Iain Black, a contender in the Conservative Party of British Columbia’s leadership race, is proposing a major redevelopment of the former Riverview Hospital lands in southeast Coquitlam, pitching the project as a cornerstone of a broader reset of the provincial government’s approach to mental health, addiction, and public safety.
Today, Black said a provincial government under his leadership would transform the site into a large, modern treatment campus offering services ranging from addiction recovery and brain injury rehabilitation to secure care for people who cannot seek help on their own. He framed the plan as a sharp break from the current direction under Premier David Eby’s BC NDP-led provincial government.
“Under the NDP, British Columbia’s mental health and addictions crisis has been allowed to spill onto our streets, into our hospitals, and into our communities across the province,” said Black in a statement. “The current approach is failing the very people it claims to help. We need to pivot — and fast.”
A similar promise on repurposing the former Riverview Hospital lands was also made by the BC Conservatives during their campaign in the October 2024 provincial election.
Black emphasized that his proposal is not about resurrecting an outdated institution, but about addressing what he described as a cycle that leaves people with severe mental illness and addictions bouncing between emergency departments, courts, shelters, and encampments without lasting support.
“This is unacceptable in British Columbia,” he said. “Under my leadership, Riverview will once again be a place of care — not abandonment.”
Under the “world-class” plan, the new Riverview Hospital would emphasize treatment, recovery, and transition, including what Black called secure and compassionate involuntary care for those who pose a risk to themselves or others, or who are too ill to seek help. He said decisions would be guided by clinicians, protected by legal safeguards and subject to regular review.
Black described the Riverview property as a practical starting point for expanding treatment capacity, noting it is already owned by the provincial government, is still used for health-care purposes, and lends itself to a campus-style model. He said shifting spending toward long-term care and recovery could ease pressure on hospitals, police, and the justice system over time, rather than continuing what he characterized as costly, ineffective short-term responses.
In 2021, the provincial government opened the all-new Red Fish Healing Centre for Mental Health and Addiction on the former Riverview Hospital lands. This $130-million modern facility provides 105 beds for treating mental illness and addictions simultaneously. But it only provided a net gain of 11 beds compared to the facility it replaced, the outdated Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addiction.
The 2021-opened Red Fish Healing Centre for Mental Health and Addiction on the former Riverview Hospital lands in Coquitlam. (Kenneth Chan)
The 2021-opened Red Fish Healing Centre for Mental Health and Addiction on the former Riverview Hospital lands in Coquitlam. (Kenneth Chan)
The 20th-century facilities of Riverview Hospital officially closed in 2012, following its long, gradual wind-down that accelerated in the 1990s and 2000s in favour of a regional and community care approach, which failed to materialize. As a result, many of the institution’s former patients found their way to the Downtown Eastside, living within its supply of old, dilapidated SROs.
“Compassion means treatment; compassion means safety”
Framing the issue in moral terms, Black added, “Compassion means treatment. Compassion means safety. And compassion means having the courage to act. Rebuilding Riverview is about doing what works — with honesty, compassion, and leadership.”
Black’s proposal also includes preserving key elements of the 244-acre site. He said redevelopment would focus on reusing heritage buildings and protecting the historic arboretum and mature tree canopy that have long been part of the grounds.
He acknowledged the role of the Kwikwetlem First Nation, which has been involved through the provincial government’s master planning process launched in 2021 for the site, now formally known as səmiq̓wəʔelə. Black said he would review the work already done and engage the Kwikwetlem “in good faith” to chart a path forward that respects the land and its history while responding to the scale of the current crisis.
However, sources previously told Daily Hive Urbanized that the provincial government’s renewed efforts beginning in 2021 to identify new uses and create a master plan for the Riverview Hospital site, including potentially building new, modern, substantial mental health and addictions treatment facilities, have stalled because of Kwikwetlem’s opposition to having a greater concentration of such facilities in the area.
Under the previous BC Liberals-led provincial government, BC Housing also previously performed some public consultation on the site’s future from 2012 to 2015, which produced a highly preliminary concept that included new modern addictions and mental health treatment facilities and a mix of housing options, with market housing components helping fund the construction of the new healthcare facilities.
Moreover, in late 2025, it was publicly revealed for the first time that the Kwikwetlem First Nation is seeking Aboriginal title over public lands in southeast Coquitlam and southwest Port Coquitlam — large properties owned by the provincial government and City of Port Coquitlam, including the Riverview Hospital lands. The First Nation first filed the lawsuit in 2016, but the litigation process is currently in a state of “abeyance,” which means the court case is temporarily paused, as a negotiation process led by the provincial government is currently occurring outside of the court setting.
Riverview Hospital (Sumiqwuelu) in Coquitlam. (BC Housing)
Previous concept; possible redevelopment uses for Riverview Hospital (Sumiqwuelu) in Coquitlam. (BC Housing)
Under the BC Liberals, Black was the MLA representing a large area of the Tri-Cities of Metro Vancouver between 2005 and 2011, a period when he also served as the minister of small business, technology and economic development and minister of labour for Premier Gordon Campbell’s administration.
Prior to politics, he had a career in business and tech. Between 2011 and 2019, he was also the president and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.
The BC Conservatives will select a new party leader on May 30, 2026. The leadership race was triggered by John Rustad’s resignation in December 2025 following a prolonged period of internal division within the party. Trevor Halford is currently serving as the interim party leader.
A number of candidates have already been publicly announced. In addition to Black, other candidates include BC Conservative Kamloops Centre MLA and former longtime Kamloops mayor Peter Milobar and BC Conservative Prince George-North Cariboo MLA Sheldon Clare, as well as political commentator Caroline Elliot, Warren Hamm, and Yuri Fulmer.