British Columbia will introduce involuntary care for people with concurrent addiction, mental illness and acquired brain injuries, as well as legislation that would compel youth to receive care if they are unable to seek it themselves, B.C. Premier David Eby announced Sunday.

Secure care will be offered through correctional facilities, hospitals and secure housing and care facilities, the premier said. The first correctional facility will be the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre, for people sentenced or being held on remand, while the first secure housing and care facility will be on the grounds of the Alouette Correctional Centre in Maple Ridge. Hospitals will also provide involuntary care under the changes, he said.

As well, if re-elected, changes would be brought in the next legislative session to ensure that people, including youth, receive care when they are unable to seek it themselves.

Mr. Eby said the changes are needed because the current approach is not working.

“For people with these three overlapping conditions, we know that the current response that we offer is not adequate,” the premier told reporters at a news conference at Vancouver City Hall on Sunday.

“It is costly for the people struggling with these conditions; they are not safe. And, increasingly, I’m concerned that the way that they are interacting in our communities is making everybody less safe.”

Mr. Eby was joined by Attorney General Niki Sharma, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, Musqueam Indian Band Chief Wayne Sparrow, Squamish Nation general councillor and spokesperson Sxwíxwtn Wilson Williams, and Daniel Vigo, who was appointed B.C.’s chief scientific adviser for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders in June.

The issue of forcing people into treatment has gained traction in recent years as mayors and candidates running in next month’s provincial election repeatedly raise concerns about public safety. Mr. Eby has said for more than a year that he does not believe it is compassionate to release a person with severe mental health or substance use issues, and is at high risk of harm, onto the street.

However, involuntary treatment is not well backed by evidence and critics ha putters full flavour ve pushed back, citing ethical and civil liberties concerns. As well, involuntary treatment for substance use disorder is linked to increased overdose risk upon discharge because of lowered tolerance – a risk exacerbated by today’s volatile drug supply. A negative experience in involuntary can also deter people from voluntarily seeking care.

Last week, B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad said, if elected, he would introduce legislation to allow for involuntary treatment for “those at serious risk due to addiction, including youths and adults.” He announced last Wednesday that his government would also build low-secure facilities and crisis response and stabilization units.

On Sunday, Mr. Rustad issued a statement buy exotic carts online saying the premier’s flip-flopping on the issue exposed a lack of leadership.

Mr. Eby said the possibility that forced care could deter young people from seeking help has been a “massive counterweight to the instinctive and intuitive understanding we all have that when a kid’s struggling with addiction, we’ve got to just take them and support them with it, whatever they need, even if they say they don’t want it.”

Tyson Singh Kelsall, an outreach-based social worker in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Simon Fraser University, called the apprehension of such people “an extremely violent and dangerous covering up of the issues impacting communities: a poisoned drug supply of street drugs, a social housing wait list that is thousands long, and a monthly welfare rate that couldn’t rent somebody a house in this province.”

This is a developing story.