12 hours ago
B.C. desperately needs a 2nd forensic psychiatric hospital, report finds
B.C. needs a second forensic psychiatric hospital to deal with a constant demand for beds, a new report has found.
A forensic psychiatric hospital is a facility where people who have committed a crime or been involved with the law have been found not criminally responsible for their actions.
Under Canadian law, a person is found not criminally responsible if a judge finds they committed a criminal act under the influence of mental illness and they cannot possess the capacity to understand that their behaviour was wrong.
There is only one forensic psychiatric hospital in the province, located in Coquitlam and known as Colony Farm. The facility has 190 beds.
The province also has six forensic clinics for people who have received a conditional discharge, where they do not have to attend Colony Farm but must take part in monitoring and ongoing treatments.
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The annual report from the British Columbia Review Board states that the number of people found not criminally responsible remains the same as the previous year, which remains the highest it has been since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the number of accused people discharged by the board who have had their cases closed has decreased from pre-pandemic years.
'It is likely that the impact of dramatically reduced community-based services for forensic patients,' the report states.
As a result, the board found that Colony Farm is under constant pressure as more new accused people are being admitted than are being discharged.
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'Of course, the Board cannot discharge patients when it is unsafe to do so,' the report states.
'Further, the Board regularly hears of accused persons who are in the community but are not complying with the Board's orders. In many cases, these accused ought to be returned to custody.'
With limited beds available, the board said an obvious solution is a second forensic psychiatric hospital.
'The Board notes that Ontario has 11 forensic hospitals serving a population of 15.9 million. B.C., by contrast, has one forensic hospital serving a population of 5.6 million,' according to the report.
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4:14
B.C. premier comments on Vancouver Chinatown stabbings
Colony Farm was thrust into the spotlight again after a man who was on an unescorted leave from there stabbed three people at a festival in Chinatown in 2023.
Blair Evan Donnelly pleaded not guilty earlier this year in the stabbing case.
However, this was not the first time he had been involved with the law.
In 2006, Donnelly said God wanted him to kill his 16-year-old daughter, Stephanie, when they were living in Kitimat, B.C.
According to court documents, on Nov. 23, 2006, Donnelly went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, stabbing his daughter several times, first in the chest and then in the neck.
After the attack, Donnelly went to the church and prayed, according to the documents.
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On Jan. 23, 2008, a judge found Donnelly not criminally responsible due to mental disorder in the second-degree murder of his daughter.
He was sent to Colony Farm.
In 2009, Donnelly was before the courts again in Surrey.
That file is currently sealed, but according to a 2011 report in the Vancouver Sun, the B.C. Review Board granted Donnelly unescorted leave and a violent incident involving a weapon took place.
The story also said that in February 2009, Donnelly was granted unsupervised community visits up to 28 days in length. It was during one of these visits in October later that year that he stabbed a friend and was held criminally responsible for that incident.
In 2023, then-Vancouver police Chief Const. Adam Palmer said Donnelly was out on a day pass when he allegedly stabbed three people in an unprovoked attack at the family event in Chinatown.
Donnelly could go to trial later this year.
