Lawyers for a Toronto man accused of attacking soldiers at a military recruitment centre two years ago say he should be acquitted of terror-related charges and found not criminally responsible for lesser offences in the case on account of his mental state and the fact he has no affiliation to a terrorist group.

Ayanle Hassan Ali has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder, three counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of assault causing bodily harm and one count of carrying a weapon for the purpose of committing an offence, all "at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group."

The 2016 incident at a north Toronto military recruitment centre left at least two soldiers with minor injuries.

In written arguments filed as part of Ali's trial, defence lawyers argue the 30-year-old — who a psychiatrist said shows signs of schizophrenia — should be acquitted on the terror-related charges altogether and found not criminally responsible for the lesser included charges of attempted murder, assault and weapons offences.

'Someone who is mentally ill who needs to get better'

In other words, the defence is arguing that Ali did commit attempted murder, assault and weapons offences — for which he should be found not criminally responsible — but the crimes were not committed with any relation to a terror group.

The attack happened at the Joseph Shepard Building, which houses several federal government agencies, on Yonge Street near Sheppard Avenue. (Natalie Kalata/CBC) "Terrorism is such a loaded term and connotes a level of dangerousness that ... we worry that if he is in the system as not criminally responsible for terrorism, it might unfairly affect how he is treated," defence Nader Hasan said in an interview.

"More fundamentally though, he's not a terrorist, he's someone who is ill, and so this process and the ultimate disposition ought to reflect that reality and ultimately what we want is that he is treated as someone who is mentally ill who needs to get better."

The Crown, however, wants Ali to be found not criminally responsible for the terror offences, defence documents show.

Prosecutors are expected to make their case and call witnesses in court later this week.

'No evidence of any connection' with any group

Hasan said Ali would be in custody at a secure treatment facility whether he is found not criminally responsible on the terror charges or the lesser included offences.

Finding someone not criminally responsible acknowledges that the person committed the crime they are accused of but, as a result of a mental disorder, they were incapable at the time of appreciating that their actions could cause harm, or were unacceptable by societal standards, Ali's lawyers explained in their arguments.

Ayanle Hassan Ali has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder, three counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of assault causing bodily harm and one count of carrying a weapon for the purpose of committing an offence, all 'at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group.' (CBC) The incident at the centre of the case began when Ali entered a Canadian Forces recruitment office in March 2016 and repeatedly punched and slashed at one soldier, leaving the man with a three-inch gash on his arm, according to an agreed statement of facts presented by the Crown and defence at trial.

Ali tried to stab or slash three other military personnel — one of whom was left with bruises and a "small, superficial nick" — before being subdued, the statement said.

There is "no evidence of any connection" between Ali and any other person or group in relation to the crimes, and the Crown "does not allege that Mr. Ali committed the ... offences for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with anyone but himself," prosecutors acknowledged in the agreed statement of facts.

If Ali was not affiliated with any terrorist group, he cannot be guilty of terror offences, because Canadian terror law "does not apply to alleged one-person terrorist groups," Hasan and co-counsel Maureen Addie argued in their filings.

"In creating (anti-terror laws), Parliament was not intending to target individuals working alone, but to provide additional censure to people who commit indictable offences to assist terrorist groups," they argued.

In the weeks after his arrest, Ali was sent to a forensic psychiatry hospital unit, where he has remained in the two years

since.

On Monday, a psychiatrist who supervised Ali's care testified that the man has shown signs of schizophrenia, including delusions and paranoia, since about 2010.

Around the time of the attack, Ali believed the government was listening to him and thought he was being possessed by spirits from Muslim mythology known as Jinns, Dr. Gary Chaimowitz said.

Ali became angry over Canadian military involvement in Muslim countries and came to feel that if he martyred himself all his sins would be forgiven in the afterlife, the doctor told the court.

Ali's trial resumes Thursday.</s>Man accused in military centre stabbings should be acquitted of terror charges: defence

TORONTO — Lawyers for a Toronto man accused of attacking soldiers at a military recruitment centre two years ago say he should be acquitted of terror-related charges and found not criminally responsible for lesser offences in the case on account of his mental state and the fact he has no affiliation to a terrorist group.

Ayanle Hassan Ali has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder, three counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of assault causing bodily harm and one count of carrying a weapon for the purpose of committing an offence, all “at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group.”

The 2016 incident at a north Toronto military recruitment centre left at least two soldiers with minor injuries.

In written arguments filed as part of Ali’s trial, defence lawyers argue the 30-year-old — who a psychiatrist said shows signs of schizophrenia — should be acquitted on the terror-related charges altogether and found not criminally responsible for the lesser included charges of attempted murder, assault and weapons offences.

