Sobering centre opens in Prince George, years after Gitxsan man died of alcohol poisoning in police custody

A long-awaited sobering centre has opened Prince George, B.C., years after it was first recommended at a coroner's inquest into the death of a Gitxsan man in police custody.

The move is part of the government's response to calls from police across the province who say public intoxication should be treated as a medical, rather than criminal, issue.

Calls for the centre in Prince George, a city of nearly 90,000 people in north-central B.C, gained momentum following the death of 51-year-old Jamie Shanoss, who was arrested in November 2016 after an officer found him intoxicated and sleeping on a sidewalk.

He was taken to RCMP cell T-1, where people who are intoxicated are taken to sober up and which police at the time commonly referred to as "the drunk tank," according to later testimony from RCMP.

He died there, his body found between three other cell mates.

At a coroner's inquest in 2018, a seven-person jury found the Kitwanga man's death was accidental, caused by acute alcohol poisoning aggravated by cocaine use.

Among the jury's recommendations was the creation of a sobering centre — which was heavily endorsed by Prince George RCMP Supt. Shaun Wright.

A safer alternative to a cell

An inspector at the time of Shanoss's death, Wright told the inquest that the practice of locking up intoxicated people in police cells was not safe.

Wright estimated the number of people locked up in cell T-1 annually was in the high hundreds.

"There should be adequate resources to provide some sort of intermediate medical care facility where they can be properly treated and supervised," he testified.

When he was promoted to superintendent, Wright would repeat that call in annual reports to council, among resources police needed.

However, it was not until the summer of 2022 that the province finally announced funding for a sobering centre in the city, promising 24/7 services by fall that year in collaboration with Northern Health.

"This is not going to be a party place — this is a medically supervised place for someone to sleep safely when they're acutely intoxicated," said then-minister of mental health and addictions, Sheila Malcolmson, on a visit to the proposed location.

But the fall construction date came and went. This summer, Northern Health blamed the delay on a lengthy provincial procurement project to find the right operating partner.

A need for more medical facilities across B.C.

In the meantime, other organizations joined the call for similar facilities across the province.

Kamloops first asked for a sobering centre in 2016, and this past May approved $30,000 to fund an updated business case to present to the province. Councillors expressed frustration that their previous plea had seemingly fallen on "deaf ears."

The plan was also endorsed by RCMP Supt. Jeff Pelley, who said colleagues are regularly dealing with people who are intoxicated but not committing any crime.

In February 2023, the head of B.C.'s Independent Investigations Office, Ronald J. MacDonald called on the province to bring health care to police detachments, in a report on a Vancouver Island man who was arrested for public intoxication and died in police custody from acute alcohol withdrawal.

MacDonald found while Comox Valley RCMP did all they could, they are not the most appropriate body to help people who are intoxicated.

"You have a person, who has a health-care issue, and we're putting them into a jail cell," MacDonald said, calling it an outdated practice from when addiction was treated as a crime.

"I've seen many, many cases of individuals who are picked up by police for some form of intoxication, placed in cells and wind up dead."

A CBC News investigation in 2021 found that since 2019, more than 60 people arrested for intoxication had died in police holding cells across Canada.

B.C.'s Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General told CBC News the government is "building a comprehensive system of treatment" and was working to create more space for sobering beds — including in Prince George.

Prince George project finally open

This week, the sobering centre's long-awaited opening in Prince George was announced.

It is being operated by Carrier Sekani Family Services, a health and wellness provider run by several First Nations in Prince George and surrounding communities.

The 10-bed facility provides space for people age 18 and older to safely recover from intoxication, according to a release from the mental health and addictions ministry.

Patients will be able to check in on their own or they can be referred by family, supportive care persons, health-care providers or emergency services.

Beds will be available four nights a week from Thursday to Sunday, despite originally being announced as a 24/7 service.

The ministry said it still plans to offer additional services and expand the beds' availability to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but did not provide a timeline.

The decision to open below full capacity, the ministry said, was due to "urgent need."

"Opening in a phased way will allow more people to access the support they need rather than waiting longer for more service capacity," a ministry spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

"There is a vital need for people to have access to sobering and assessment services close to home."