Kamloops moves ahead with sobering centre pitch

Kamloops is again looking to the province to fund a sobering centre in an effort to free up city cells of its intoxicated inmates. On Dec. 5, city council voted to send its business case to the province, hoping it will fund the project through Interior Health. The city paid $30,000 for a new proposal, finding the Phoenix Centre near Royal Inland Hospital to be the best location and suggesting it would be about $2.6 million for renovations and startup costs. It's not the first time the city put its case to the province in a bid for a sobering centre in Kamloops. A previous version was pitched in 2016, before BC declared a public health emergency over opioids and overdoses. The original case was "propelled" by the death of John Paul Gibbons, who was arrested after he was found intoxicated in public. On Nov. 20, 2009, he was found dead in the schoolyard at Stuart Wood Elementary. Police released him from city cells once he sobered up. Exactly what led to his death isn't known, but he died of blunt force trauma and a lacerated spleen. "I think that was a galvanizing point for our community when he died," Councillor Dale Bass said. "I don't want to see this thing die. We need this. We needed it seven years ago and we need this now." A coroner's inquest jury recommended the city establish a sobering facility for people to sober up rather than relying on police custody and a "drunk tank." The sobering centre is pitched as a facility that would both free up space in city cells and triage intoxicated "clientele" with healthcare or housing needs. Its clients would stay for 24 hours or less, supervised by healthcare workers. Police can take people there, but it's also expected to accept people who check themselves in or are referred from the hospital. Seven years after the initial business case, the city is now sending the proposal to the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions. To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry mailto:llandry@infonews.ca  or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .