 Montee Dunbar (second from right), assistant deputy warden at Fraser Regional Correctional Centre, was among the B.C. Corrections officials on hand for Monday's prison announcement at the Osoyoos Indian Band business park. Dunbar is seen, above, with Chief Clarence Louie, Solicitor General Shirley Bond, and Premier Christy Clark. |
Clark was joined by Chief Clarence Louie and other dignitaries in announcing that the Osoyoos band's Senkulmen Enterprise Park north of Oliver has been chosen as the site for the $200-million correctional facility.
Clark said it is expected to create up to 1,000 direct and indirect jobs during the construction period, along with 240 new full-time positions once the prison opens.
The 360-cell, 720-inmate facility will be the largest provincial prison in B.C., more than doubling the corrections capacity in the Interior.
Also on hand for the announcement were Shirley Bond, Minister of Public Safety, Attorney General and Solicitor General; Boundary-Similkameen MLA John Slater; and a number of local dignitaries and Osoyoos band members.
Louie said in addition to the economic benefits to the band and the entire South Okanagan, this also provides an opportunity to work with aboriginal inmates who are over-represented in the corrections system.
"We would hope that this project, being the first of its kind on an Indian reserve, that we can work out and change the statistics of aboriginal incarceration in this country." he said.
"Our people want to be involved in the rehabilitation of our people and we hope that this project really sets the standards of what can be done in corrections."
Although Monday's ceremony was held at the entrance to the park near Highway 97, the correctional facility will be located on a site further removed from the highway.
Bond said an independent panel chose the Osoyoos Indian Band site after an in-depth review over the past several months. Also in the running were the Penticton Indian Band, District of Summerland and Village of Lumby. Penticton dropped out after a referendum-style ballot last June saw two-thirds of voters oppose the project.
The announcement had originally been expected in June 2011. However, Bond said the province remains optimistic the prison will still be able to open in 2015, as planned.
"Our goal right now is to try to compress the planning time and the business case development into a six-month window," she said. "There is the potential that it may move slightly into 2016, but our goal is to get this moving. We recognize the pressures on the system and the importance of this project."
The province will now work with the band to complete a business plan for the project over the next six months.
Although the Oliver area site is almost a 90-minute drive from Kelowna, Clark said the distance is much less than the current scenario which sees most prisoners in the Okanagan sent to the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre.
Clark also discounted any local residents' concerns about public safety with the new correctional centre.
