Involuntary care beds at Surrey Pretrial Centre are officially open for men in custody – but with construction of a designated space not yet complete, the beds are temporarily contained in a segregation unit.
Surrey Pretrial Services Centre, which is a high-security provincial remand centre for men awaiting trial, will host 10 beds to treat individuals with severe mental-health, substance use and addiction challenges who are being held in custody. Maple Ridge's Alouette Correctional Centre (Monarch Homes) will host 20 beds for individuals needing long-term care and housing.
Jennifer Duff, chief operating officer, B.C. Mental Health and Substance Use Services, said the space at Surrey Pretrial is being renovated to accommodate the involuntary care beds.
"We are making quite extensive renovations to a former living unit that exists in this facility, and we're making those renovations for important reasons: one, for the humanity and treatment of the people who we will be caring for, and two, for the safety of our clinical teams and staff who work in the facility," she said.
Dr. Daniel Vigo – appointed by Premier David Eby in June 2024 as B.C.'s first chief scientific adviser on psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders – added that this "intervention decreases the use of segregation."
"It is incredibly better to have someone, once they are put in segregation for their episode of agitation of psychosis, etc., to treat that person so that they can come out of segregation with a stable, sustainable treatment plan."
Vigo added that this unit ensures that a person can receive the mental health care they need immediately instead of having to wait for a bed in a forensic hospital – where staff then have to deal not only with the mental health episode but with the "accumulated harms that result from untreated segregation."
"So it's really important for us to understand this piece, this decreases the use of segregation, and this allows for people to seamlessly transition to less restrictive environments," he said.
As of Thursday (April 24), there were no incarcerated individuals in the Surrey unit, although one man in the centre was being assessed for potential admission, Duff added.
Fatima Benrabah, a registered nurse with Correctional Health Services, said she was excited about the new unit.
“This is a pivotal moment for us, as it represents not only a significant step forward in the care we provide, but a progressive approach to mental health within our communities,” Benrabah said. “Once a patient is placed under the Mental Health Act, they will be admitted to the mental health unit, where we will initiate assessments, interventions, medications, without delay in patient care. Our team will consist of physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, registered nurses, such as myself, registered psychiatric nurses and pharmacists, and we will collaborate with the patient to deliver patient-centred care.”
“This unit is the first of its kind, where patients receive care and treatment without stigma. In the context of incarceration, this support and care will be available to our patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke expressed her gratitude to Dr. Vigo and the province for opening these beds in Surrey.
"It is one of those challenges that I think many, many cities are facing," Locke said. "With over 1,060 individuals experiencing homelessness in Surrey — a staggering 65 per cent increase since 2020 — it's evident that our resources are falling short."
"'I'm actually very, very pleased to hear this work that Dr. Vigo has done and that the province is delivering to our city. So we're quite grateful for that and I'm very glad to see that the first program is starting here in Surrey," Locke added.
Two community groups, Moms Stop the Harm and Surrey Union of Drug Users, expressed their concerns about involuntary care and B.C.'s drug policy.
Moms Stop the Harm is a network of Canadian families impacted by substance use-related harms and deaths who advocate for changes to drug policy. Board chair Traci Letts wondered what the province's care policy meant for the average person who uses drugs.
Eby said he could understand the concern some may have.
"We have a really unfortunate history in the province of involuntarily detaining different groups — forced treatment, sterilization, residential schools, you name it; the legacy of institutional care in this province is not a positive one. So I understand why people feel anxious," Eby said.
"There is a critical component to the work that Dr. Vigo is doing, which is to recognize the humanity and the dignity of each person that will receive treatment. Leaving individuals to die in a ditch exploited by others with a serious brain injury and mental health issue to the point where they can't care for themselves is not respectful of their rights, of their humanity, so we're going to intervene.
"For the vast majority of people that are struggling with addiction, this has absolutely nothing to do with you. We're opening specific voluntary beds across the province. We've doubled the number of people to 5,000 people last year who received voluntary treatment through provincially funded addiction beds in this province, and we're continuing to expand those voluntary resources."
Eby added that these are "targeted beds" for people already in custody.
"Their liberty has already been taken away. They're in jail, and we're providing additional care so that, on release, they're either going to a facility where they can get the care that they need, or they're stabilized and connected with care in the community, so that they're interrupting that cycle of offending," Eby added.
Meanwhile, Surrey Union of Drug Users wondered how the new unit would manage benzodiazepine withdrawals for people detained under this policy.
Dr. Vigo said managing withdrawals is "enormously complex."
This is something that psychiatrists have been doing for decades in the community, helping people wean off benzodiazepines, he said. Now this same level of treatment can be given to eligible incarcerated individuals, Vigo added. "Imagine a patient going off this combination of drugs on their own in segregation. So now we're doing that with patients who unknowingly became addicted to those by using the illegal drug supply."
The SUDU is calling for increased oversight of addiction and recovery centres, particularly in light of the recovery centre in March.
“Instead of involuntary care, why doesn’t the government keep track of the recovery house operators? Is there any oversight? Money is being wasted, and the people who need those resources most are being screwed," Sandy Mavety, member of the SUDU research and policy committee, said. “Why are we continuing to throw money at an unregulated system that has not served us well? ‘Licensing’ is a load of crap.”
Several B.C. Conservative MLAs are saying the new plan is not enough, as it leaves a group of individuals who do meet the criteria for involuntary care but who are not in custody.
Surrey-Cloverdale MLAs Elenore Sturko stated, “British Columbia needs compassionate intervention legislation for involuntary care which combines community-based programs and bed-based involuntary treatment when necessary, for people who are a danger to themselves or others because of drug use.”
Eby said on Thursday that the province has plans to open additional beds in communities across the province later this spring.
"Work continues on more than 400 mental-health care beds at new and expanded hospitals in B.C., all of which can provide involuntary care under the act," noted the province in a news release Thursday.
