CEO of Schizophrenia Society of Canada: Li is a ‘patient’

The Schizophrenia Society of Canada released an edited version of a recent Winnipeg Free Press interview with Vince Li, the man who beheaded a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus four years ago.

In the interview, Li who was convinced he was hearing voices from God and was saving people from aliens when he used a Canadian Tire knife to kill Tim McLean, told the reporter that the events that happaned the bus are with him forever.

“I hope to leave one day, but I have to make sure it wouldn't happen again. That there would be no voices. I would change my name to be anonymous. But I would still be in touch with my doctor,” he said.

Chris Summerville, chief executive officer of the Schizophrenia Society, said he hopes the edited interview will help people see past the horrors of Li's actions.

“It happened, it really happened, the grotesqueness and ghastliness of what happened on that Greyhound bus but people's thoughts are automatically geared more by the horror movie,” Summerville said Tuesday on News Talk 650's Richard Brown Show.

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Summerville, who has been meeting with Li every two months for the past four years, said he has received negative feedback because some people feel that he is trying to conjure up sympathy for Li – but Summerville said that that’s not his primary objective.

“If it does result in sympathy, I don't think that is a wrong thing to hold towards a patient. I don't think he is a criminal, I think he is a patient,” he said.

Before the 2008 incident, Li had been picked up on the road by police in Ontario and put in the hospital. Due to a mix-up, Summerville said Li was released early. He said he believes the incident could have been avoided if Li was treated properly.

“I don't think he will do it again because his response to the medication is near miraculous,” Summerville said.

Summerville's said his decision to release the edited interview was because the media had focused on McLean's family.

“I felt that the best way for people to have a more balanced appreciation for this horrible grotesque story was to get some glimpse into where this human being is right now in his journey of … trying to get back to some normalcy,” he said.

Li is at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre and will be allowed to start taking supervised walks into Selkirk, Man.

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