Former juror with PTSD wants jury members included in federal bill

Aformer juror from Ontario, who made headlines last year after telling CBC News about his battle with post-traumatic stress syndrome, is hoping thatfederal PTSDlegislationset to be discussed in Ottawa on Thursday will be amended to include people who serve on juries.

Bill C-211 aims to develop a national framework around PTSD that would standardize terminology, diagnosis and treatment across the country. In its current form, it's aimed at three groups: first responders, veterans, and the military.

Mark Farrant, a vocal advocate for juror mental health since serving on a first-degree murder trial in 2014, says the private member's billneeds to go further.

• Ex-juror diagnosed with PTSD says psychiatric help should be available after trials
• B.C. MP, first responders call for national strategy on PTSD

"If you think about first responders and the jury, they are kind of bookends of the justice system, but there are no services for [the jurors]," he said.

Farrant, who said he was "shattered" byPTSD in the months and years following his time viewing graphic evidence in the courtroom, struggled to find resources and support from the court system and ended up paying for therapy himself.

"It was a pretty awful experience. And I don't want it to happen to somebody else," he said.

Bill's language has potential to be open-ended

As soon as he heard about the bill, Farrant took steps to get in touch with its author, British Columbia Conservative MP Todd Doherty, and share his experience.

"Just hearing my story and sending him some of the articles in the media that have arisen from my experience, he's very receptive to it," he said.

Doherty told CBC Toronto that hearing Farrant's story has prompted him to think more carefully about who is included in his bill.

"I'm ashamed to say that I never considered it, but he's got an incredibly valid point that has to be made," he said.

Who's in and who's out?

Doherty said that the use of the term "first responders" was left deliberately vague to make room for adding in different groups down the road.

The conversation around whether that could possibly be stretched to include jurors will have to wait until the bill goes to committee, he said.

Jurors may be just the beginning of that conversation. The Conservative MP for Barrie-Innisfil,John Brassard, who seconded the bill, told CBC Toronto he's received phone calls from doctors and nurses also anxious to be included.

A similar issue came up in Ontario last April, when the province passed the Supporting Ontario's First Responders Act.

The law, which makes it easier to get treatment for PTSD, applies to a group of first-response professions that includes paramedics, some correctional workers, and emergency response teams.

• Ontario PTSD legislation for first responders celebrated by some, but nurses left out

It drew criticism for excluding nurses and specific corrections workers such as bailiffs and parole officers.

'So necessary, so important'

Despite no guarantee that jurors might make their way into Bill C-211, Farrant is hopeful.

He called the bill, along with the prospect of a national conversation about PTSD, "so necessary and so important."

"This puts a laser focus on mental health as a whole. This really should be a springboard for us to take a really good look at how we address mental health as a whole across the country," said Farrant.

He's coming off a recent advocacy win.At the end of January, Ontario's Attorney General Yasir Naqvi announced the details of a support program for jurors that came about after Farrant went public with his experience in a CBC Toronto exclusive.

• Ontario to offer free counselling for traumatized jurors

The newly-minted program provides free, confidential counselling tojurors who feelthey need it following a trial or coroner's inquest.