The treatment of [those considered] “mentally ill” in Canada, both by the law andby larger societal forces, is an ongoing source of concern. Thisconference will examine this treatment and provide criticalperspectives which, although prevalent in much academic literature, aregenerally not understood or appreciated by the public. In particular,the legal, social and ethical implications of the medicalisation ofmental illness, disease mongering by the pharmaceutical industry, theinherent power disparities and grievous dangers attendant to the ideaof involuntary hospitalization, revisionistic and patient-centricpositions on patient rights, and the ramifications of widespreadxenophobia with respect to the mentally ill will all be addressed.

• Robert Whitaker, Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist and author of Madin America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment ofthe Mentally Ill

• Don Weitz, co-founder of the Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault (CAPA)