B.C. NDP pledges up to $90 million for involuntary care beds at Oliver correctional centre

The B.C. NDP says it would invest up to $90 million to establish involuntary care beds at the Okanagan Correctional Centre in Oliver. In a Friday morning announcement, the party said the facility would become part of a provincial network of involuntary care centres if it is re-elected, serving people experiencing severe mental health and addiction challenges as well as complex brain injuries. Centres are already operating in Surrey and Maple Ridge, and new facilities are planned for Surrey and Prince George.

The party also pledged to expand voluntary treatment across B.C. It said 35 Foundry centres are open or on the way, including in Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon. Those centres have provided mental health and addictions services to more than 84,000 youth since 2019.

Loyal Wooldridge, the B.C. NDP candidate for Kelowna Centre and a Kelowna city councillor, said in a statement that he had seen families desperate to save loved ones and members of the public seeking to feel safe in public spaces. Walking past someone in a severe crisis and doing nothing “isn’t freedom,” he said, adding that more action is needed. Harwinder Sandhu, the party’s candidate for Vernon-Lumby and a health-care professional, said she had seen the need for safe, appropriate care for people facing complex challenges that leave them unable to make decisions for themselves. She said the party is committed to building voluntary and involuntary care options so people can get the right help at the right time and place.

Gavin Dew, the Conservative Party of B.C. candidate for Kelowna-Mission, said in a release that his party had called for mandatory care at the correctional centre for years. He accused David Eby of failing to act despite having every chance to listen. Dew said neither the crisis nor the need had changed; the only change, he said, was that Eby was losing an election. He said his party welcomed the announcement, but it was not Eby’s idea.

Kristina Loewen, the Conservative Party of B.C. candidate for Kelowna Centre, said it was not compassionate to leave someone with severe addiction or mental illness on the street or leave their family powerless to help. She said real compassion meant a full spectrum of care, including detox, voluntary treatment, rehabilitation and secure, medically supervised care when someone cannot make safe decisions for themselves. The goal, she said, is to help people recover, reunite families and make communities safer. Loewen added that municipal leaders, health-care professionals and families across the Okanagan had been calling for this for years, as had her party. She was glad Eby was finally listening, she said, but it should not have taken an election campaign.

In July, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that sections of the Mental Health Act allowing involuntary care for people with severe mental health and substance issues were unconstitutional. The Council of Canadians with Disabilities challenged the province’s approach to involuntary psychiatric treatment, arguing that it violated Charter rights. The court agreed, finding that the act gave hospital directors what it described as blanket power to impose psychiatric treatment. The lawsuit did not challenge involuntary admission.