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Brandon Sun - ONLINE EDITION

Province apologizes for timing of announcement on Li

More guards, but no fence for Li's walks on grounds of mental-health centre

By: Larry Kusch

30/07/2010 1:31 PM | Comments: 80

Vince Li, who beheaded 22-year-old Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus less than two years ago today, is ready to leave his locked ward for supervised outings, his doctor told a review board earlier this year.

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Vince Li, who beheaded 22-year-old Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus less than two years ago today, is ready to leave his locked ward for supervised outings, his doctor told a review board earlier this year. (FILE PHOTO)

Tim McLean

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Tim McLean (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

The province apologized this morning for releasing, on the anniversary of Tim McLean's death, information on new security measures that will allow his killer, Vince Li, to walk the grounds of the Selkirk Mental Health Centre.

"If the timing of this information has caused one ounce additional pain to the McLean family, I certainly want to offer my profound regret for that," Health Minister Theresa Oswald told reporters this morning. She said the timing of the announcement was inadvertent.

"This is a family that has endured pain (that), thankfully, very few of us will ever know and no family should ever know," Oswald said. "And so if more information about the development of Mr. Li’s treatment on this day, or any day, hurts that family further, I think we should all feel regret for that. And certainly I do."

Li was found not criminally responsible last year for the July 30, 2008 beheading of 22-year-old McLean on a Greyhound bus near Portage la Prairie. He admitted responsibility for the attack, but a judge found him to be suffering from hallucinations and untreated schizophrenia at the time, which left him unable to appreciate or control his actions.

His doctors have said Li has made tremendous progress in the past two years at the centre, and two months ago the Criminal Code Review Board ruled that Li could begin taking two brief supervised outdoor passes a day.

A public uproar ensued and the province announced that Li wouldn’t be allowed to leave the centre’s secure forensic unit  additional security precautions were in place

Friday, the province issued a press release describing the new measures, adding that it would take an additional two months before they would be in force and Li would begin his strolls.

The new plan does not include the construction of a fence around the grounds that some in the community had called for.

Two more full-time security officers have been hired and will be dedicated to escorting forensic patients, including Li,  when required under disposition orders. A clinical staff member will also escort patients in such cases.

The walks will be restricted to periods when staff numbers are at their peak.

All risks will be assessed by the treatment team before Li — or any other patient requiring such security measures — is given a pass to walk the grounds.

The Selkirk centre says it has shared its security plans with the RCMP and will advise the Mounties when the walks begin.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca


 

History

Updated on Friday, July 30, 2010 at 12:00 PM CDT:
Tweaks headline, adds information.

Updated on Friday, July 30, 2010 at 12:34 PM CDT:
new headline and story updated with apology from province

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I am so sick of hearing about Vince Li. Put your pitch forks and torches away people.

@Mar

Canada doesn't deport people who are found not criminally responsible.

"Maybe he could reside in your place???"

There are already four variations of that over-used line on this page, making yours the fifth. It's really not as clever as you and your buddies think it is.

Chris buors - anyone can right anything on wikipedia. Don't waste my time by sending me there

2 choices for him...

Get deported back & never return.
Or spend the rest of his life in confinement. And if his doc wants him to have some fresh air & sunshine...open a barred window.
NO ONE living in Selkirk wants Li walking around. How long, dear Doctor, do you think it would be BEFORE Li (once discharged & out on his own)stops taking his meds & strikes again??? He seems better to you BECAUSE he's taking his meds...simple as that. Maybe he could reside in your place??? I thought so.

People, we don't have to be at either extreme here. We can understand that Li has a mental illness, and therefore he shouldn't be in prison, he should get meds, therapy, and a highly supervised walk outside. Yet, he should also never get out of the institution, because of the fact that he, when experiencing a psychotic episode, gets violent. Not every schizophrenic does. But in no way should he get any worse treatment just because he killed someone in a more horrific way than other murderers do.

Mental illness does exist, and by 2010 we should all realize that. Chances are you all know at least one person who has a form of mental illness. Personally I knew someone with schizophrenia, and he killed himself. It is a very real, very serious disease. But even less obvious ones are bi-polar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression...these are extremely common, and can be very detrimental to someone's life. I can promise you that you all know at least a couple people who have those diseases, even if you don't realize it.

So please try and understand both sides of the story here. It is so very sad what happened, and I feel very much for the family of Tim. Yet, we can't begin to think that we should treat Li inhumanely based on the violence of his crime, without trying to understand what made him do that. The world doesn't operate in extremes, therefore we shouldn't think that way.

whosays

Where do you get that Li has a disease when Szasz clearly states no behavior is a disease.

The man is not in Selkirk because of a malfunctions of the human body, of the heart, the liver, the kidney, or the brain. Li is in Selkirk because of his behavior. Epilepsy and Multiple Sclerosis are malfunctions of the brain. So-called schizophrenia is a malfunction of the mind. The mind is a metaphor and can not be found on the autopsy table.

If you want to read what Szasz says about Li type "Beheading on a Bus by Thomas Szasz" into a search engine and that article will clear up any confusion you have.

Szasz makes a lot more sense than what Dr. Jonathan Rootenberg had to say at Li's trial.

ekrh- I know exactly what Li was suffering from; don't get twisted up in your own assumptions. But whatever it was, doesn't justify McLeans' death in any way whatsoever, it still should be treated like a crime. At the very least, Li should be deported out of the country because cannibalism doesn't get supported in Canada regardless in what shape or form it comes in. Whatever happened is what happened. The way things are going, Li should be walking free by your very own house in 5 years, and maybe out into my own area is 7. Think about it...

he should be deported back to his own country...

DaveA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Buors

There are no lies there and most of it was put in by my critics.

And I have read about 20 of Szasz's 26 books. Wiki has a very good write up on the man and his ideas.

Just for something to think about: Let's say in 10 yrs, Li is released because his meds and treatment have 'proven' that he is all better. How many of you would invite Li over for dinner and then allow him to sleep in your house? Just like the euthanized grizzly bear, I would never ever trust that Li would never kill again. Would you?

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