Daniel Denis Labelle (Re), 2026 CanLII 56729

Re: Daniel Denis Labelle

ORB File No: 4104

Hearing held on: Monday, May 4, 2026

Place of hearing: Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care

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

Before:

Alternate Chairperson: Mr. P. Capelle

Members: Dr. R. Kunjukrishnan (via Zoom) Dr. L.O. Lightfoot Ms. C. Murray Ms. M. McKinnon

Parties Appearing:

Accused: Daniel Denis Labelle Counsel: Ms. M. Perez

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

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

REASONS FOR DISPOSITION

(Dated June 9, 2026)

Introduction

1. On September 24, 2004, Mr. Daniel Denis Labelle was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder on a charge of attempted murder, contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada (the "Criminal Code"). Mr. Labelle is currently subject to a Disposition of the Ontario Review Board (the "Board") dated May 1, 2025, detaining him at the Forensic Service of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto (“CAMH”), with privileges up to hospital and ground privileges, escorted by staff.

2. On May 4, 2026, a panel of the Ontario Review Board (the "ORB" or the "Board") convened a hearing pursuant to s. 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code. Mr. Labelle was in attendance and was represented by his counsel, Ms. Perez.

Procedural Issue

3. The panel advised Ms. Perez that panel psychiatrist Dr. Kunjukrishnan had completed Mr. Labelle’s NCR and fitness assessments in 2004. Following an opportunity to speak privately with Mr. Labelle, Ms. Perez advised that both she and Mr. Labelle had no objections to Dr. Kunjukrishnan’s participation on the panel.

Without Prejudice Position of the Parties

4. Ms. Newman advised that no changes were being sought by the Hospital to the current disposition including a transfer to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (“CAMH”). That recommendation was supported by Ms. Curry on behalf the Attorney General. Ms. Perez advised that her client was not contesting the ongoing presence of significant threat and remained desirous of a transfer to CAMH. Ms. Perez added that once transferred to CAMH, Mr. Labelle was seeking the addition of:

• accompanied hospital and hospital grounds passes
• staff escorted community passes.

5. By the conclusion of the evidentiary portion of this hearing, a joint position was arrived at which included the addition of the two above noted privileges subsequent to transfer to CAMH.

Background and Index Offence

6. Mr. Labelle's full personal and psychiatric history is documented in the hospital report. To summarize: he is 52 years old, born in Alberta, and the older of two brothers. His parents separated when he was a child, and his father died in 2002. Growing up, Mr. Labelle consistently displayed behavioral problems. He left school in Grade 10 but later completed a college welding program. He began using drugs and alcohol at age 13, eventually progressing to cocaine use, including by injection. As a result of intravenous drug use, he became HIV positive at age 23. He has one daughter, born in 1995, with whom he has no contact. Mr. Labelle’s mother has maintained contact with her. It was noted that he now maintains regular phone contact and virtual visits with his mother, who was the victim of the offence that led to his current detention.

7. Mr. Labelle has a criminal record spanning from 1988 to 2006, which includes property offences and violent offences. The violent offences include robbery in 1995 and manslaughter in 2006. The manslaughter conviction arose from his strangling and killing his cellmate in 2003. While it was reported that he was not receiving adequate treatment for his mental illness at the time and was experiencing symptoms, he was still found criminally responsible for the offence.

8. Prior to his 2023 disposition hearing, Mr. Labelle was a patient at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. The events that led to his transfer to Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care began on March 11, 2023, when he told his treatment team, he wanted to be moved to either CAMH or Waypoint. That same day, Mr. Labelle attacked a fellow patient on the unit without any apparent reason. He punched the patient repeatedly, continuing even after the patient fell to the floor. There were no signs that he was experiencing psychotic symptoms at the time. He later told his doctor that he had carried out the attack deliberately to force a transfer to another hospital and said he had been frustrated after losing his privileges the week before. At his April 2023 disposition hearing, Mr. Labelle, through his lawyer, agreed to the recommendation that he be transferred to Waypoint. Mr. Labelle was admitted to Waypoint on May 18, 2023. He had previously been a long-term patient on Waypoint’s Beausoleil unit before being transferred to the medium-secure facility at St. Joseph's.

9. Mr. Labelle has a documented history of aggressive behavior, including damage to property, verbal aggression directed at both patients and staff, and inappropriate sexual behavior, including indecent exposure.

10. The circumstances of the index offence are taken from last year’s Reasons for Disposition as follows:

“About 10:00 a.m., Mr. Bert Normandin picked up the Accused, who had been granted a pass from the Cornwall General Hospital. The nurses had earlier that morning telephoned the Accused’s mother to advise her that her son had not taken his medications for two (2) days and was agitated. After arriving at his mother’s place, on two occasions, the Accused left the residence “to get fresh air.” On the second occasion, the Accused left without wearing a coat. His mother reminded him that his pass did not allow him to be out of the house. The Accused’s mother and the Accused went out in her car. The Accused went into the store and purchased cigarettes for her. They returned home. The Accused settled on the couch, the mother was in the kitchen, and Mr. Normandin was in the living room.

