VANCOUVER – Maya Cassady was just two months away from graduating high school with honours when she obtained her mental health records through a freedom of information request.

Just hours after reading the contents, which included doctors’ ponderings about a diagnosis, the 17-year-old took her own life.

It was March 30, 2023. Since Maya’s death, her mother, Hilary Cassady, has become an advocate for youth mental health, raising flags about young people using FOIs to access their charts — and risking misinterpreting the contents.

Cassady said she believes Maya concluded her mental health condition was untreatable, after reading terminology about her case that was never discussed with either of them.

And while the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of B.C. said the head o

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