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Glover's stance on Li shameful

Brandon Sun, The (Manitoba, Canada) - 2/28/2015

"It's only a tiny minority that have anything to do with the Tucsons and Virginia Techs; those are really exceptional type of situations. There's a dozen homicides every day, and very few of them are committed by people with mental illness."

Dr. James Dillon, director of psychiatric medical services for Michigan's mental health administration

If it were up to Conservative MP Shelly Glover and the current federal government, Vince Li, a mentally ill man who beheaded Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus nearly seven years ago would never see the light of day.

As reported by the Winnipeg Free Press yesterday, Glover released a statement several hours after Li's treatment team at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre recommended to a provincial review board that he be allowed to move to Winnipeg'sHealth Science Centre's locked mental health ward and be given unescorted passes to go out into the city.

The same board also suggested that Li should eventually be moved to a high-security group home in Winnipeg.

Li killed Tim McLean in 2008 during a schizophrenic episode on a bus travelling between Edmonton and Winnipeg. He was found to be not criminally responsible and has been in the Selkirk Mental Health Centre ever since.

One year ago, Glover demanded that the Manitoba government appeal a decision to allow Li to take unescorted trips. The province at that time accused her of trying to score political points on a serious issue of public safety. But that remonstrance did not stop her from publicly voicing her displeasure yesterday over the board's decision.

"Our government stands firmly by our legislative changes through the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act and points out that this is exactly why we made them," Glover was quoted as saying.

"Our government has worked hard to ensure that those who break the law are held accountable for their actions; that penalties match the severity of crimes committed; and that the rights of victims come before the rights of criminals. It is unacceptable that dangerous and violent offenders are released into our communities, when they pose a threat to society. We made changes to the Not Criminally Responsible Act to ensure that dangerous offenders at risk of re-offending are kept behind bars, where they belong."

As the Free Press wrote, the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act took effect last June, and requires someone found to be not criminally responsible for a criminal act can be designated by a court as high-risk to reoffend. If this designation is given, the person can't be released from custody until a review board has a court revoke that designation.

The law also allows to extend the length of time between review board hearings from one year to up to three, and can deny unescorted passes to the person. Victims of the person must also be informed when the NCR person is released and their living arrangements.

But Li is not subject to this new legislation, and that fact is no doubt drawing Glover's ire.

It would be altogether too kind to suggest that Glover doesn't understand mental illness, and is unaware of the harm she and her government are doing to people suffering from schizophrenia and other mental disorders. For a federal cabinet minister and Manitoba's senior federal politician to suggest that a man who has been found not criminally responsible by a court of law be kept behind bars "where they belong" displays more than merely a lack of understanding.

It's callous, and betrays a blatant pandering to victims and ideology above reason and fairness. It plays into the cynical belief that playing to the crowd will get you re-elected. But that does nothing for the mentally ill, who are also victims in their own right.

People with mental illnesses already face enough hardships as they battle their conditions and largely uninformed public perception. For a minister to further fuel negative perceptions of the mentally ill is irresponsible.

What she has done is shameful.