The Accused went to the kitchen and offered to massage his mother’s shoulder, as he had done in the past. Within a minute after starting the massage, the Accused pulled back his mother’s chin towards his chest and she heard the clicking noise of a knife. She put up her hands to protect herself and he slashed her finger. Then he slashed the other side of her neck. She called for Mr. Normandin. He came to the kitchen and saw the Accused “pushing the knife into his mother’s neck with both hands.” Mr. Normandin pulled the Accused’s hands and the knife out, pulled the Accused off his mother and took the knife away. The Accused went to the basement. Mr. Normandin followed and told the Accused to stay there and returned to Mrs. Labelle. Before he got to her, the Accused had come upstairs with a screwdriver. Mr. Normandin seized and hid the screwdriver. He took the Accused back to the basement. The Accused came back upstairs with another screwdriver. Mr. Normandin got the second screwdriver away from the Accused and locked him out of the house. He went back to check on the Victim. The Accused broke the glass on the storm door and main door, entered the house, and was going towards his mother with a knife. By this time, she had called 911 and was lying down. Mr. Normandin got the knife away from the Accused.

At about 1:30 p.m., two (2) City of Cornwall police officers arrived, entered the house, and found the Victim lying on the floor in the kitchen in a large pool of blood with a laceration and a cut on her throat. The Accused was being restrained by Mr. Normandin in the kitchen. The Accused was arrested, charged with the attempted murder of his mother, and transported to the police station in Cornwall, Ontario.”

Current Diagnoses

• Schizophrenia,
• Attention Deficit Disorder Hyperactivity Disorder, Combined Type,
• Polysubstance Dependence, in sustained remission in a controlled environment,
• Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Evidence at Hearing

11. Dr. Hudson advised that he had both read and agreed with the contents of the Hospital Report. The Risk Assessment, contained at pages 154 to 155 is unchanged and forms the basis of his opinion regarding the significant threat posed by Mr. Labelle who remains treatment incapable.

12. Mr. Labelle has had a good year. No paranoid ideation has been observed. There have been improvements in his organization and significant improvement in privilege level management. Mr. Labelle now presents as less confrontational with improved interactions with both co-patients and staff. He has had four staff escorted walks on hospital grounds. There have been no seclusions since December 2024. Mr. Labelle is now better able to follow staff direction and participates in more recreational programming.

13. Paliperidone, administered by injection, has been at therapeutic levels since December 2024. Dr. Hudson opined that if the paliperidone dosage was reduced or stopped there would be a significant decline in Mr. Labelle’s mental state. Mr. Labelle’s other prescribed medications to address his insomnia are administered in crushed format. Mr. Labelle is on a “medication watch” as he will sometimes hold and use medication in non-prescribed manners.

14. Addressing the additional terms proposed by Ms. Perez, Dr. Hudson advised that he was amenable to both. Dr. Hudson reiterated that his patient remains both impulsive and sometimes contrarian. However, because escorted community passes are on a 1:1 basis at CAMH, Dr. Hudson is confident that these will be cautiously implemented. In the event Mr. Labelle were to discontinue paliperidone, Dr. Hudson would be very concerned in granting the proposed privileges and intends to relay this information to CAMH at time of transfer. Dr. Hudson added that he anticipates CAMH will proceed cautiously in granting privileges because in Toronto Mr. Labelle will experience the associated risk of drug exposure and at present his insight to substance use is only partial. Further, substance abuse programming is to continue subsequent to transfer. Mr. Labelle is fully engaged in programming at Waypoint and Dr. Hudson anticipates that this will continue at CAMH.

15. Mr. Labelle is currently first on Waypoint’s internal transfer list to CAMH and number 6 on the CAMH receiving list. Dr. Hudson was unable to specify when the transfer would occur but anticipates it will be relatively soon.

16. Responding to questions from Ms. Perez, Dr. Hudson confirmed that his patient has maintained a C-5 privilege level (the highest privilege level at Waypoint) for quite some time. Nevertheless, there were two incidents of environmental aggression as described at page 143 of the Hospital Report.

17. Both Mr. Labelle's mother and brother have maintained regular telephone and virtual contact. Mr. Labelle's brother, who acts as his SDM resides out of province and his mother, who resides in Cornwall has mobility issues. This is why neither have visited in person. Dr. Hudson had a recent video conference with both Mr. Labelle’s brother and mother and no concerns vis-à-vis treatment were voiced.

18. Responding to questions from the panel, Dr. Hudson advised that his patient does not believe long term treatment with paliperidone is required because he experienced a drug induced psychosis at the time of the index offence and is no longer using substances.

