A 10th day of national mobilization to protest the use of control measures.

For the tenth year in a row, Quebec's mental health advocacy and vigilance groups are mobilizing to mark National No to Control Measures Day , to highlight the urgent need to abolish seclusion, restraint and the use of chemical substances.

In 2002, the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux pronounced itself on the need to reduce, if not eliminate, control measures through the publication of its Orientations ministérielles relative à l'utilisation exceptionnelle des mesures de contrôle. Despite this position, we note that seclusion, restraint and chemical substances are still used in Quebec. Worse still, seclusion and restraint are often used in contexts that do not comply with Quebec's Act respecting health services and social services (section 118.1).

Faced with this situation, Droits et Recours Santé Mentale Gaspésie-Les-Îles is joining forces with the Association des groupes d'intervention en défense des droits en santé mentale du Québec (AGIDD-SMQ) and the national mobilization movement initiated with the Collectif de défense des droits de la Montérégie (CDDM) to denounce, once again, the use of control measures and to remind people of the importance of abolishing them! This mobilization is also an opportunity to emphasize that more humane and respectful alternatives for people with mental health problems do exist, and that they have already proved their worth in certain environments.

In this context, and to celebrate the victory of the class action suit - on May 15, 2015 - by mental health users and patients of the Centre hospitalier régional du Suroît in Valleyfield (Montérégie) who were subjected to isolation or restraint measures from 2005 to 2008, AGIDD-SMQ is currently collecting artistic works created by people first affected by the control measures, to create a booklet that will be available at their symposium on May 28, 2025.

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