Prince George involuntary care facility timeline questioned

Eby said the province is choosing existing buildings where possible in order to move faster than it could with brand-new construction.

“The work isn’t done. There are renovations that need to take place here. Hiring needs to take place, to staff these facilities. But, the contracting is already underway, for the improvements that are necessary and our goal is to have these open and fully operating, in the next 18 to 24 months,” Eby said.

That 18-to-24-month window is now at the centre of criticism from the opposition.

Claire Rattée, the MLA for Skeena and Shadow Minister for Mental Health, Addictions and Housing Supports, said she supports the need for mandatory care, but questions why it will take up to two years to activate a facility that already exists.

“Part of the problem, I think, is that this is too long of a timeline. There’s just no reason that I can see short of potentially buying time, because they know they’re going to have a staffing issue, which feels very performative, if that’s the case,” Rattée said.

The province says the Prince George site currently has about 60 beds, but renovations will expand capacity to 70 while also converting the building into a health-care and rehabilitation environment. The centre is expected to include clinical care, treatment programming and supports aimed at stabilizing patients before they transition into longer-term care.

Provincial officials have said involuntary admission would only happen under the existing Mental Health Act, after a patient is assessed by physicians and found to meet specific criteria. The province has also emphasized that involuntary care is not meant to be a broad response to addiction, but a targeted intervention for people with the most complex needs.

The announcement fulfills a commitment first made publicly at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities annual general meeting in September 2025, when Eby said the province had identified locations for the next phase of involuntary care expansion. The commitment was later repeated in the provincial budget.

For Prince George, the new facility is being presented as a northern hub that could serve patients from across the region. Local health-care leaders have long argued that northern hospitals are not designed to manage patients requiring extended psychiatric care, leaving people in acute-care beds for long periods while they wait for more appropriate supports.

Rattée said the need is especially urgent in northern and northwestern B.C., where access to treatment has historically been limited.

She said the delayed opening does not address the immediate crisis facing people right now.

“I think that overall the main concern that I have is that it feels performative. I don’t feel like we’re actually going to get there. I really hope that we do. I really hope that the government is taking this seriously and recognizes the need. But the timelines are very long,” Rattée said.

She also argued the province should have invested much earlier in voluntary treatment options, saying the lack of those supports has contributed to the current need for mandatory care beds.

The government says construction and renovation work is already underway, with contracts being put in place for the upgrades needed at the Gunn Road site. Hiring will also be required before the facility can begin accepting patients.

The Prince George and Surrey projects build on more than 2,000 existing mental-health beds across the province, including beds where patients can already receive involuntary care under the Mental Health Act.

The province says it is also assessing future bed capacity in other regions, including Vancouver Island and the Okanagan.

For now, the Prince George facility is expected to become operational sometime within the next two years — a timeline the province says reflects the work still required, and critics say is too long for people already in crisis.

by Nick Dube

Prince George involuntary care facility timeline questioned

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