In other words, the defence is arguing that Ali did commit attempted murder, assault and weapons offences — for which he should be found not criminally responsible — but the crimes were not committed with any relation to a terror group.

“Terrorism is such a loaded term and connotes a level of dangerousness that … we worry that if he is in the system as not criminally responsible for terrorism, it might unfairly affect how he is treated,” defence Nader Hasan said in an interview.</s>Lawyers for a Toronto man accused of attacking soldiers at a military recruitment centre two years ago say he should be acquitted of terror-related charges and found not criminally responsible for lesser offences in the case on account of his mental state and the fact he has no affiliation to a terrorist group.

Ayanle Hassan Ali has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder, three counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of assault causing bodily harm and one count of carrying a weapon for the purpose of committing an offence, all "at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group."

In written arguments filed as part of Ali's trial, defence lawyers argue the 30-year-old — who a psychiatrist said shows signs of schizophrenia — should be acquitted on the terror-related charges altogether and found not criminally responsible for the lesser included charges of attempted murder, assault and weapons offences.

'Someone who is mentally ill who needs to get better'

"More fundamentally though, he's not a terrorist, he's someone who is ill, and so this process and the ultimate disposition ought to reflect that reality and ultimately what we want is that he is treated as someone who is mentally ill who needs to get better."

The Crown, however, wants Ali to be found not criminally responsible for the terror offences, defence documents show.

Prosecutors are expected to make their case and call witnesses in court later this week.

'No evidence of any connection' with any group

Hasan said Ali would be in custody at a secure treatment facility whether he is found not criminally responsible on the terror charges or the lesser included offences.

Ali tried to stab or slash three other military personnel — one of whom was left with bruises and a "small, superficial nick" — before being subdued, the statement said.

There is "no evidence of any connection" between Ali and any other person or group in relation to the crimes, and the Crown "does not allege that Mr. Ali committed the ... offences for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with anyone but himself," prosecutors acknowledged in the agreed statement of facts.

If Ali was not affiliated with any terrorist group, he cannot be guilty of terror offences, because Canadian terror law "does not apply to alleged one-person terrorist groups," Hasan and co-counsel Maureen Addie argued in their filings.

"In creating (anti-terror laws), Parliament was not intending to target individuals working alone, but to provide additional censure to people who commit indictable offences to assist terrorist groups," they argued.

On Monday, a psychiatrist who supervised Ali's care testified that the man has shown signs of schizophrenia, including delusions and paranoia, since about 2010.

Around the time of the attack, Ali believed the government was listening to him and thought he was being possessed by spirits from Muslim mythology known as Jinns, Dr. Gary Chaimowitz said.

Ali became angry over Canadian military involvement in Muslim countries and came to feel that if he martyred himself all his sins would be forgiven in the afterlife, the doctor told the court.</s>TORONTO — Lawyers for a Toronto man accused of attacking soldiers at a military recruitment centre two years ago say he should be acquitted of terror-related charges and found not criminally responsible for lesser offences in the case on account of his mental state and the fact he has no affiliation to a terrorist group.

Ayanle Hassan Ali has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder, three counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of assault causing bodily harm and one count of carrying a weapon for the purpose of committing an offence, all "at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group."

The 2016 incident at a north Toronto military recruitment centre left at least two soldiers with minor injuries.

In written arguments filed as part of Ali's trial, defence lawyers argue the 30-year-old — who a psychiatrist said shows signs of schizophrenia — should be acquitted on the terror-related charges altogether and found not criminally responsible for the lesser included charges of attempted murder, assault and weapons offences.

In other words, the defence is arguing that Ali did commit attempted murder, assault and weapons offences — for which he should be found not criminally responsible — but the crimes were not committed with any relation to a terror group.

"Terrorism is such a loaded term and connotes a level of dangerousness that ... we worry that if he is in the system as not criminally responsible for terrorism, it might unfairly affect how he is treated," defence Nader Hasan said in an interview.

"More fundamentally though, he's not a terrorist, he's someone who is ill, and so this process and the ultimate disposition ought to reflect that reality and ultimately what we want is that he is treated as someone who is mentally ill who needs to get better."

The Crown, however, wants Ali to be found not criminally responsible for the terror offences, defence documents show. Prosecutors are expected to make their case and call witnesses in court later this week.

Hasan said Ali would be in custody at a secure treatment facility whether he is found not criminally responsible on the terror charges or the lesser included offences.

