Ontario advocates fight LTC law posing an 'egregious deprivation' on seniors’ rights
Ontario advocates are launching a constitutional challenge to a law they call an “unprecedented and egregious deprivation” of seniors’ rights and freedoms.
On Sunday, elderly patients began facing $400 per day penalties if they refused to let a hospital transfer them to a long-term care home not of their choosing.
These hefty fines are part of Bill 7, otherwise known as the More Beds Better Care Act, which was passed by the Ford government in late August.
The legislation allows hospital patients to be transferred to a temporary long-term care home as far as 70 kilometres away in southern Ontario and 150 kilometres away in northern regions while they await a bed in their preferred facility.
However, the Ontario Health Coalition announced a Charter challenge on Monday morning with the hope of getting the court to strike down the law.
“This is, in our view, a really hideous piece of legislation,” Ontario Health Coalition Executive Director Natalie Mehra said at a Monday morning news conference at Queen’s Park.
Since bringing this bill forward, the Ontario government has said that temporarily transitioning these patients into long-term care homes will free up high-demand hospital beds.
However, Mehra said this will not fix the “large systemic problem” of hospital bed shortages and instead, will put seniors’ health and well-being at great risk by transferring them to homes up to 150 kilometres away.
“This law cannot solve the hospital bed crisis. It can only bread misery upon misery,” Advocacy Centre for the Elderly Executive Director Graham Webb said.
“This law will tear people apart. Older couples who have never been apart for 50 or 60 years or more will find one spouse sent to long-term care up to 70 or 150 kilometers or more away from home.”
LEGAL FRAMEWORK
Benjamin Piper, who is representing the Ontario Health Coalition, said he is asking the court to declare Bill 7 as a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“We'll ask the court district to strike that law down or at least portions of it. We will be bringing the challenge under two sections of the charter. Section 7 of the Charter protects the fundamental right to life, liberty, and security,” Piper said.
“We believe the bill actually violates all three of these rights in a number of different respects.”
In a legal opinion obtained by CTV News Toronto, Piper expanded on this position further.
“Choosing where you will live, particularly where it is tied to the choice of medical and nursing care, is basic to an individual’s autonomy and dignity, the essence of the rights protected under section 7,” he writes.
Since the bill specifically targets a vulnerable segment of the population, Piper goes on to say that an effort to obtain consent to move is in fact “coerced consent” and therefore, not a real choice.
Based on these facts, the Ontario Health Coalition argues that Bill 7 also “infringes the right of an ALC patient to equality” under Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“In any event, by forcing patients into LTC homes at great risk to their health and well-being, there is compelling argument that the harm Bill 7 will cause far outweighs any health care benefit for others and that other less restrictive solutions exist to the coercive measures adopted,” Piper writes.
With files from CTV News Toronto's Siobhan Morris.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6977430.1721929538!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
'There's mom and dad's house': New video appears to show destruction of Jasper neighbourhood
Video posted to social media on Thursday morning appears to show the charred remains of a Jasper, Alta., neighbourhood.
LIVE UPDATES Multiple homes, businesses 'lost' to wildfire in Jasper National Park: Parks Canada
Officials from Parks Canada and Jasper say "multiple structures, including a number of businesses and homes, in and around the town of Jasper, have been lost" to wildfire in Jasper National Park.
Alberta premier says a third, perhaps half, of all Jasper buildings destroyed by fire
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says early reports indicate a third and perhaps up to half of all buildings in the historic Rocky Mountain resort town of Jasper have been destroyed in a wildfire.
Prince William's 2023 salary revealed in new report
Newly released financial reports show that William, the Prince of Wales, drew a salary of $42.1 million last fiscal year, his first since inheriting the vast and lucrative Duchy of Cornwall.
Canada to bring home fewest Olympic medals since 2012, according to forecaster
Fewer Canadians are expected to reach the Paris podium than in the previous two Olympic Summer Games, a global data analytics company predicts.
Former judge with disputed Cree heritage likely has Indigenous DNA: law society
The Law Society of British Columbia says a DNA test shows a former judge and Order of Canada recipient accused of falsely claiming to be Cree "most likely" has Indigenous heritage.
Tourist suffers 3rd-degree burns to feet after losing flip flops amid soaring temperatures in Death Valley
A tourist was hospitalized after suffering serious burns on his feet on Saturday when he lost his flip flops at a U.S. national park where temperatures soared past 48 Celsius.
Jennifer Aniston criticizes JD Vance for 'childless cat ladies' remarks: 'I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children'
Jennifer Aniston is criticizing JD Vance for comments he made in his past about women without children.
'Skibidi Toilet:' If you don't know what it is, you will
'Skibidi Toilet' is already an internet sensation and now its about to get even more exposure after the YouTube series is being developed for TV and film, according to a report by Variety.