It has been largely vacant for decades with parts of it falling down, and in the spring, the first shovel will hit the ground to tear down one of the buildings at Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam.
What is to be done with the former mental hospital is up for discussion this month. BC Housing is holding a series of open houses to gauge the public’s opinion. Should it be turned into more housing? Should there be more mental health services?
“It actually just closed as a facility about a year ago,” sad Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart, speaking on Unfiltered with Aaron McArthur. “There’s still perhaps a hundred or so patients receiving mental health services on the site, in various forms, but this is a 250-acre jewel, it’s a magnificent site, heritage buildings, heritage trees, an arboretum second to none, it’s a real challenge.”
“We, the city of Coquitlam, would love to see more mental health services, more health services period, on site.”
Riverview’s major hospital closed a few years ago. The oldest building was closed in 1983 and has not been maintained since then.
“But governments don’t get rewarded for long-term planning perhaps, and so we’ve been trying to pressure governments since the mid-90s when the government of the day wanted to sell off the land,” said Stewart. “We’ve been trying to pressure governments to come to the table, let’s have a chat about how we preserve, how do we really use this jewel for the best use for the citizens of British Columbia?”
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Stewart said Coquitlam council does not think Riverview should be converted to market housing, but it should be used for health services.
“There’s such a tremendous need for a state-of-the-art mental health centre of excellence, one that encompasses as well some of the addiction services that we desperately need in this region,” he added. “I personally think, and a lot of people agree, that Riverview’s the site.”
Darrell Burnham, the executive director of Coast Mental Health, agreed that using Riverview for mental health purposes would be a good thing. “I’ll leave that up to the citizens and Coquitlam and the neighbourhood to decide what’s the best mix of services,” he said on Unfiltered. “We just think that it’s very important to have a very solid mental health support presence on the site. It’s been a great site for 100 years it’s been a centre for excellence in terms of knowledge for that 100 years, for the province, and we think it can continue to do that.”
The government has been criticized in the past for shutting down and discharging the people who used to call Riverview home, and that being one of the causes for the increased problems with mental health issues among those living in the Downtown Eastside. But Burnham said he does not think that is fair to say anymore.
“There’s a way more complex issue there,” he said. “Most of the people who were discharged from Riverview, particularly in the last 10 to 15 years, had a place to stay with good support services and other regional centres around the province. However, it’s fair to say the community capacity to support people with complex health issues, particularly with substance use issues, hasn’t kept up to demand.”
Stewart said Riverview will not become an asylum again however.
The Renewing Riverview website has been set up to support the public consultation process. BC Housing welcomes comments from everyone about what should be done with the building and the land.
“I think it’s the first really positive step we’ve seen at Riverview to find a new use for a real jewel of a site,” said Stewart.
WATCH: Stewart talks to Brian Coxford about reopening Riverview:
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