DRUG ADDICTIONS – Eby announces plans for involuntary treatment centres

“Highly secure” facilities will be opened where people with long-term mental and health and addiction challenges get involuntary treatment, Premier David Eby announced today (Sept. 15, 2024).

The first correctional centre will be at the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre, he said. The first secure housing and care facility will be on the grounds of the Alouette Correctional Centre (Monarch Homes) in Maple Ridge, which only requires minor renovations to meet the security requirements for residents and the community.

All of the facilities will provide involuntary care under the B.C. Mental Health Act for people certified as requiring that care.

“People with addiction challenges, brain injuries and mental-health issues need compassionate care and direct and assertive intervention to help them stabilize and rebuild a meaningful life,” said Eby.

“This announcement is the beginning of a new phase of our response to the addiction crisis. We’re going to respond to people struggling like any family member would. We are taking action to get them the care they need to keep them safe, and in doing so, keep our communities safe, too.”

A news release said the Province is also building more than 400 mental-health beds at new and expanded hospitals in B.C. by modernizing about 280 outdated beds and adding more than 140 new mental-health beds. “All of these facilities will also provide involuntary care under the act.”

This summer, Dr. Daniel Vigo was appointed as B.C.’s first chief scientific adviser for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders. He is working to find better ways to support the growing population of people with severe addictions, brain injuries from repeated drug poisonings, combined with mental-health disorders and psychosis.

“The toxic-drug crisis of today is not what it was 10 or even five years ago,” said Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

“We are now facing a rising number of people who are living with the lasting effects of multiple overdoses and complex mental-health challenges, tied to social factors like poverty and trauma. It’s clear we must do more to provide effective care, while continuing to work with our partners to tackle the deadly poisoned-drug supply and bring an end to this suffering.”

The news release said the steps to put Vigo’s recommendations into action and ensure severely ill people get the care they need, even when they are unable to seek it themselves, include:

• establishing beds under the Mental Health Act at highly secure regional facilities, where people held under the Mental Health Act will receive long-term care and housing that is secure, safe and dignified. The first site will open in Maple Ridge in the coming months, with plans to expand throughout the province, scaled to meet the needs of communities. Other sites are being identified in northern B.C., the Interior, Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. Patients from each community will be prioritized for those locations.
• setting up a designated mental-health unit in a B.C. correctional centre to provide rapid treatment for people with mental-health and addiction challenges being held on remand or sentenced to custody by the courts, starting with a 10-bed facility at the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre.
• in the short-term, releasing clarifications from Vigo on how the Mental Health Act can be used to provide voluntary and involuntary care when people have concurrent disorders with addiction.
• making changes to the law in the next legislative session to provide clarity and ensure that people, including youth, can and should receive care when they are unable to seek it themselves. These changes would be brought forward in consultation with First Nations and ensure culturally safe treatment programs and supports for First Nations youth.

The news release also noted interest in Riverview as a site for expanded health-care services, including mental-health treatment. It said Riverview is currently under land-claims talks with a First Nation.

“My office is analyzing all relevant provincial data to produce evidence-based recommendations to government in real time,” Vigo said.

“This has already led to the creation of key services in corrections, secure treatment and housing for the patient population with the most severe behavioural challenges resulting from mental impairment. The whole system of care for mental health and addictions will be strategically integrated and scaled up based on local data and best practices.”

Since the federal government brought in Bill C-48, the Crown continues to see instances where detention is not granted in cases involving repeat violent offenders, stated the release.

“In July 2024, Premier Eby led Canada’s premiers in calling on Ottawa to review the Criminal Code and bail system to ensure it is working to keep people and communities safe. In addition to calling for a review, the B.C. government is asking for Ottawa to amend the Criminal Code to deal explicitly with machetes, following recent violent incidents.”