{"id":30371,"date":"2025-03-14T11:00:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T15:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=30371"},"modified":"2025-06-10T09:52:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T13:52:51","slug":"advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocacy groups won’t appeal Ontario court’s dismissal of Charter challenge to long-term care law"},"content":{"rendered":"

(March 13, 2025) By: Jennifer La Grassa, CBC News<\/p>\n

Under Bill 7, people can be put in homes they don’t choose, pay $400 a day to stay in hospital<\/strong><\/p>\n

Advocacy organizations won’t appeal an Ontario court’s\u00a0decision to dismiss their Charter challenge of the province’s long-term care (LTC) law, which allows hospitals to move people into homes they didn’t choose\u00a0or be charged $400 a day to remain in\u00a0hospital.<\/p>\n

The case, launched by the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE) and the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC),\u00a0was heard in the Superior Court of Justice in September.<\/p>\n

The two parties argued Bill 7, the More Beds, Better Care Act,\u00a0\u2014 which was passed in 2022 \u2014 violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms so the law should be overturned. The provincial government, however, maintains the law\u00a0is\u00a0necessary to free up much-needed hospital beds.<\/p>\n

In mid-January, the court sided with the province and decided to dismiss<\/span><\/a> the case.<\/p>\n

In an interview with CBC News on Wednesday, Ontario Health Coalition executive director Natalie Mehra said OHC\u00a0can’t afford the legal costs to appeal.<\/p>\n

The OHC is paying the majority of legal fees in this case, of “close to $200,000,” according to Mehra. She said they’re still fundraising to pay it off.<\/p>\n

She also said an appeal is always challenging to win.<\/p>\n

“It’s very disappointing and really heartbreaking,” Mehra said.<\/p>\n

“We know that patients really are suffering as a result of the coercion, trying to find somewhere to move from hospital into a long-term care home that is a decent home, that provides the care that they need, that is close to loved ones.”<\/p>\n

In the published decision from January, Justice Robert Centa said the law doesn’t contravene the Charter. The bill “does not interfere with an ALC [alternate level of care] patient’s ‘right’ to choose where they live,” and the $400 daily charge for a continued hospital stay is “not coercive,” Centa wrote.<\/p>\n

Instead,\u00a0Bill 7 has a “sufficiently important objective,” the justice added.<\/p>\n

“I found that the purpose of Bill 7 is to reduce the number of ALC patients in hospital who are eligible for admission to\u00a0a long-term care home in order to maximize hospital resources for patients who need hospital-level care.”<\/p>\n

Mehra said ACE and the OHC were “shocked” by the ruling, especially the idea that a $400 daily charge isn’t coercive.<\/p>\n

“These are elderly patients, they’re on fixed incomes,\u00a0$400 a day is $12,000 a month\u00a0\u2014\u00a0that is beyond the means of the vast majority of people in Ontario. It\u00a0really means that they don’t have a choice in our view.”<\/p>\n

An Ontario patient charged $26K under legislation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since the law was implemented in 2022, CBC News has spoken with people who were\u00a0impacted, including\u00a0Michele Campeau,\u00a0whose elderly mom was charged $26,000 under the legislation last year<\/a><\/span>. Campeau had refused to move her mom out of a Windsor hospital and into a long-term care home the family didn’t want.<\/p>\n

CBC News reached out this week to Campeau for comment, but hasn’t heard back. When she last spoke to CBC News in January, Campeau said she wasn’t planning to pay\u00a0the fee and didn’t agree with the court ruling.<\/p>\n

Patients, their caregivers and seniors advocates have said the law is\u00a0unfair and doesn’t give elderly people, who might be in their final stage of life, the right to choose where they want to live.<\/p>\n

But health-care leaders who provided expert evidence during the court case have said the law helps free up hospital beds for people who need them.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Ontario’s minister of health previously told CBC News the law “ensures people across the province receive the care they need, in a setting that is right for them.”<\/p>\n

“It frees up hospital beds so that people waiting for surgeries can get them sooner. It eases pressures on crowded emergency departments by admitting patients sooner and it connects more people to the care they need when they need it.”<\/p>\n

‘Ramp up our fight’\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the OHC’s\u00a0decision, Mehra said\u00a0they’re not giving up.<\/p>\n

She said they will continue to advocate for patients\u00a0and\u00a0“ramp up our fight” to get the province\u00a0to prioritize the rights of elderly patients.<\/p>\n

Beyond overturning the law, she said,\u00a0they’ll advocate for the\u00a0government to improve home care,\u00a0increase capacity in hospitals and LTC homes,\u00a0and move forward with building new and modern homes that people want to live in.<\/p>\n

