New involuntary care facilities to be opened in Surrey and Prince George<\/p>\n
Published 4:14 pm Friday, July 10, 2026<\/p>\n
The B.C. government is creating two new secure facilities to involuntarily hold and treat people with combined mental health and addiction diagnoses, one in Surrey and another in Prince George.<\/p>\n
Premier David Eby announced the plans on Friday, July 10, at the site of the new facility in Prince George. Both units will be located in already-existing structures to save costs.<\/p>\n
The Prince George centre, previously announced without site details, will be located on Gunn Road in a renovated youth corrections facility. This will provide 72 treatment beds and has a $92-million construction budget.<\/p>\n
In Surrey, a 60-bed centre will be located on King George Boulevard at the site of the shuttered John Volken Academy rehabilitation centre, which was closed<\/a> in 2025 amid abuse allegations<\/a>.<\/p>\n That unit will add another regional involuntary care centre to the Surrey Pretrial Centre, which has 10 care beds for people awaiting trial, and Maple Ridge\u2019s Spiritwood Homes, formerly Alouette Homes, which has space for 18 people.<\/p>\n The Prince George centre is expected to open in phases beginning in December of 2027 and be fully completed by the end of the following year. Surrey\u2019s new facility has a construction budget of $57 million and is expected to open in the spring of 2028.<\/p>\n 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<\/p>\n Eby said the government is still working to identify more buildings to renovate and create similar care facilities in the Okanagan and on Vancouver Island.<\/p>\n The province also has another 2,000 beds available for people held involuntarily under the Mental Health Act, but those are mostly in hospital units that do not necessarily have specific services to treat people with substance use addiction and are not designed for long-term care.<\/p>\n Dr. Daniel Vigo, the province\u2019s special advisor on mental health and addictions, says the program has been \u201csuccessful beyond expectations\u201d as it has provided a permanent home for people who would often otherwise require constant hospital care, including 15 of the province\u2019s most \u201ccomplex and behaviourally challenged\u201d patients.<\/p>\n Vigo also says the \u201ctide is finally turning\u201d on the toxic drug health emergency partly because the province has \u201csignificantly changed tack\u201d on how the crisis is being approached, discontinuing \u201cfailed\u201d policies and refocising on treatment.<\/p>\n