19. Responding to another panelist’s questions, Dr. Hudson agreed that absent the oversight of the Board and the engagement of his brother as SDM, Mr. Labelle would stop his prescribed medications. Dr. Hudson added that Mr. Labelle is faring better on injectable paliperidone although he would prefer that medication by mouth and to adjust the dosage if he had that ability.

20. Ms. Perez advised that her client had a statement that he wished to read. Mr. Labelle gave a brief statement which included his comment that he wished to do nothing else but to do well in the community as he did when at St. Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton over the course of 330 community passes. He added that he will not do anything harmful ever again. It has been 24 years since the commission of the index offence and that his goal is to see his granddaughter.

Closing Observations

21. Ms. Newman noted that the Hospital adopted the two proposed privileges put forth by Ms. Perez and anticipates that they will be granted gradually and cautiously by CAMH. Ms. Newman noted that at St. Joseph's Hospital there were concerns identified during the exercise of Mr. Labelle’s community passes as noted at page 116 of the Hospital Report. Ms. Curry, on behalf of the Attorney-General, adopted the Hospital’s closing submission. Ms. Perez noted that her client has had a good year and described him as significantly improved over the last 18 months. She submitted that the addition of the two proposed privileges would add to Mr. Labelle’s rehabilitation, absent the need to schedule a new hearing.

Analysis and Decision

(a) Significant Threat

22. Ongoing significant threat to the safety of the public cannot be speculative. It must entail a real risk of serious physical or psychological harm arising from conduct that is both serious and criminal in nature.

23. In determining whether Mr. Labelle continues to represent a significant threat to the safety of the public the Board carefully analyzed the evidence as it relates to the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Winko, 1999 CanLII 694 (SCC), [1999] 2 S.C.R. 625.

24. The Board unanimously finds that Mr. Labelle continues to pose a significant threat to the safety of the public. In arriving at this determination, the Board considered the joint position of the parties and accepted the uncontroverted evidence of Dr. Hudson that Mr. Labelle continues to pose a significant threat. The Board also relies on the Hospital Report and Dr. Hudson’s April 5, 2026, Clinical Risk Assessment therein, more specifically, the excerpt found at page156 and reproduced below for ease of reference:

Despite improvement, Mr. Labelle continues to lack insight into his mental illness and the need for adequate ongoing treatment. As noted throughout this Hospital Report, Mr. Labelle has rejected increases in antipsychotic medications, required post-administration watches, and, when capable, accepted medications targeting his insomnia and ADHD.

25. Given the foregoing, this panel of the Board accepts that absent an ORB Disposition, Mr. Labelle would likely become non-compliant with prescribed medications which would lead to decompensation, the use of substances and the re-emergence of behaviours similar to those seen at the time of the index offence. We are satisfied that absent an ORB Disposition, it is likely that Mr. Labelle will cause serious physical or psychological harm to members of the public and such conduct will likely be criminal in nature.

(b) Disposition

26. Flowing from the Board’s finding that Mr. Labelle continues to pose a significant threat to the safety of the public it must shape a Disposition for the year ahead. Its paramount consideration in doing so must be the safety of the public while also considering Mr. Labelle’s needs pursuant to s. 672.54 of the Criminal Code.

27. The necessary and appropriate disposition for Mr. Labelle provides him as much freedom as possible without subjecting the community to a real risk of dangerous behaviour.

28. In considering Mr. Labelle’s needs, the Board notes that he is likely to be transferred to CAMH during the course of the 2026-2027 clinical year. Given Mr. Labelle’s history, active engagement in substance abuse programming remains essential prior to that transfer.

29. The addition of the two privileges put forward by Ms. Perez with the consent of both the Hospital and the Attorney-General constitute proactive measures to advance Mr. Labelle’s rehabilitation and community reintegration. This panel of the Board anticipates that CAMH will adopt a slow and cautious approach when granting those privileges.

Conclusion

30. Therefore, the Board unanimously determines that the necessary and appropriate Disposition required to manage the threat Mr. Labelle poses to the safety of the public while still meeting his needs, remains a Detention Disposition and Transfer to CAMH with the addition of the two additional provisions advanced by Ms. Perez on behalf of Mr. Labelle.

31. In making this Disposition, the Board carefully considered the positions and submissions of the parties and the evidence of Dr. Hudson and is satisfied that this determination is both necessary and appropriate. The Board reviewed the provisions of s. 672.54 of the Criminal Code and carefully considered the need to protect the public from dangerous persons, Mr. Labelle’s mental condition, his reintegration into society and other needs.

DATED this 9th day of June 2026, at the City of Toronto, in the Toronto Region.

Mr. P. Capelle

Alternate Chairperson

__________________

Office of the Registrar

Ontario Review Board