A Quebec court weighs whether a man not criminally responsible for a 2023 daycare bus crash can be labeled a high-risk offender.

Lawyers for Pierre Ny St-Amand, who crashed a bus into a Quebec daycare in 2023, killing two children, argue that labeling him a high-risk offender would violate the Canadian Charter, claiming the designation wrongly assumes he is irredeemable and stigmatizes mentally ill individuals. The case is before Quebec Superior Court, where Ny St-Amand was found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder in April 2025. The Crown seeks the high-risk status to impose stricter conditions at a psychiatric facility, but his defense contends the label, typically for criminally responsible individuals, is unconstitutional when applied to those not criminally liable. The court is weighing whether such a designation can be legally applied in this context. The incident occurred on February 9, 2023, when Ny St-Amand was reportedly experiencing a psychotic episode. The hearing continues.