The City of Williams Lake will be scheduling an emergency public meeting for the consideration of temporarily closing the city’s jails following a councillor’s recommendation to transport what he described as “parasites” to other communities.
After a delegation by Williams Lake RCMP Staff Sgt. and Officer in Charge Brad McKinnon on Tuesday, May 26, Coun. Scott Nelson continued to express his ongoing frustration with street disorder and mischief, primarily including smashed business windows, in the downtown core.
While Nelson praised the RCMP for their “unbelievably incredible” job, he criticized the approximately 15 to 20 people who he claimed are prohibited from the community’s shelters and continue to repeatedly cause disturbances after being released by judges within hours following their arrest.
“We know that because of the federal rules and the laws, we’re in a very awkward position – there’s one thing that we do have, and that’s called control over the jails,” Nelson claimed, suggesting a temporary 60-day closure of the community’s jail.
“If we don’t have a jail that’s open, the police are forced to take them to the next community that’s got the space available, and frankly, it rids our community of the parasites that are driving our community crazy and terrorizing our community.”
In an email to the Tribune, B.C. RCMP Media Relations Cpl. Brett Urano noted that the cell block within the Williams Lake RCMP Detachment is operated by the RCMP for temporary detention and prisoner management.
“Decisions regarding the operation of RCMP cells, including any temporary changes to their use, are made in accordance with RCMP policy, operational needs, and applicable agreements, and are not determined unilaterally by the municipality,” Urano stated.
The RCMP detachment cells, according to Urano, are used for the short-term detention of individuals who have been arrested or are otherwise in police custody.
“This can include individuals facing both more serious and less serious offences. These cells are not intended for long-term incarceration; individuals requiring continued detention are typically transported to provincial facilities,” he continued.
“The length of time a person may be held in police cells varies depending on the circumstances of the arrest, court processes, and transportation arrangements, but is generally limited to short-term custody.”
While McKinnon admitted police echo some of Nelson’s frustrations and concerns, he said he could not be prouder of their impactful relationship with Interior Health (IH) and the BC Prosecution Service.
Coun. Michael Moses described partnerships earlier mentioned by McKinnon as inspiring and said he is most excited about the Integrated Crisis Response Liaison Team, a program partnership between RCMP and IH in which a dedicated mental health nurse or mental health clinician work “hand in hand’ with the RCMP.
“We’ll never police our way out of unhoused individuals, we’ll never police our way out of addictions. That’s a collaborative thing, and it’s not ours alone to lead,” McKinnon said. “It’s ours to assist and help with, but we will continue to be leaders at driving solutions, and we continue to have success.”
Councillors, RCMP support holding constructive emergency public meeting
Nelson’s previous controversial motion in March 2026 that the city provide one-way bus tickets and $100 for meals to “homeless prolific offending individuals or people with mental illness wreaking havoc on the streets of Williams Lake to a space in the provinces of B.C. and Alberta, or the state of Alaska, with the appropriate wraparound services” was ultimately removed from a regular council agenda for consideration.
His new recommendation at the Tuesday, May 26 regular council meeting that staff schedule an emergency public meeting to include key stakeholders including Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Lorne Doerkson and Cariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty to “address the street disorder and mischief in Williams Lake and with consideration towards the possibility of temporarily closing the jails of Williams Lake to transport key criminals out of the community, and that a report be presented to council as to the outcome of the meeting, was unanimously approved.
Coun. Joan Flaspohler pressed McKinnon to share his perspective on the concept of closing the city’s jails.
In his email to the Tribune, Urano noted the temporary holding cells are an important component of police operations, supporting public safety by allowing officers to lawfully detain individuals when required.
McKinnon told council it is important to recognize the distinct roles of police, courts and corrections and said while they work collaboratively, they operate independently for a reason.
“A lot of people who are remanded into provincial custody do not stay in the community as it is,” McKinnon said, adding women and youth are typically held prior to trial in Prince George, with men in Kamloops.
