B.C. Premier David Eby said Friday that a former youth detention facility in Prince George will be turned into an involuntary mental-health treatment centre, and a site in Surrey will be renovated to provide similar services.

The news follows Eby’s announcement at the Union of B.C. Municipalities conference in September that new involuntary care facilities would be coming to Surrey and Prince George, following the development of services at the Surrey pretrial jail and the Alouette jail for women in Maple Ridge.

“This facility will particularly focus on people who, because of their mental-health issues, their serious addiction challenges, and too often a brain injury associated with that addiction, are unable to ask for help and need the opportunity to stabilize and then transition into the voluntary care system,” said Eby about the Prince George facility.

Involuntary care is designed for people with substance-use or mental-health challenges and whom a doctor or nurse practitioner has deemed unable to help themselves. They’re admitted to involuntary care under the Mental Health Act and can be kept indefinitely if their doctor deems it necessary.

Daniel Vigo, B.C.’s chief scientific adviser for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders, said that around 60 people have already received treatment at the Surrey pretrial jail and that the results have been positive, with people’s mental health improving and violent incidents going down.

According to the Health and Infrastructure ministries, the site in Prince George will have 72 beds, including 60 existing beds and 12 new, purpose-built beds. The province and Northern Health have partnered with the Lheidli T͛enneh First Nation on the facility, with a total budget of $92 million. The first 24 beds are expected to open in December 2027, with the remainder coming in 2028.

Conservative MLAs had been asking for an update, with Prince George-North Cariboo MLA Sheldon Clare questioning the government’s lack of transparency about the facility in his home community.

“Families and businesses across northern B.C. are dealing every day with the consequences of severe addiction, untreated mental illness, brain injuries, homelessness and repeat offending,” said Clare in May. “The NDP government announced this facility with significant fanfare, but months later communities are still waiting for basic information. Northerners deserve transparency, accountability and action.”