A request by capital region mayors to delay closure of the Victoria Youth Custody Centre got a quick thumbs down from the B.C. government Thursday.
Minister of Children and Family Development Stephanie Cadieux issued a terse statement reiterating plans to shut the facility without consulting local officials.
“The decision has been made and I have no comment on the mayors’ proposal,” she said.
“We continue to be in discussions with police and other youth justice stakeholders on the transfer of youth to the Burnaby Youth Detention Centre.”
The minister has faced a barrage of criticism since announcing last month that the government can no longer afford to keep the youth jail open to house an average of 15 boys a night. The facility was built for 60, but has been budgeted to hold a maximum of 24 since the girls’ unit closed in 2012.
The move will save the province about $4.5 million a year. Offenders will be held at the two remaining youth custody centres in Burnaby and Prince George, and some Victoria youth will spend time in police cells on pre-court detention, remand and short sentences.
Police chiefs, First Nations leaders, criminal lawyers, family members, the provincial health officer, the province’s child watchdog and all 13 Capital Region governments have urged Cadieux to reconsider.
After a meeting this week, mayors and police chiefs called for a meeting with Cadieux and warned that every police department in the region will refuse to hold youth in their cells.
Green Party MLA Andrew Weaver, who represents Oak Bay-Gordon Head, said the issue highlights the Liberal government’s disdain for consulting the public.
“This is just another example of the kind of arrogance that we’re seeing from this government which seems to believe that they’ve been given a mandate to do whatever they want,” he said. “Where’s the dialogue? Where’s the discourse? Where’s the discussion of other uses of this facility?”
Weaver said government should be sitting down with the community to look at using parts of the jail as a remand centre for women or as a youth mental health facility.
“There’s a crisis in Victoria in terms of facilities and capacity for adolescent mental health,” he said. “People don’t know where to go, there’s not enough capacity to deal with them. I’ve had constituents where I’ve had to get involved and try to phone emergency services to try to get adolescent mental health care.”
Island Health admitted about 150 children and youth to its Ledger House facility in Saanich last year, up from 100 in 2011-12. It can take up to two months to get a bed, depending on the urgency of the case. About 20 children are waiting for service at any time.
The health authority has been renovating Ledger, as well as the pediatric unit at Victoria General Hospital, to better support youth with mental illness. But officials recognize that there is a need for additional supports for children in crisis, said spokeswoman Sarah Plank.
“We are always open to exploring ways that we can improve our services for vulnerable youth,” she said. “That includes working with our partners at the Ministry for Children and Families.”