Finding someone not criminally responsible acknowledges that the person committed the crime they are accused of but, as a result of a mental disorder, they were incapable at the time of appreciating that their actions could cause harm, or were unacceptable by societal standards, Ali's lawyers explained in their arguments.</s>TORONTO — A Toronto man charged with terror offences after being accused of attacking soldiers at a military recruitment centre two years ago should be found not criminally responsible for his actions due to serious mental health issues, a forensic psychiatrist testified Thursday.

Ayanle Hassan Ali likely understood when he entered the recruitment centre that slashing at military personnel with a kitchen knife could cause physical harm, Dr. Philip Klassen, a Crown witness, said at the man's trial. But as a result of delusions and paranoia brought on by schizophrenia, Ali likely did not realize that harming soldiers in that situation was morally wrong, he said.

"I would say he was significantly compromised in terms of rational perception and rational choice," Klassen said.

"I also think he was personally suffering and wanted martyrdom, and some of that suffering was engendered by his illness," he added.

Ali has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder, three counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of assault causing bodily harm and one count of carrying a weapon for the purpose of committing an offence, all "at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group."

His lawyers are asking the judge hearing the case to acquit Ali of the terror-related charges and find him not criminally responsible for the lesser included charges of attempted murder, assault and weapons offences.

The Crown, however, wants the 30-year-old to be found not criminally responsible for the terror offences, the defence has said in written arguments filed in court earlier this week. Ali's lawyers argue he is not a terrorist but simply a man who needs treatment for mental illness.

Finding someone not criminally responsible acknowledges that they committed the crime they are accused of but, as a result of a mental disorder, they were incapable at the time of appreciating that their actions could cause harm, or are unacceptable by societal standards, Ali's lawyers have explained in written arguments.

Ali entered a Canadian Forces recruitment office on March 14, 2016, and repeatedly punched and slashed at one soldier, leaving the man with a three-inch gash on his arm, according to an agreed statement of facts presented by the Crown and defence at trial.

Ali tried to stab or slash three other military personnel before being subdued, the statement said.</s>Ministries “need to start sitting together for real and actually making decisions and setting goals together for real instead of this unco-ordinated hodgepodge of efforts which are all well-meaning, I’m sure, and some are actually quite well-funded, but it’s not working because it’s a patchwork...,” he said.

Cities don’t need new federal or provincial ministries, Tory added, but better co-ordination among the existing ones responsible for health, education, housing, policing and others impacted by unaddressed mental health issues and the related opioid overdose epidemic.

Toronto’s John Tory, a co-host of the event at the University of Toronto, said the federal government must urgently get and distribute data on the extent of the problems as the first steps to establishing benchmarks for government responses in terms of supportive housing, drug treatment and more.

That is the call from the mayors of Kitchener, Mississauga, St. John’s, Toronto, Vancouver and Windsor who spoke to reporters during Monday’s summit on mental health and cities.

Canadian cities struggling to reduce needless deaths of people with unaddressed mental health and addiction problems need more from Ottawa than “unco-ordinated hodgepodge” responses.

The most dire came from Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson, whose city has been ground zero for fatal overdoses from fentanyl and other opioid narcotics and noted “the morgues have been full.”

Earlier, each of the mayors told a cavernous, crowded dining hall about the challenges their cities face and how they are trying to cope.

“People don’t care about boundaries between governments — they just want to see people getting helped.”

Safe-injection sites and emergency responders have saved countless lives but opioids still kill, on average, an “unbelievably horrific” four British Columbians per day, at least one of them in Vancouver, Robertson said.

“This is a crisis like we’ve never seen before in public health and it’s wiping out many, many people with mental health challenges who are self-medicating with opioids,” laced with poison, he said.

“This is a preventable epidemic and we need to see federal government leadership in co-ordinating the data, in focusing the resources where they can turn this crisis around, and making sure cities are at the table working with the feds and provinces to tackle this brutal crisis.”

He highlighted the complexity of the problem by noting that few Vancouverites actually die on the street in the city’s Lower Eastside, where vigilant harm-reduction workers and first responders work to prevent or quickly treat overdoses.

Instead 80 per cent die alone in their homes or in “single occupancy hotel rooms” — bare-bones rentals sometimes found with help from government agencies to help get addicted people off the street or out of emergency shelters so they can better access city and provincial programs.

“That’s where the stigma with mental health and addictions has to be broken,” Robertson said of people hiding drug use and dying without anybody knowing, much less intervening.

“There has to be a far bigger (anti-stigma) campaign at the national level,” and easier access to safer drugs including hydromorphone pills, a pharmaceutical narcotic derived from morphine, he said. “That’s what will save lives.”

