A sobering centre would have people who might typically be held in city cells, or drunk tanks, instead be taken to a medically-focused facility in Kamloops.

(GLYNN BROTHEN / iNFOnews.ca)

Interior Health has come around and decided to throw its support behind a Kamloops pitch for a local sobering centre.

It comes months after city councillors met with officials from both the Ministry of Health and the health authority this past fall, but learned the proposal was stalled without Interior Health's support.

Councillor Katie Neustaeter said the health authority recently changed its tune after some minor changes to the plan and it's back on the health minister's desk.

"When we entered into that conversation (in September) it was very contentious. There were very high emotions, but when people are dedicated to the same cause and want the same outcome, I believe you can always work there together," she said.

Details were hashed out in meetings with Interior Health and city officials in the following months, with small adjustments made to appease the health authority's needs.

"We have worked dedicatedly together... and adjusted the business case to ensure Interior Health can fully support it," Neustaeter said. "Because at the end of the day, it will fall under their purview of responsibility. This is a landmark achievement for the project."

READ MORE: What sobering centres are and why Kamloops is fighting for one

The business case in 2023 floated using the first floor of an existing detox centre near Royal Inland Hospital, once called the Phoenix Centre and now operated as Day One Society. The city and local RCMP have supported the plan for some time now with the intention of replacing the use of jail cells at the detachment colloquially as the drunk tank. The medically-focused holding cells would be staffed with health-care workers and the city has taken two business cases to the province. It was estimated to cost $2.6 million for renovations and startup at the time of the most recent 2023 business case.

Neustaeter said a location and operator would officially be chosen through a request for proposals if the province approves the plan.

There are already similar facilities elsewhere in the province like one Port Alberni, but it would be a first for the Interior Health region.

Reluctance from Interior Health was met with ridicule from city council last year, the latest in a relationship that, based on conversations around the council table, has been adversarial since at least last term.

Councillors caught wind the sobering centre proposal was going nowhere in the summer and councillor Dale Bass was outspoken about her frustration. She was especially frustrated at the time with a lack of clarity as both health authority and ministry officials were reluctant to say who vetoed the facility.

"I think the fact that Interior Health is saying it's the ministry's decision, and the ministry is saying it's Interior Health's decision, shows how neither organization is taking our eight-year-long pursuit to get a sobering centre seriously," Bass said in August. "I think it was massively disrespectful to the city that if they have made a decision, whichever it might have been, they did not tell us."

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The City's call for a sobering centre was emphasized after a 2024 coroner's inquest affirmed the need in Kamloops. It examined the 2019 in-custody death of Randy Lampreau, who was arrested for public intoxication and died from a combination of heart problems and a high dose of methamphetamines.

Beyond the facility itself, she suggested it could pave the way for a more amicable working relationship between Interior Health and city officials.

"Councillors decided at the very beginning of this term that we wanted better communication with Interior Health," Neustaeter said. "We wanted to start fresh and have that opportunity to create a better working relationship and that's exactly the fruit we're seeing yielded right now is the benefits of a stronger relationship and better communication."

iNFOnews.ca reached out to Interior Health for comment on the sobering centre agreement, but a spokesperson wasn't able to respond by publication time.

It's not clear how long it will take for the health ministry to make a decision on the Kamloops sobering centre.

— This story was updated at 9:45 a.m., Jan. 16, 2025, to clarify the 2023 business case has not pre-determined which organization will run the facility and the location and operator would be chosen through a request for proposals.

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