SURREY – British Columbia has opened the first of the government’s promised secure units to provide involuntary treatment for people with brain injuries and overlapping mental-health and addiction concerns.
Standing outside the Surrey Pretrial Centre, Premier David Eby says the 10-bed unit will provide involuntary care for those at the jail who are in a mental health crisis and are unable to ask for help themselves.
The premier says the ongoing overdose crisis has created a cohort of people with serious brain injuries who are addicted and have mental health issues, and it means those who need care are often not able to seek it, but end up cycling in and out of jail until they die.
The government says the dedicated beds are currently available in a segregation unit at the remand facility while renovations are being completed on a different living space.
Dr. Daniel Vigo, the province’s chief scientific adviser for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders, says prior to the beds opening, people who required involuntary care while in jail had to wait in segregation for weeks for a bed to found.
He says they will now receive the level of psychiatric care they need from a dedicated team the moment they need it.
The province announced plans to open the secure facilities to provide involuntary care last September, and said an additional location would be coming to Maple Ridge for people not involved in the justice system.
The move has been criticized by drug policy advocates who said the shift toward involuntary treatment was a knee-jerk political reaction to try and offer a simple solution to a complex problem.
The involuntary care issue came up in last October’s provincial election, with both Eby and B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad promising some form of involuntary treatment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2025
