By Marjorie Martineau

Publié le 16 juin 2026

Over the last two years, at the hospital’s psychiatric ward, I have taken part in a lot of mental health interventions as a future police officer and working as a security guard. Working in this environment, you quickly see a reality that few others see: twelve years old that we have to hold by force, because she was dangerous for others; inmates with mental health issues and normal people who lose it.  

‘’Le Devoir’’ did an article on March 24th, about the P-38 law that allows police officers to proceed to an involuntary hospitalization of a person against their will if they represent a serious and immediate danger to themselves or others. It would give to police officers a bigger margin. P-38 law has not been reviewed since 1990, as they claim to remove the immediate criterion. But the institute doesn’t want the government to touch the law because it infringes upon fundamental rights and freedoms. We can link this to the SDG 16.  

For my part, I worked for a year at Chicoutimi hospital, and it made me realize how hidden mental health is and how much people do not realize how present it is in society. Before, I had no idea what mental health was really like; we have prejudices and we form mental images of people with these problems, but it can really be anyone. We go from bipolar disorder to schizophrenia, from borderline personality disorder to suicidal tendencies. The line is extremely wide, and often the bond of trust is hard to create. These are people with difficulties, problems, and often they themselves don’t know how to help themselves. The P-38 Act allows for the detention of a person with a mental health condition that poses a serious and immediate danger, the measures are quite strict and need to be changed.  

As a future police officer, at school, we have several courses related to mental health to help us intervene, because you must consider that it now accounts for 80% of our interventions. We need to know how to properly react with people in crisis or intoxicated. The police are evolving in all forms; we have also a new course to help with multiethnic communities. It’s the same principle as with mental health; we need to be trained to know how to interact with them. The basis of our interventions is our knowledge.  Culture changes and evolves, and the same goes for our ways of working. We are modernizing our interventions to address the province’s challenges.  

To conclude, mental health is real and it’s more present than we think. We have to revise the law and continue to work in partnership with social worker and so many resources.  

It’s not something to be taken lightly, and we must be ready. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/mental-health-quebec-9.7140678 Quebec introduces bill to make it easier to confine people in mental health crisis, CBC, March 24, 2026 

CBC news article explains that, even though they are doing so many efforts and try to change the law about the access to mental health service in Quebec, it’s still hard and there is a resource shortage. They want to create a piece of legislation to detain people who need it, more easily. 

https://montrealgazette.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/quebec-legislation-will-give-police-access-to-information-on-people-with-mental-illness/ Quebec legislation will give police access to information on people with mental illness, Montreal Gazette, May 30, 2024 

The article of Montreal Gazette explains that a new law project in Quebec would allow the police have access to information about people with mental illness to have better intervention and prevent dangerous situations. 

https://www.lapresse.ca/dialogue/opinions/2025-10-07/reforme-de-la-loi-p-38-et-sante-mentale/les-policiers-veulent-pouvoir-agir-avant-qu-il-ne-soit-trop-tard.php Les policiers veulent pouvoir agir avant qu’il ne soit trop tard, La Presse, October 7, 2026  

The article explains that police officer in Quebec are asking for a reform of the P-38 law to be able to intervene earlier with people in mental health crisis, to prevent tragedies, and their death. 

https://www.journaldequebec.com/2026/03/24/sante-mentale--quebec-veut-assouplir-les-regles-pour-hospitalisation-forcee-afin-deviter-des-drames Santé mentale: Québec veut forcer les gens en crise à se faire soigner, Le journal de Québec, March 24, 2026 

The article explains that Quebec government wants to soften the rules to forcibly hospitalize people mental health crisis with the same goal in mind, intervene earlier, even though the danger is not in immediate, we could avoid a lot.