Long way to go in fighting mental illness stigma

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/02/2016 (3649 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“Breaks my heart-now that this guy is under treatment he should have to go to jail and serve a penalty for cold-blooded murder.”

“Should have been shot on the bus at the time let alone now.”

“This guy has shown poor judgment in being responsible for his medication in the past. Leave him where he can be supervised and watched.”

“If he is capable now of living on his own he needs to stand trial for murder.”

“Why should he get a second chance? Everyone who witnessed the events that night don’t get a second chance. If he has known mental issues and has murdered a human being he should stay in the system. Our laws are so messed up when it comes to crimes and mental health. Disgrace.”

— A selection of comments from The Brandon Sun’s Facebook page

Anyone who is familiar with the beheading of Tim McLean on the evening of July 20, 2008, on a Greyhound Canada bus just west of Portage la Prairie will forever associate that horrific situation with the name of Vince Li.

The facts of that night are well-documented. Indeed, reporters and photographers from both the Winnipeg Free Press and Brandon Sun were on scene that fateful night, and the grisly details have been laid bare in several successive news stories and in court.

Li, who became a Canadian citizen in 2006 after emigrating from China five years earlier, was eventually found not criminally responsible for McLean’s murder due to mental illness — schizophrenia.

Though he was originally kept in a secure wing at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, over the years he has been given increasing freedoms due to his model behaviour. He was initially granted supervised walks on the hospital grounds, and eventually escorted trips to nearby communities. Just last year he won the right to live in a group home.

Yet with each newfound freedom, anger and disbelief from members of the public have grown. Even now, several years after the incidents, updates to the ongoing Vince Li saga continue to draw vitriolic comments.

The most recent story from The Canadian Press in yesterday’s paper reported that Li has changed his name to Will Baker, and that his medical team has asked the Criminal Code Review Board to allow him to live on his own — albeit with several conditions that would include daily monitoring to ensure he continues to take his anti-psychotic medication.

That one story alone generated more than 80 comments and was one of our top-clicked stories yesterday.

Without doubt, the ignominy of that constant identifier — the man who beheaded a fellow bus passenger — has been the catalyst for Li to change his name. Based on the extreme tone of several of the comments made by readers — many of which we had to edit or delete — we’re certain there is an element of vigilantism thundering through the eye-for-an-eye portion of the public.

Emotions run high on this story, and understandably so. Tim McLean will never get the chance to grow old, and his family will forever have to live with the details of what happened, and more so the fact that his killer was deemed not criminally responsible.

There are no winners in any part of this story.

Certainly not the McLean family, as the man now called Will Baker gains increasing freedoms through the auspices of the board. That board is expected to deliver a decision on Baker’s request by the end of the week.

And one of the first police officers on the scene of that beheading has since taken his own life. This is a tragedy that keeps unfolding.

But as we have argued on this page before, Baker is hardly getting off scot-free. He lives every day with a terrible mental illness, and with the full knowledge of his actions, and what they have done to a Manitoba family.

The lack of understanding among the general public regarding mental illness and its status in our criminal law courts is appalling. There are people calling for our courts to try him for murder now that he understands his actions and is considered sane. That would be an abuse of the system, and of his rights as a person.

Although visual signs are much more difficult to discern, mental illness is just as debilitating as any physical injury, and just as real. The ongoing commentary on these kinds of stories shows just how far we have to go in destigmatizing mental illness.