“The fact that the solution has been to target patients rather than to deal with the capacity issues in our health system …\u00a0it’s wrong, it’s morally wrong, to treat people at the end of their lives in that way,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We have to fight with everything we have to force political change.”<\/p>\n

Click here for the original article<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Click here to watch the video clip<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(March 13, 2025) By: Jennifer La Grassa, CBC News Under Bill 7, people can be put in homes they don’t choose, pay $400 a day to stay in hospital Advocacy organizations won’t appeal an Ontario court’s\u00a0decision to dismiss their Charter challenge of the province’s long-term care (LTC) law, which allows hospitals to move people into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ohc-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\nAdvocacy groups won't appeal Ontario court's dismissal of Charter challenge to long-term care law - Ontario Health Coalition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(March 13, 2025) By: Jennifer La Grassa, CBC News Under Bill 7, people can be put in homes they don't choose, pay $400 a day to stay in hospital Advocacy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advocacy groups won't appeal Ontario court's dismissal of Charter challenge to long-term care law - Ontario Health Coalition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(March 13, 2025) By: Jennifer La Grassa, CBC News Under Bill 7, people can be put in homes they don't choose, pay $400 a day to stay in hospital Advocacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ontario Health Coalition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ontariohealth?fref=ts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-14T15:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-10T13:52:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4\"},\"headline\":\"Advocacy groups won’t appeal Ontario court’s dismissal of Charter challenge to long-term care law\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-14T15:00:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-10T13:52:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":827,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"OHC in the News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\\\/\",\"name\":\"Advocacy groups won't appeal Ontario court's dismissal of Charter challenge to long-term care law - Ontario Health Coalition\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-14T15:00:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-10T13:52:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"(March 13, 2025) By: Jennifer La Grassa, CBC News Under Bill 7, people can be put in homes they don't choose, pay $400 a day to stay in hospital Advocacy\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Advocacy groups won’t appeal Ontario court’s dismissal of Charter challenge to long-term care law\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ontario Health Coalition\",\"description\":\"Our primary goal is to protect and improve our public health care system\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ontario Health Coalition\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/logo_ohc_new-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/logo_ohc_new-1.png\",\"width\":478,\"height\":240,\"caption\":\"Ontario Health Coalition\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/ontariohealth?fref=ts\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/OntarioHealthC\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ontariohealthcoalition\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tiktok.com\\\/@ontariohealthc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCPy4Erf4xGLZV6CY23xdokw\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4\",\"name\":\"admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Advocacy groups won't appeal Ontario court's dismissal of Charter challenge to long-term care law - Ontario Health Coalition","description":"(March 13, 2025) By: Jennifer La Grassa, CBC News Under Bill 7, people can be put in homes they don't choose, pay $400 a day to stay in hospital Advocacy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Advocacy groups won't appeal Ontario court's dismissal of Charter challenge to long-term care law - Ontario Health Coalition","og_description":"(March 13, 2025) By: Jennifer La Grassa, CBC News Under Bill 7, people can be put in homes they don't choose, pay $400 a day to stay in hospital Advocacy","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\/","og_site_name":"Ontario Health Coalition","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ontariohealth?fref=ts","article_published_time":"2025-03-14T15:00:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-10T13:52:51+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4"},"headline":"Advocacy groups won’t appeal Ontario court’s dismissal of Charter challenge to long-term care law","datePublished":"2025-03-14T15:00:16+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-10T13:52:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\/"},"wordCount":827,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#organization"},"articleSection":["OHC in the News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\/","name":"Advocacy groups won't appeal Ontario court's dismissal of Charter challenge to long-term care law - Ontario Health Coalition","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-03-14T15:00:16+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-10T13:52:51+00:00","description":"(March 13, 2025) By: Jennifer La Grassa, CBC News Under Bill 7, people can be put in homes they don't choose, pay $400 a day to stay in hospital Advocacy","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/advocacy-groups-wont-appeal-ontario-courts-dismissal-of-charter-challenge-to-long-term-care-law\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Advocacy groups won’t appeal Ontario court’s dismissal of Charter challenge to long-term care law"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/","name":"Ontario Health Coalition","description":"Our primary goal is to protect and improve our public health care system","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#organization","name":"Ontario Health Coalition","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/logo_ohc_new-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/logo_ohc_new-1.png","width":478,"height":240,"caption":"Ontario Health Coalition"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ontariohealth?fref=ts","https:\/\/x.com\/OntarioHealthC","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ontariohealthcoalition","https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@ontariohealthc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCPy4Erf4xGLZV6CY23xdokw"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4","name":"admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30371"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30711,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30371\/revisions\/30711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}