Bill 196 explained in plain English
Justice for Soli Act (Stop Criminalizing Mental Health), 2024
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
The Justice for Soli Act (Stop Criminalizing Mental Health), 2024, requires the Ontario government to acknowledge that jails are not suitable for individuals experiencing mental health crises and that mental illness should not be criminalized.
This bill, called the Justice for Soli Act (Stop Criminalizing Mental Health), 2024, states that the Ontario government must recognize two key things: first, that correctional facilities are not the right place for people having a mental health crisis, and second, that mental illness should be treated as a health issue and not criminalized. The Act comes into effect on the same day it receives Royal Assent.
- Requires the Government of Ontario to recognize that correctional facilities are not appropriate for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis.
- Requires the Government of Ontario to recognize that mental illness requires healthcare and should not be criminalized.
- The Government of Ontario
- Individuals experiencing mental health crises
- Individuals with mental illness
- The Government of Ontario has an obligation to recognize that correctional facilities are not an appropriate environment for a person experiencing a mental health crisis.
- The Government of Ontario has an obligation to recognize that mental illness requires healthcare and should not be criminalized.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The bill does not specify what actions the Government of Ontario must take to demonstrate this recognition, beyond stating the recognition itself.
- The bill does not define what constitutes a 'mental health crisis' or 'mental illness'.
This new Act establishes the requirement for the Ontario government to recognize that correctional facilities are not appropriate for people in mental health crises and that mental illness should not be criminalized.
Source: Section 1
This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
Source: Section 2
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced