Procedure and Hearing Before the Tribunal
This type of case is deemed to be urgent by the Tribunal. The hearing must take place in the presence of the person under confinement and the representative of the hospital. The Tribunal must ensure that the person has been informed of his right to be represented by a lawyer.
The role of the Tribunal at the hearing is to assess whether the person under confinement represents a danger to himself or to the public and to decide whether his involuntary confinement should or should not be continued.
In order for the Tribunal to decide to continue confinement, the danger presented by this person need not be immediate. It is sufficient that it be real and foreseeable. The apprehended danger must be clearly foreseeable in the present or in the relatively near future.
The hearing usually takes place in the hospital where the person is confined. Three administrative judges are present: a lawyer, a psychiatrist and a psychologist or a social worker.
The evidence is presented to the Tribunal, including the most recent psychiatric report concerning the person under confinement.
The person under confinement may testify, and her or his lawyer may ask questions to the members of the health care team present at the hearing.
The Tribunal will hear the arguments of the person under confinement, those of hospital and those of any other party.