Differences in mental health laws in Canadian jurisdictions determine if a person with a serious mental illness, who refuses voluntary hospitalization and treatment, can receive the treatment needed to alleviate symptoms and assist in their recovery. The objective of this article is to examine the clinically significant differences of Canadian mental health acts, in effect as of January 15, 2016. This article also updates our study of reforms that occurred prior to

Life course studies are a flourishing enterprise across the social sciences and humanities, particularly since the 1960s, but the historical roots of this work extend back at least to the turn of the century (Elder 1985; Sorensen et al. 1986). The new era is distinguished by a rapidly growing number of longitudinal samples as well as by innovative techniques for collecting and analyzing life histories. Most distinctive of the new work is its consciousness of the interplay between lives and times. To understand life trajectories one must consider the social changes underway. The events, continuities, and transformations of a changing world shape the pathways of aging. This research explores the long-term consequences of one era of social change in particular (World War II and the preceding decade of hard times) for the life experiences and career achievements of men who lived through that period. Using the data archives of the oldest longitudinal study still active in the United States (Terman 1925), we assess the career achievements of the men (born 1904-1917) in relation to cohort membership, social origins, and wartime mobilization. Through different opportunities, resources, and support, the life stage of these men in the 1930s and 40s shaped the distinctive impact of historical circumstances on their accomplishments. All of the men are members of the Stanford-Terman study, which began in 1922 with more than 800 males and has continued across 11 additional data waves up to 1986.

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The United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2006. When Canada ratified the CRPD, it reserved the right to continue using substitute decision making schemes even if the CRPD was 'interpreted as requiring their elimination'. This was a prescient decision because the CRPD Committee, which is tasked with overseeing the interpretation and implementation of the CRPD, subsequently opined that all legislation supporting substitute decision making schemes contravene the CRPD and must be revoked. The CRPD Committee insists that every person can make decisions with sufficient support and that if a person lacks capacity to make a decision, we must rely on their 'will and preferences'. Many international legal scholars have called this interpretation unrealistic. We agree and, in this article, describe how this unrealistic approach would result in extensive harm and suffering for people with severe cognitive or psychotic disorders. The reader should also be aware that the CRPD Committee also calls for the elimination of all mental health acts and the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights for the abandonment of the not criminally responsible (NCR) defence.