Fort St. John council pens open letter requesting return of seniors housing funding

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The City of Fort St. John council has begun working on an open letter to the province advocating for the return of funding for local seniors housing. 

In June 2025, the B.C. Ministry of Infrastructure announced a new long-term care facility had been approved in Fort St. John 

However, on February 17th, 2026, when the provincial budget was tabled by the B.C. finance minister, the project was revealed as one of seven across the province that were delayed. According to the budget documents, the province has yet to determine a completion year for the Fort St. John facility. 

According to its communications at the time, the delay is due to the government “incorporating the lessons learned from projects already underway” and to avoid “significant and unsustainable costs” as high as $1.8 million per bed.

During the City of Fort St. John council’s February 23rd meeting, the councillors decided to write an open letter from the community to the province demanding the immediate reinstatement of funding for the project. 

Gord Klassen, the councillor who proposed writing a letter to the province, called the situation “disturbing” and spoke about its impact on the entire community, not just aging residents. 

“This decision has real human consequences,” Klassen said. 

“Families are being separated as loved ones are placed hours away, seniors who want to age in place are instead being moved out of the community [and] care providers are stretched thin.”

“[The province is] looking at doing more virtual stuff, which will help some things, but it’s not a replacement for in-person care at Peace Villa.” 

Councillor Trevor Bolin agreed with Klassen, and encouraged the council to expand the letter’s scope by including testimonials from impacted residents and frame it as an open letter “from Fort St. John,” rather than simply from the municipal government. 

“This needs to be a letter from our community, so that the government can maybe understand that there’s 24,000 people…that are affected by this, whether they’re seniors or not, because it is maybe your parents or your grandparents or [it] will be [the council members] when we get that age,” Bolin said. 

The council agreed to begin work on the letter, which will be addressed to Josie Osborne, the B.C. minister of health; David Eby, the premier of B.C.; the Northern Health authority; Jordan Kealy, the MLA for Peace River North; Brenda Bailey, minister of finance; and the Peace River Regional District.