Challenging Involuntary Treatment and Confinement in Canada Through the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

Abstract

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) came into force in 2008. People with disabilities, including people with psychosocial disabilities, were instrumental to its development. Article 12 and Article 14 of the CRPD, which respectively affirm the universal legal capacity and right to liberty of persons with disabilities, were viewed as key victories by disability rights movements. These provisions are particularly important for people with psychosocial disabilities who are routinely subjected to human rights violations through psychiatric detainment and involuntary treatment authorized under domestic mental health legislation in many states. We aim to advance discourse surrounding the CRPD and its development by centring mad peoples’ voices and individuals with lived experience through a literature review and interviews with key disability rights advocates. Using Canada as a case study, we critically examine the implementation of the CRPD and the need to align mental health acts with our international human rights obligations. We argue that forced psychiatric interventions violate the rights of persons with psychosocial disabilities and cause inherent harm. There is an urgent need to move towards new paradigms of care that promote the dignity and autonomy of people with psychosocial disabilities.