Tribunal Member Part Time NEW

About the Mental Health Review Board
The Mental Health Review Board (the “Board”) is a quasi-judicial administrative tribunal established under the Mental Health Act (the “Act”). The Board conducts panel hearings under the Act for patients admitted and detained involuntarily in provincial mental health facilities. The Board has a duty to give patients fair, timely, and independent reviews of their loss of liberty within statutory deadlines established under the Act. The review panel determines whether the patient’s involuntary detention should continue based on the criteria set out in the Act.

In its 2024/2025 fiscal year, the Board received 2691 applications for a review panel hearing. Not all applications received proceeded to a hearing for various reasons such as patient withdrawals, patient decertification, and patient ineligibility for a review panel hearing. During the 2024/2025 fiscal year, about 37% of applications proceeded to a hearing and a total of 990 hearings were conducted by the Board.

Mental Health Review Board Composition
The Attorney General appoints the Board Chair and, in consultation with the Board Chair, members of the Board. The Board Chair assigns members to review panel hearings, each of which consists of three members: a legal member, a medical member, and a member who is neither a lawyer nor a medical practitioner.

There are currently 58 members appointed to the Board.

The Board’s office is in Vancouver, but members are located throughout the province.

The Act sets out the statutory responsibilities of Board members and the minimum legal criteria for appointment of the three types of members.

Legal Members: Legal members usually chair the three-member review panel hearing. The minimum qualification is set out in section 24.1(3) of the Act which states that a review panel must include a “member in good standing of the Law Society of British Columbia or a person with equivalent training.”

Medical Members: Medical members participate in hearings as part of the three-member review panel. The minimum qualification is set out in section 24.1(3) of the Act which states that a review panel must include a “medical practitioner or a person who has been a medical practitioner”.

Community Members: Community members participate in hearings as part of the three-member review panel. Section 24.1(3) of the Act states that a review panel must include a person who is not a medical practitioner, a person who has been a medical practitioner, or lawyer.

Strategic Direction
The members of the Board sit on review panels that conduct hearings to determine if patients detained in or through a designated provincial mental health facility should continue to be detained. Unless adjourned, hearings must be conducted within time limits of 14 or 28 days from receipt of an application for a hearing.

Hearings generally occur virtually, but in-person hearings may occur if the Board determines that an in-person hearing is necessary for a fair hearing for the patient.

Members are scheduled for review panel hearings in accordance with member availability. Currently, review panel hearings occur on business days in the morning and in the afternoon. Members are expected to provide availability for a minimum of 2 hearings per week. However, member availability for more than 2 hearings per week is preferred as increased availability assists the Board with review panel hearing scheduling and meeting its mandate. Members are responsible for adding their availability to the Board’s scheduling calendar through an electronic member portal.

Review panel hearings are typically assigned to members 3-5 days before the hearing date. Members may be asked to accept a hearing on short notice (less than 3 days) when necessary to provide a hearing within the statutory time limit.

Review panel hearings are typically chaired by the legal member of the panel. The hearing process typically includes oral evidence from the mental health facility and the patient. Additional witness and/or documentary evidence may be submitted by the parties. The review panel hearing must include consideration of all reasonably available evidence concerning the patient’s history of mental disorder. The legal member of the panel is generally responsible for preparing the reasons for determination for the review panel’s approval. The Board’s expectation is that written reasons will be approved by the review panel and submitted to the Board no later than 7 days after the hearing date.

The Board also conducts review panel hearings for children and youth patients. Members assigned to conduct review panel hearings for children and youth are expected to work closely with the Board’s Navigator who supports children and youth hearings and assists participants through a relationship-based and support-based approach.

All participants in the review panel process must comply with the Rules of Practice and Procedure (Rules) and the Board’s Practice Directions. Both the Rules and the Practice Directions are publicly available at www.bcmhrb.ca.

The Board’s core values are:
• Procedural Fairness of Hearings;
• Patient-Oriented Service Excellence;
• Public Confidence and Accountability; and
• Access to Justice and Innovation.