B.C. health minister says about 6,000 on 'extended leave' from mental health care

British Columbia's health minister says almost 6,000 people were on leave from involuntary mental health care in the province last week, pushing back against Opposition claims that the patients aren't being tracked.

The status is known as extended leave, in which a person receiving involuntary mental health treatment is allowed back into the community while remaining under care.

It's been in focus since it emerged that the suspect in last month's Lapu Lapu Day festival attack that killed 11 people in Vancouver was on extended leave at the time.

Claire Rattée, the B.C. Conservatives' critic for mental health and addictions, asked in the legislature why the government had "no ability to track" patients on extended leave and did not know how many there are.

But Health Minister Josie Osborne says while the numbers change on a daily basis, as of last Tuesday there were 5,915 people on extended leave in B.C., including 2,202 in the Vancouver Coastal health region.

She says those people have teams assigned to support them and ensure they have access to what they need.

Eleven people died when an SUV was driven at high speed through a street crowded with festivalgoers on April 26.

Adam Kai-Ji Lo has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder and police say he is expected to face more.