Former John Volken Academy building in Surrey will house new involuntary care facility

Former John Volken Academy building in Surrey will house new involuntary care facility

Published 1:54 pm Saturday, July 11, 2026

The building that previously housed the Surrey-based John Volken Academy recovery centre, which was ordered to close following an investigation into allegations of mistreatment, will be renovated into a secure involuntary care facility for individuals with complex mental health and addiction issues.

The provincial government made the announcement on Friday, July 10.

The building at 6833/6869 King George Blvd. will be renovated to have 60 involuntary care beds. It has a construction budget of $57 million and is expected to open in the spring of 2028.

In April 2025, the province announced the opening of a unit housing 10 involuntary care beds at Surrey Pretrial Centre, a high-security provincial remand centre for men awaiting trial. The beds are for individuals with severe mental-health, substance use and addiction challenges who are being held in custody. Maple Ridge’s Alouette Correctional Centre (Monarch Homes) also hosts 20 beds for individuals needing long-term care and housing.

B.C. introduced the new involuntary care program in 2024 to provide clarity for providers on how and when to use the Mental Health Act to compel treatment, and to develop places for people to receive long-term care who suffer from concurrent substance use, mental health and brain injury-related disorders.

Premier David Eby announced the plans for the new Surrey facility on Friday, July 10, at the site of another new involuntary care facility in Prince George. Both units will be located in already-existing structures to save costs.

“Every person struggling with severe mental illness and addiction is someone’s child, parent, sibling or friend. These new beds will help ensure they get the specialized care they need to recover and rebuild their lives,” Eby said. “Whether people come to care voluntarily or are unable to ask for help, no one should be left in our streets when they are at their most vulnerable. By helping people onto a path to recovery, we can build safer communities while giving more people the opportunity to heal.”

The former John Volken Academy recovery centre was shut down in 2025 by Ross Hayward, an assistant deputy minister in the Ministry of Health, following more than two years of wrangling between the government and the JVA over how the residential facility in Surrey and its farm in Langley operated.

Previous interviews with some former clients and employees of JVA confirmed that the issues Hayward’s reports identified were widespread and longstanding.

READ MORE: Former Volken Academy clients describe conditions at facility ordered to close

-With files from Matthew Claxton & Mark Page