He also noted there has been a lot of guidance provided by higher levels of courts, recognizing the challenges and disruptions of moving people to one community to another.
“That said, I’m going to reserve a personal opinion on that,” McKinnon said. “What I can tell you is we’ll catch them, we’ll send the information through, and we’ll make sure that we work with our partners to highlight the gravity of concerns that exist.”
As for holding a community public forum, McKinnon said he would participate if it were going to turn into something that generates solutions and not a mudslinging contest.
He reiterated that partnerships, relationships, and collaboration are key to solving things.
“I’m very proud of the relationships that we have in this community, and as I said, we still have work to do, but we are getting things done.”
Flaspohler said while she believed she needed more information on a temporary jail closure before taking any position, she agreed that if a public meeting were set up to create solutions and not be a session of people angrily expressing their frustrations and fears with no solutions, she would back that.
Mayor Surinderpal Rathor said he would ensure no mudslinging would be allowed.
Coun. Angie Delainey was also not opposed to a public meeting that is moderated in a way she said would provide an opportunity for clear solutions, outcomes, and collaborations.
Delainey noted Nelson’s passion for business owners and the downtown, and while she described Nelson’s recommendation as a “good political move,” pushing the burden from one RCMP Detachment to another is not her style.
McKinnon noted the RCMP has worked on establishing a local action team that brings together the heads of their partner agencies and stakeholders, and have already held two productive meetings in which further information is available through well-being and safety coordinator Silvia Dubray.
Chief administrative officer Gary Muraca said until they get accountability and explanations from judges, who are also at the table, he believes it will remain a revolving door.
Nelson balked at Flaspohler’s suggestion that his recommendation be separated into two separate motions, and, upon no further discussion, was unanimously endorsed.
MLA, MP share frustrations by city council
On Thursday, May 28, Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Lorne Doerkson raised the recommendation made by Williams Lake City Council in the oral question period at the B.C. Legislative Assembly.
He noted the previous week of an RCMP officer in Williams Lake who responded to a complaint of an axe-wielding person who violently resisted arrest and struck the officer in the head with two large rocks concealed in a hoodie.
Doerkson said after being arrested, the prolific offender was released by a judge who does not live in the community six hours later.
“A frustrated city council is now taking action because this government simply won’t,” Doerkson said. “Why has this government allowed our streets to get to such a point that we are forced to make decisions like this on our city councils?”
Attorney General Niki Sharma described the case shared by Doerkson clearly disturbing.
She was in Williams Lake on Saturday, May 23, to attend an awards ceremony at the Cariboo Chilcotin Gymnastics Association’s Cariboo Classic and during her visit Mayor Rathor told council he “gave her an earful.”
“It’s one of the reasons that we’ve been so strong on calling for bail reform across this country,” Sharma responded during the oral question period at the B.C. Legislative Assembly. “B.C.’s led the way to ensure that our criminal code across this country has the right tools necessary to keep prolific offenders off the street, to keep them from harming people, and to keep them from re-offending.”
Sharma added she was recently at the Senate of Canada to advocate for the quick passing of Bill C-14, an Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the National Defence Act (bail and sentencing), into law.
In Parliament on Friday, May 29, Cariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty criticized the Liberal federal government and said that after 11 years of promising Canadians safer communities, people in Williams Lake feel less safe walking down the street, less safe opening their businesses and less safe raising their kids.
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety Jacques Ramsay said within one year the Liberal government has done more than any government has before and listed off a number of bills on cybertrade, heinous crimes, border security, bail reform and more severe sentences, protecting victims and accelerating justice and most recently, legal access.
Williams Lake is not the only B.C. municipality appealing for reform. Kelowna, for example, was pushing for bail reform and the need for mandatory compassionate care after Mayor Tom Dyas, citing a city-published study, noted that at least 1,335 police files in 2024 were generated by only 15 repeat offenders.