No Vancouver Prison

On October 17, Vancouverites will be asked to vote in a plebiscite on Mayor Ken Sim’s proposal to turn part of the old St. Paul’s Hospital site into a secure facility with more than 100 involuntary-care beds. The Vancouver Liberals, and mayoral candidate Kareem Allam, oppose this proposal.

This site explains why we say no, what we would do instead, and how you can help.

“Vancouver desperately needs more mental-health and addiction treatment. But I do not support building what amounts to a 100-bed mental-health prison in the middle of downtown Vancouver.” Kareem Allam

The plebiscite asks whether the City should formally request that the Province convert portions of the old St. Paul’s Hospital, or another similar site, into a secure medical facility providing acute voluntary care and more than 100 involuntary-care beds.

The result is advisory. It does not itself create the facility, and it does not create a single treatment bed. The Province ultimately has to deliver any facility like this, not the City.

The wrong model in the wrong place. This proposal puts more than 100 secure beds in one institution, between Davie Village and the central business district, in Canada’s most densely populated downtown.

The wrong buildings. The old St. Paul’s is not seismically safe. It makes no sense to move the hospital out and then put more than 100 vulnerable patients back into those buildings.

A missed opportunity for downtown. This is one of the most important redevelopment sites in Vancouver. It should bring more housing, businesses, public spaces and activity downtown, not a massive locked institution.

A referendum is not a plan. Asking for an opinion on something the City cannot build does not deliver care. Vancouver needs a mayor who will sit down with the Province and get a real agreement.

Kareem Allam supports involuntary intervention where it is medically necessary and meets the requirements of B.C.’s Mental Health Act. British Columbia already has a legal framework for involuntary care.

The question is whether concentrating more than 100 secure beds in a single downtown institution is the right model or the right location. We do not believe it is.

Mayor Sim’s record is part of this debate.

Violent crime in Vancouver jumped 12.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, and remained 6 per cent higher through the first six months of the year. Vancouver’s latest homelessness count found 2,715 people experiencing homelessness, up 12 per cent from 2023 and the highest number ever recorded in the city. At the same time, City Council has paused net-new City investment in homelessness-response supportive housing.

Weeks before an election, the Mayor is asking for a referendum on a facility the City itself cannot create.

Vancouver should press the Province for:

• More voluntary treatment and stabilization beds
• Psychiatric and addiction care
• Supportive and recovery housing
• Longer-term treatment
• Medically appropriate involuntary care where justified

A Vancouver Liberal government would seek a new formal agreement among Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada to coordinate action on mental health, addiction, homelessness, housing, public safety and the toxic-drug crisis, and would work cooperatively with the Province to get people the care they need.

“The choice isn’t between leaving people suffering on the street and locking them inside a giant institution. We need treatment. We need recovery. We need housing. We need public safety. And we need governments working together to deliver all of them.” Kareem Allam

The plebiscite is on the October 17 municipal election ballot. Sign up to stay informed and to help spread the word, and consider donating to support this campaign.