BURSTOkanagan mayors will be bringing their calls for a mandatory care facility directly to the Province’s ministers at the upcoming Union of B.C. Municipalities.
Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas, West Kelowna Mayor Gord Milsom, Penticton Mayor Julius Bloomfield, Vernon Mayor Victor Cumming, Oliver Mayor Martin Johansen and Mary Wilbur of the Osoyoos Indian Band spoke to media outside the Okanagan Correctional Centre (OCC) in Oliver to utilize it for mandatory care for those in the grips of addiction.
“The need has been demonstrated, and the need continues to grow on a daily basis, what is missing is action,” said Dyas. “We are asking for commitments, timelines, and treatment capacity that reflects the scale of the challenge that affects our region and our municipalities, and we believe Okanagan Correctional Centre deserves serious evaluation as part of that solution.”
Bloomfield noted that the traditional approaches to addiction no longer fit the current landscape, with new drugs like fentanyl and xylazine in the supply, and that voluntary treatment system does not work for everyone.
“We believe that there has to be some kind of secure care that is available for these folks that need to get stabilization before they can start the recovery process,” said Bloomfield. “We can’t just stand round and keep talking about it.”
OCC is one of 10 facilities of its kind in the province. Dyas and Bloomfield pointed to the province’s interest in setting up a facility in Prince George as a good sign, but emphasized the need to be something local.
Bloomfield added that converting a portion of OCC would be far cheaper than building a whole facility from scratch, while also serving as a more appropriate facility to the scale of the issue.
The facility was built in 2016 and has capacity for 400 cells, with 200 occupied on average according to the Ministry of Public Safety.
“According to the research that we’ve heard from the province, they need about 2,500 beds for this kind of approach,” said Bloomfield. “You can either build those facilities, and that’s going to take years and billions of dollars, or you can you can utilize facilities such as the Oliver Correctional Centre behind us, which is under-utilized and is available now, and so you’re not paying for the bricks and mortar; you’re just paying for the renovation work.”
Information from the Ministry of Health, provided to Black Press along with a statement in response to questions about the mayors’ proposal, stated that there are currently more than 2,000 mental-health beds in B.C. that can provide care to people who are admitted involuntarily under the Mental Health Act, with 258 beds in the Interior Health region.
“We are committed to expanding the capacity for specialized treatment for people with complex mental health and substance use disorders, including acquired brain injury, across the province,” the Ministry stated.
“It’s important to ensure locations for future specialized treatment facilities will help people in their recovery and that we have health care professionals on site to provide appropriate care when needed. That being said, we are actively working with Interior Health, the Ministry of Infrastructure, and Dr. [Daniel] Vigo[, the Province’s chief adviser for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders] to identify suitable locations for expansion of specialized mental health and substance use beds in the Interior region.
Since OCC has opened, although it has not been borne out in local police reporting, the region has grappled with residents’ concerns and feelings that OCC has led to an increase in crime amid the belief that prisoners are let out from the facility onto the streets of the South Okanagan, which only grew louder after Greyhound shut down operations several years ago.
Johansen, who is not running for re-election, acknowledged that the community would need to be involved in the conversations about the use of the facility going forward.
“One of the reasons I’m standing here is to make sure that we are able to get these conversations started, and I think it’s important that when we do get those conversations started, we’re all at the table to talk about the challenges of using this facility in that way,” said Johansen. “I don’t see this as a silver bullet that’s going to solve every problem that we have, but fundamentally we have people living in our communities, whether it’s down here in the South Okanagan or up through Kelowna, that are just not bail to take care of themselves and make the decisions they need to make to provide a better path forward for themselves.”
Throughout the year, Dyas has commented that the facility should be used for mandatory care for those in need, stating that there is currently no regional mandatory correctional centre.
During a Community Safety Business Forum held in January, Dyas said he and other mayors and Chiefs of the Okanagan have signed a letter pushing for the Oliver site to be advanced.
On Apr. 2 of this year, Dyas, Milsom, Bloomfield, and Cumming issued a joint statement on multiple matters, including the need for a mandatory correctional facility.
– With files from Jordy Cunningham