuire felt that he was not ready for independent living at this time. As of the date of the hearing, Mr. McGuire remains on the waitlist for subsidized housing, and it is possible that it will be offered to him again, at some point in the future.
- Mr. McGuire is happy at Indwell in St. Thomas, but is still considering living in Sarnia to be closer to his family. It is possible that Indwell will open a residence in Sarnia. Mr. McGuire is undecided at this point which city he would eventually like to live in.
- He has two sons, and has made contact with a son who lives in the Stratford area. Mr. McGuire wants to develop this relationship.
- At the moment, Mr. McGuire needs the support of Indwell staff and the hospital’s Forensic Outreach Team. He is not yet ready for independent living, and will need to improve his skills to be able to successfully live independently.
- Mr. McGuire was recently approved for DSO funding. Mr. McGuire has expressed an interest in using some of this money to visit his sister-in-law.
- Currently, the outreach team’s main concern is Mr. McGuire’s use of alcohol. He reports that he uses alcohol once a month because he is “thirsty”. Although Mr. McGuire’s use of alcohol has been modest, and he has remained stable, the outreach team is concerned about the “slippery slope” of ever-increasing alcohol use. Total abstinence is the preferred goal.
- His Thames Valley addiction support program has ended. Since February 2026, he has been attending an aftercare program in London for people who have attended the Westover residential treatment program. This is a good program which suits him. Dr. Prakash expressed hope that Mr. McGuire will continue to attend the aftercare program so he can consolidate the gains he has made.
- Mr. McGuire periodically attends the AA program at Indwell, but it is possible that his cognitive deficits make this program less suitable for him. A hospital social worker is skilled at adapting programs to a patient’s cognitive abilities, and the hope is that Mr. McGuire will meet with the social worker to improve his insight into his illness and the negative impact of substance use (and alcohol) on his mental well-being.
- Mr. McGuire experiences involuntary movements (which he does not notice) but are observable by the outreach team. He has been referred to a neurologist for a consultation. It is possible that this consultation will result in recommendations for medication adjustments this year, although the doctor hopes this will not be necessary since Mr. McGuire is stable on his current medication regimen and it is unclear whether medication changes will result in destabilization.
- Mr. McGuire “follows the rules” and requires external supports to maintain stability.
- The reporting requirements can be reduced. Mr. McGuire is very cooperative, and has support both from Indwell staff and an embedded hospital OT. He does not require a greater reporting frequency than a minimum of two times per month. The goal is to increase Mr. McGuire’s involvement with Indwell staff, in preparation for a shift away from the outreach team to community support in the future.
Conclusion
[17]. Having heard the evidence and considered the evidence and the submissions of 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 alcohol use on his mental state remain underdeveloped. He suffers from a major mental illness and has a history of violence driven by psychotic symptoms. Given his cognitive deficits he continues to require support to maintain his stability while living in the community. More time is 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.
[18]. Mr. McGuire’s ongoing stability is tied to having appropriate supports and supervision. He is not yet ready for independent living. However, there is a possibility that Mr. McGuire will have access to subsidized independent accommodation in the future. The hospital requires the ability to approve his accommodation to ensure that the supports are sufficient to maintain his stability.
[19]. A detention disposition is necessary because Mr. McGuire’s transition to the Indwell setting is fairly recent, and the outreach team has not yet observed a sufficient period of sustained stability in this less supported environment. Although his initial adjustment has been relatively positive, the team requires a longer demonstration of consistent mental health stability, abstinence from substances, and meaningful engagement in addiction programming before a conditional discharge could be considered safe or appropriate.
[20]. A conditional discharge would not provide adequate mechanisms to ensure Mr. McGuire’s timely return to hospital in the event of mental health deterioration. He has undeveloped insight into his illness, particularly when unwell, and lacks the ability to recognize early warning signs of decompensation. Because of this impaired insight, he is unlikely to independently seek treatment or cooperate with returning to the hospital for assessment in the event of decompensation. In short, a continued detention disposition is necessary to safeguard his health, ensure rapid clinical intervention if needed, and maintain appropriate oversight of his living environment until a longer period of demonstrated stability is achieved.
[21]. The panel agrees with the hospital recommendation that the reporting requirement be reduced to not less than two times per month. Mr. McGuire is observed daily by Indwell staff, and a hospital OT works onsite. The reduction in reporting will support Mr. McGuire’s further reintegration to the community by decreasing his reliance on the outreach team, and strengthening his reliance on the community supports available at Indwell.
[22]. 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 the current detention disposition with a reduction in reporting requirements is the necessary and appropriate disposition.
DATED this 25th 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