The Editor,
In 1904, the provincial government purchased a thousand acres in rural Coquitlam for the future Riverview Hospital.
At the time, the growing problem of mental illness made this third attempt at a bigger facility necessary. The patients resided together in a complex of buildings for maximum care and many had a measured amount of freedom to stroll the grounds. Even back then it was understood that some of the best medicine for a burdened soul, a tortured mind was the peace that communing with nature afforded.
Riverview Lands can still heal and they belong to everyone.
Now, there is news that some facility is in the offing. Could it be possible that the public is being thrown a bone now so that later, private interests might have an easier time taking prime cuts for themselves?
Cliff Kelsey, Coquitlam
