Mental Incapacity, Guardianship, and the Elderly: An Exploratory Study of Ontario's Consent and Capacity Board

In 1992, Ontario completely changed its adult guardianship laws. Ontario's reform was the outcome of a long and thorough legislative effort aimed at shifting the political balance from a paternalistic to an autonomy-respecting adult guardianship system. Since the proclamation of Ontario's new adult guardianship laws, no empirical research (or any other scientific research for that matter) was conducted with regard to the actual success, failure, implementation, or other dimensions of the new regime. This article presents the findings of an exploratory study of the elder guardianship experience, as viewed from the narrow yet important perspective of Ontario's Consent and Capacity Board. The findings provide a glimpse of Ontario's elder guardianship reality and establish the main questions and important dimensions that should be further examined in future studies in this field.