The Office of the Commissioner for Adults Living with an Intellectual Disability (CALIDO)

Our role:

In certain situations, adults living with an intellectual disability require someone who is legally empowered to make decisions on their behalf, known as a substitute decision maker. The Office of the Commissioner for Adults Living with an Intellectual Disability is the body that receives applications to appoint a substitute decision maker. The Commissioner’s main function is to:

• determine whether a substitute decision maker is necessary. This is always a last resort.
• legally appoint substitute decision makers

The Commissioner for Adults Living with An Intellectual Disability is appointed under Part 4 of The Adults Living with an Intellectual Disability Act (the act). The mandate of the Office of the Commissioner for Adults Living with an Intellectual Disability is to implement the substitute decision making provisions of the act. In doing so, our goal is to protect the decision making rights of adults living with an intellectual disability through policies and procedures which:

• are developed and implemented in keeping with the Five Guiding Principles contained in the act
• ensures fair processes, and
• are convenient and accessible, to the extent possible.

The specific activities of the Office of the Commissioner for Adults Living with an Intellectual Disability are to:

• conduct preliminary investigations of applications for substitute decision makers
• appoint hearing panels as needed to review and make recommendations regarding the need for a substitute decision maker and the scope of the appointment
• appoint substitute decision makers, where no other options are appropriate
• maintain a register of appointments of substitute decision makers
• monitor the actions of substitute decision makers
• at set intervals, review the need for the substitute decision maker
• receive and investigate complaints and mediate and seek to resolve disputes between substitute decision makers, which may include steps ranging from informal meetings to formal referral to mediation services; and
• provide information to adults living with an intellectual disability, their families, substitute decision makers and the general public regarding the substitute decision making process.

In performing their statutory duties, the Commissioner for Adults Living with an Intellectual Disability operates independently from the Department of Families.

Key Definitions and Terminology

Who is considered to be an "adult living with an intellectual disability"?

According to the act an adult living with an intellectual disability is defined as "an adult living with an intellectual disability who is in need of assistance to meet his or her basic needs with regard to personal care and/or management of his or her property."
Please note that someone meeting the definition of “adult living with an intellectual disability” does not automatically mean a substitute decision maker will be appointed. The decision to appoint a substitute decision maker may happen as a last resort, following a rigorous evaluation.

What is a Substitute Decision Maker? 

A substitute decision maker is one or more individuals appointed by the Commissioner for Adults Living with an Intellectual Disability to make decisions for an adult living with an intellectual disability who is unable to make certain decisions for themselves in the area of personal care or property or both. A substitute decision maker has the legal authority to make decisions for the adult living with an intellectual disability in those specific areas in which they have been given power by the Commissioner.

What is the definition of intellectual disability?

For an individual to be assessed as having an intellectual disability, the individual must have significantly impaired intellectual functioning existing concurrently with impaired adaptive behavior and manifested prior to the age of 18 years (this excludes an intellectual disability due exclusively to a mental disorder as defined in section 1 of The Mental Health Act).

Who is not covered?

The definition of “adult living with an intellectual disability” excludes individuals who have an intellectual disability due exclusively to a mental disorder as defined in section 1 of The Mental Health Act. It also excludes individuals whose intellectual disability occurred after the age of 18. 

What is a support network?

The act defines a support network “as one or more persons who provide advice, support or assistance to an adult living with an intellectual disability and may include (a) the adult's spouse or common-law partner, (b) other members of the adult’s family and (c) others chosen by the adult”. An adult living with an intellectual disability is able to choose who is in their support network. This can include friends and past or present service providers.

What does the term incapacity mean?

The act defines a person as being incapable when that person is not able to understand information that is important for making the decisions that are before them, or is not able to appreciate the expected consequences of either making or not making a the decision or lack of making a decision.

What is meant by "last resort"?

As noted in the principles of the act, substitute decision making should be invoked only as a last resort. This occurs when:

•  An adult living with an intellectual disability needs decisions to be made and
• They are unable to make these decisions by themselves or with the involvement of members of their support network. 

The Commissioner for Adults Living with an Intellectual Disability will only give a substitute decision maker the legal authority to make decisions on behalf of the individual in areas where the individual is not capable of doing so on their own or with assistance.