Guard in B.C. prison needed chest compressions after fentanyl exposure, says union

The union representing federal prison guards says three of its members were rushed to hospital, including one who needed chest compressions, after they were exposed to fentanyl at a British Columbia prison. 

The union says it’s the latest example of an illicit drug crisis inside federal prisons. 

“This incident is not an isolated event,” says a statement from the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers issued Monday. “As violence continues to rise in Canada’s federal institutions, so too does the volume of illicit drugs entering our prisons.” 

The statement from the union says the exposure happened at Pacific Institution in Abbotsford, B.C., on June 11, when five officers were conducting a routine search and a prisoner tried to destroy evidence by “dispersing” it. 

The officers all required treatment, some with overdose-reversing drugs, and one needing chest compressions in the ambulance, the union says. 

Union regional president John Randle says the problem can’t continue to be ignored as prisons officers’ lives are put at risk.

“Our members were simply doing their jobs when they were exposed to one of the most lethal drugs on the streets. This should never happen,” he says. 

The union says cuts being made to security positions will significantly reduce the ability to intercept drugs, while disciplinary measures against offenders have also been weakened by harm-reduction policies.

“The policies that once supported a coherent strategy to combat illicit drugs in our institutions are being dismantled at precisely the wrong time,” the statement says. 

Police and the union have issued several statements in the past about attempts by criminals to get drugs inside B.C. prisons, including by drone, throwing packages disguised as a patch of grass onto a prison’s field and a pigeon wearing a backpack full of methamphetamine. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2026.

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