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens told the audience about the trauma of two police officers last month fatally shooting a mentally ill man who had stabbed one of the officers, and had said he went off his medications because they turned him into a “zombie.”

Other mayors told of the vast majority of calls to their police services relate to mental illness or addiction, of surges in demand in hospital emergency departments, and of challenges in finding homes for people trying to get treatment that can help them regain their lives and employment.

Mississauga’s Bonnie Crombie noted that a coalition of Canada’s “big city mayors” have had success pressing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government for help paying for new transit, affordable housing and infrastructure such as roads, bridges and sewers.

Co-ordinated efforts to help people with mental health and addictions is “the next issue that we should tackle as a unified group of mayors,” Crombie said, adding it also might be time for companies and cities to hire “mental health officers” to help in the effort.

Ontario Health Minister Helena Jaczek told the summit she agrees mental health issues are a “crisis” and listed millions of dollars in spending in her Liberal government’s recent budget that she said could help to address it.

But Jaczek also noted Ontario is on the eve of a provincial election. With Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford leading opinion polls, she warned: “Now is not the time for deep cuts.”</s>TORONTO -- A Toronto man charged with terror offences after being accused of attacking soldiers at a military recruitment centre two years ago should be found not criminally responsible for his actions due to serious mental health issues, a forensic psychiatrist testified Thursday.

Ayanle Hassan Ali likely understood when he entered the recruitment centre that slashing at military personnel with a kitchen knife could cause physical harm, Dr. Philip Klassen, a Crown witness, said at the man's trial. But as a result of delusions and paranoia brought on by schizophrenia, Ali likely did not realize that harming soldiers in that situation was morally wrong, he said.

"I would say he was significantly compromised in terms of rational perception and rational choice," Klassen said.

"I also think he was personally suffering and wanted martyrdom, and some of that suffering was engendered by his illness," he added.

Ali has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder, three counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of assault causing bodily harm and one count of carrying a weapon for the purpose of committing an offence, all "at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group."

His lawyers are asking the judge hearing the case to acquit Ali of the terror-related charges and find him not criminally responsible for the lesser included charges of attempted murder, assault and weapons offences.

The Crown, however, wants the 30-year-old to be found not criminally responsible for the terror offences, the defence has said in written arguments filed in court earlier this week. Ali's lawyers argue he is not a terrorist but simply a man who needs treatment for mental illness.

Finding someone not criminally responsible acknowledges that they committed the crime they are accused of but, as a result of a mental disorder, they were incapable at the time of appreciating that their actions could cause harm, or are unacceptable by societal standards, Ali's lawyers have explained in written arguments.

Ali entered a Canadian Forces recruitment office on March 14, 2016, and repeatedly punched and slashed at one soldier, leaving the man with a three-inch gash on his arm, according to an agreed statement of facts presented by the Crown and defence at trial.

Ali tried to stab or slash three other military personnel before being subdued, the statement said.

Klassen -- who interviewed Ali twice last fall, spoke to his family and reviewed thousands of pages of hospital observation notes about him -- told the court that Ali began to show signs of schizophrenia and develop "extremist" thoughts around the same time, and that the two were likely interrelated.

"It seems very unlikely that someone would suffer something as devastating as schizophrenia and become radicalized as two separate processes," he testified.

Ali is still "somewhat ambivalent" about the fact he failed to kill a soldier in the attack, Klassen said. But that could be a sign that Ali is still grappling with the effects of schizophrenia, he added.

Klassen said Ali also told him, during interviews last year, that his mental illness was caused by Jinns -- spirits from Muslim mythology -- that were inside him, and by a stroke he claims to have had -- which Klassen and another doctor have both called a delusion.

"I would say the medication has been helpful ΓÇª but there is some residual delusional thinking," Klassen said.

Klassen was the second psychiatrist to testify in favour of Ali being found not criminally responsible for his actions.

On Monday, defence witness Dr. Gary Chaimowitz, who has supervised Ali's treatment as an in-patient at a forensic psychiatry hospital unit for most of the past two years, testified that Ali has shown signs of schizophrenia, including delusions and paranoia, since about 2010.

Chaimowitz and Klassen were the only two witnesses called during the evidence portion of the trial.

Ali is scheduled to return to court April 20, when defence lawyers are expected to make further legal arguments about his criminal responsibility.
Lawyers representing Ayanle Hassan Ali, accused of three attempted murders in a 2016 Toronto knife attack on Canadian soldiers, say he should be acquitted entirely of allegations the charges had a terrorist motive and found not criminally responsible for the underlying offences on the grounds of his mental health.