With Bill C-54, if you are deemed to be "high risk not criminally responsible," you will be held for a minimum of three years before you ever have the chance to see a review board. As someone who has not only been a patient in three separate psychiatric hospitals in Ontario, but has also worked in forensic psychiatric institutions, I know that they aren't always the best places to get better. With proper treatment, I was healthy again and posed no threat to the public within a few months. Had I been forced to remain in hospital for three years, I likely wouldn't be the productive, law-abiding citizen that I am today.

Vincent Li is the infamous Greyhound bus beheader who has been sent to a mental health facility in Manitoba after being found not criminally responsible for his actions because of an untreated mental illness. There are a significant number of people with serious mental illness who, because of their illness like Li, are incapable of recognizing that they are ill.

Greyhound bus killer Vince Li is now allowed to go on short, escorted outings from the Manitoba mental hospital where he has been committ...