Shining light on mental illness

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Vince Li's case has stirred a great deal of debate. (JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES)

Vince Li's terrible crime, and the ensuing debate over whether those found not criminally responsible for murder should ever be released from a mental-health-care hospital, is forcing people to examine their own attitudes toward mental illness.

"I think people don't like to talk about mental illness. People who have a mental illness or a family member with a mental illness, there's a stigma," said Scott MacKay, president of Probe Research. "If it's MS or cancer, you don't have that stigma. Some people regard it as a weakness. With cancer, people won't think that."

MacKay said the vast media attention on Li, his illness and his crime has forced mental illness onto the public stage.

"It puts it on the public agenda. We have to talk about it," he said. "Either you're a principled person and you don't think he's criminally responsible or you just get thrown off by the heinousness of this crime."

MacKay compares the discussion to that surrounding gay marriage. He said it would have been inconceivable 25 years ago that the president of the United States would support civil unions for gay couples.

"These things change," said MacKay. "People on either side of the debate need to step forward and be heard."

Li was interviewed Sunday at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre by Chris Summerville, CEO of the Schizophrenia Society of Canada, who said he has spoken with Li once every two months, on average, since Li's confinement began nearly four years ago. The contents of the interview were published Tuesday in the Free Press. The following are excerpts from that interview:

"In 2004, I began to hear voices that normal people do not hear. I thought I heard the voice of God telling me to write down my journey. The voice told me that I was the third story of the Bible. That I was like the second coming of Jesus. I was to save people from a space-alien attack. That is why I travelled around the country. I am not sure of all the places I went to. I now know that it was schizophrenia I was suffering from.

"I bought a knife at Canadian Tire. I bought it for any emergency for the journey to protect myself from the aliens. I was really scared... I believed he (Tim McLean) was an alien. The voices told me to kill him. That he would kill me or others. I do not believe this now. It was totally wrong. It was my fault. I sinned. But it was the schizophrenia.

"The treatment team (at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre) gives me a chance to recover, to be normal. I am glad to be taking the medication. Yes. My thinking is becoming normal. I don't think weird things. I take my medication, Olanzapine, every day. I am glad to take it. I don't have any weird voices anymore.

"I would like to say to Tim McLean's mother: 'I am sorry for killing your son. I am sorry for the pain I have caused. I wished I could reduce that pain.' If I could talk to her directly, I would do anything for their family. I would ask forgiveness, but I know it would be hard to accept."

The public weighs in

A selection of comments from the Free Press website about the mental illness of Vince Li:

Li's life work will be to help us understand this horrible disease. He should resign himself to this fact.

Vince Li is ill and coping with the aftermath of his own heinous act. While Tim McLean's death was horrific and the grief of his family completely natural, a mental illness is as much an illness as cancer or heart disease and I cannot find it in myself to lay blame.

The ongoing problem will always be there, and that is Vince Li having the right to choose whether to take his medication. As long as he has that choice, he will remain a danger to society.

The easy path is to condemn. That's one of the reasons we don't have victims or victims' families determining punishment. We are, hopefully, a society that sees beyond a knee-jerk response.

The thing is, most people who take this medication for this mental illness think they are better, so they stop taking it.

I am saddened to see our collective ignorance regarding schizophrenia and the lack of compassion people have toward those suffering from this very real and horrible illness.

Our mental-health system is antiquated and backward. There are good people working in the industry, but they don't have the resources necessary. If you go to the doctor and are diagnosed with schizophrenia, they will give you a number you can call. Based on the nature of the illness it is quite likely that the person will be unable to set up the appointment themselves.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 23, 2012 A7