At first glance, the story seemed straightforward. There was a vulnerable victim, a threat to her health and a violation of her rights.
Now, I'm not sure it's so cut and dried.
It starts with a conversation with Robert Axford-Gatley, a London family doctor concerned about one of his patients.
For confidentiality reasons, let's call her Donna.
Donna lives in a small, three-bedroom house operated by the Western Ontario Therapeutic Community Hostel (WOTCH).
WOTCH provides housing for people too mentally unstable to live on their own. In London, the organization owns a residential rehab unit, three group homes and 23 single-family homes. It also operates 89 one-bedroom apartments and a 23-unit apartment building.
Donna has lived in a WOTCH residence in north London for more than a year.
About five months ago, a smoker moved in.
"She can't tolerate the smoke," says Axford-Gatley, adding Donna suffered from childhood asthma. "She's trying to fight it by plugging all the hot-air ducts into her room."
The doctor says Donna complained to WOTCH about the smoke, but was told they didn't have the jurisdiction to intervene.
"They make all kind of lifestyle rules," says Axford-Gatley. "But they're saying they can't ask a resident to smoke outside.
"It's not a nuisance or convenience matter," he says. "It's a health matter."
Next, I spoke to Donna. She says she's been suffering from agoraphobia -- an abnormal fear of open spaces or public places -- since childhood. She says she has spent much of her life in various mental-health institutions.
She says her current house-mate (there are only two women in the three-bedroom house) smokes constantly, even rising at night for a few puffs.
As a result, Donna says her throat is constantly sore. To avoid the second-hand smoke, Donna spends almost all her time in her tiny room. She says she's blocked the heating duct with newspaper. She runs an air purifier, too.
The 38-year-woman says she complained many times to WOTCH workers.
"And every time, the response was, 'If it makes you sick or you don't like it, move out,' " she says.
Donna says WOTCH offered to place her in an apartment, but she says she can't cope with that now.
"Because of the panic attacks," she says, "I got so afraid of everything that I couldn't leave my bed without totally freaking out."
She says the second-hand smoke just makes things worse.
"I'm agoraphobic, so I can't even stand on the front porch and breathe fresh air," she says. "And there's the anxiety of them (WOTCH) always threatening, 'If you don't like it -- move out.' "
But Jeff Lounsbury says it isn't that simple.
The director of property management for WOTCH says the group has moved Donna three times in attempts to accommodate her needs, but "she has never been able to live with anybody -- smoker or non-smoker."
He also admits WOTCH can't offer anyone a smoke-free environment.
"A lot of people think that because the funding is from the (Ontario) Ministry of Health, that all these places are smoke-free," he says. "Well, that's not the case. They're just essentially private homes in the community."
There are no bylaws prohibiting smoking in private residences. And Lounsbury says he can't withhold housing from someone just because they smoke.
In fact, Lounsbury estimates about 75 per cent of WOTCH's clients are smokers.
"We know the smoke levels in some of these houses are high," he says. "Up to about 10 years ago, they used to give out cigarettes in hospitals to encourage good behaviour, so many people became firmly addicted.
"For a former psychiatric patient, smoking is one of the few joys they have."
He says any smoke-free WOTCH residences are purely happenstance and if a non-smoker did move out, the new resident might be a smoker. He says residents could theoretically work out a non-smoking agreement, but it would be impossible to enforce.
"This woman wants a degree of control over her environment that we just can't guarantee," says Lounsbury. "It's really just like any other residence in the community."
So for now, Donna sits in her room. And nothing seems cut and dried.