After decades of housing and treating those considered mentally ill, in the 1980s, the province of B.C. developed a plan to shutter the hospital. The approach to mental health was changing and institutions like Riverview were no longer considered ideal. In the years that followed, Riverview’s wards were gradually closed and its patients moved out.

Just three years later, Riverview shut down. According to the book, Laugh Your Troubles Away, the main reason the park closed down was economic. When first built, Riverview had been “on the outskirts of the city,” but the park was now right in the center. “The land was worth more than the revenue the park generated, and it was sold.”