When Alexis Grace, the health director of Kwikwetlem First Nation, got a phone call on Friday night that a patient had gone missing from the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital next door, she sprang into action.
“This is probably the fourth call I’ve received in the last 10 months,” Grace said.
Band Councillor Fred Hulbert Sr. said he immediately went out on foot patrol to make sure people were safe in their homes, and their doors were locked.
“I’ve been dealing with this since I was about five years old, since the mid-'60s.”
According to the hospital, Terrance Scott Giesbrecht, 54, left the hospital at 70 Colony Farm Rd. in Coquitlam on an escorted outing on Friday, but soon slipped his handlers and was reported missing.
But while staff at Colony Farm say they immediately called the Kwikwetlem Reserve and the Coquitlam RCMP, police didn't issue a public warning until Monday afternoon.
In that statement, Mounties said that he was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant, and that "without his medication, Giesbrecht could become a danger to himself or someone else.”
When CTV News asked the RCMP why officers waited three days before alerting the public, they declined to speak on camera.
But Cpl. Michael McLaughlin told CTV's David Molko: “Decisions like [this] are always made with a balance of public safety and privacy concerns,” and went on to say that by Monday “it was decided that the public had a need to know.”
“That’s just blatantly wrong,” said Kweikwetlem Councillor Hulbert.
An hour after police issued the warning, officers released an update saying the patient was back in custody. Colony Farm said he'd been located in Merritt.
Giesbrecht was ruled not criminally responsible in the deaths of two men in Fort St. John, B.C. in 2004, due to severe schizophrenia.
Following the decision, he was sent to Colony Farm for treatment at the secure, 190-bed hospital that specializes in caring for those found not criminally responsible and which says it aims to reintegrate them gradually and safely back into the community.
Friday's escape was not Giesbrecht's first disappearance from the hospital. He was permitted to leave briefly in 2009, but a public warning was issued when he failed to return. Two days later, he was back in the facility.
“We take this very seriously,” said Dr. Johann Brink, the vice-president of medical affairs and research for BC Mental Health Services, who’s worked at the hospital for 16 years.
“Whenever something like this happens…we initiate a full review to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.”
Brink said there have been four incidents in the last three years of people not returning on time from unescorted leaves. Giesbrecht, he noted, was the first to elude his escorts in the last six to 10 years.
But there have been other recent cases of patients in Colony Farm care who’ve escaped or gone missing, including David Fomradas and Violet Edna Miharija, who disappeared within a week of each other in Feburary 2016.
Fomradas turned up in Lethbridge, Alta. a month later.
“How can people have any faith in your protocols, in your leadership team…if it just keeps happening?” asked Molko.
“But it doesn’t keep happening, respectfully,” Brink answered.
“But it does,” Molko said. “It happened in 2016. It just happened again this week.”
Brink says he understands the community’s concerns, but says the hospital is working the patients as part of their treatment plan to reintegrate into the community.
"We will do a full investigation to see what happened to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Brink promised.
Brink said he couldn't get into specifics about any patients, but said Giesbrecht would not have been granted community access of any form if staff felt he could not be managed. He added that Giesbrecht had been on other escorted leaves which had gone well.
Back at the Kwikwetlem Reserve, Grace said she was shocked to learn about Giesbrecht’s violent history.
“Honestly, [the hospital] didn’t tell us,” Grace said. “The communication has to improve.”
“We shouldn’t have to walk around here in fear,” Hulbert added.
