Forensic Mental Health System
Ontario Review Board (ORB)
The ORB is a group of individuals (panel) that has the authority to make decisions about a person that has been found by a court to be be unfit with no reasonable prospect of becoming fit to stand trial or NCR.
If court finds you unfit to stand trial or NCR because of mental illness, you are placed under the authority of the ORB. You must follow the orders given by the ORB the same way that you must follow the orders given by a judge.
The ORB panel is usually made up of:
- Psychiatrist
- Mental health professional (e.g., psychiatrist or psychologist)
- Lawyer
- Community member/member of the public with a background in mental health
- Chairperson (judge, retired judge, or lawyer with a minimum of 10 years experience)
What will the panel decide?
- What level of security you should have
- Whether you will go to the hospital
- Which hospital you will go to
- When you can have privileges to go back to the community
- What kind of supervision and support you should have in the community
If the court made a long-term decision about where you should go, the ORB hearing will be within 90 days
If the court left the longer-term decision for the ORB, the ORB hearing will be within 45 days
After your first ORB hearing you will have one every year until you are discharged
