Photo: KTW file

The Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre.

Kamloops city council wants to see the provincial government expand its involuntary care programming into the Interior, suggesting such facilities could be embedded within provincial prisons.

In an 8-1 vote during last week's meeting, city council adopted a motion put forward by Coun. Bill Sarai and Coun. Dale Bass recommending lobbying the province to establish involuntary care centres in the region.

The motion noted B.C. Premier David Eby said his government will create involuntary care centres for people living with severe, complex mental health and addiction issues, including facilities in prisons.

Sarai said he and Bass have been part of the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre community advisory board for two years.

He said he's learned there are prison wings that are “absolutely empty” and could be used for another purpose.

“What the premier is saying, and what we're saying, and what some of the staff in our correctional institutions are saying is those wings could be part of a healthcare centre for people that are struggling on our streets,” he said.

Coun. Nancy Bepple told council she wouldn’t be voting in favour of the resolution. She said she felt setting up such a healthcare facility in a prison was “problematic in so many ways.”

She noted tens of thousands of people are already apprehended under the Mental Health Act without having to put them into jails.

“To me, linking healthcare with incarceration in a jail is just not the way to go,” Bepple said.

Bass said the doctor who is advising the province on involuntary care has said this type of program will only treat a select group of people suffering from the most severe mental health issues.

“It’s not the unhoused — it’s the flagrantly mentally ill who might have a comorbidity with addiction,” she said.

Sarai said he believes the relatively small and targeted group of people who need additional care would be able to get the help they need through these facilities, a benefit that outweighs any drawbacks stemming from being located behind the walls of a prison.

“If you talk to healthcare workers, there's individuals that are in our hospital that shouldn't be there. They're a danger to the staff. They're a danger to themselves. They need a little bit higher level of care — and that's what this would be,” Sarai said.

Coun. Margot Middleton said she didn’t think it was prudent to wait for years for new buildings to be constructed for this purpose.

“This, to me, is a stop-gap measure to try and increase the capacity in our region,” she said.

"Our eye should never be taken off the long term goals of having more capacity built in more appropriate facilities in more appropriate areas, but this needs to happen now — not 10 years from now, and I don't think we have the luxury of waiting.”

Coun. Katie Neustaeter said she harboured some concerns, but she would be supporting the motion, noting the need for facilities that can provide safety for the severely mentally ill and others in the community.

She agreed there would be a “very small segment” of people that would qualify for involuntary care.

“We are not talking about every person who's living vulnerably, or using or misusing drugs. And so I think it's really important that we don't change the narrative on what's coming forward right now,” she said.

“This is not a big broad conversation we are having — it’s about a very specific population.”