In one of Vancouver’s darkest days, a mentally unbalanced driver smashed his SUV into the crowd at a Filipino Lapu Lapu Day festival, killing 11 people and injuring many others.

In response, Premier David Eby has promised to overhaul the ­province’s Mental Health Act, and to hold a ­public inquiry after the trial of the accused driver, Kai-Ji Adam Lo, is over.

The Mental Health Act is decades old, in many respects out of date. It may very well require an update. Yet that route is full of challenges.

In recent years, several provinces, Alberta among them, have attempted redrafts of their legislation, following complaints from advocacy groups that the rights of mentally ill people are being trampled.

The results have been less than promising.

The main change Alberta made was to cease forced psychiatric detention in cases where there was no evidence the disorder could be improved by treatment.

But........

© Times Colonist