Appointment of Downtown Eastside 'czar' under scrutiny
'We've been told nothing,' says Downtown Eastside social service provider of Michael Bryant's appointment
One of David Eby's first priorities when he became leader of the B.C. NDP and premier was to tackle the entrenched poverty, mental health and addictions issues facing residents in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
More than two years later, a former Ontario attorney general and head of Legal Aid B.C. has been appointed to help fix issues in the area once described as Canada's poorest postal code.
But Michael Bryant's role as a consultant is raising questions. He was installed in the position in February with little public announcement, a six-month contract worth $150,000, plus an allowance of $25,000 in expenses.
Social service providers in the Downtown Eastside have said the secrecy around the appointment has been problematic.
Micheal Vonn, CEO of PHS Community Services Society, which operates more than 1,700 units of supportive housing in Vancouver and Victoria, said she first learned of Bryant's appointment through "rumours."
Vonn said the lack of communication does not help build trust in the community.
"This not only should have been announced but lots of notice provided. There are lots of places you don't want to have a rumour mill going, the Downtown Eastside is certainly one of them," she told CBC News.
"It does not feel good with a community that's under threat in so many ways, experiencing so much instability."
Vonn has not met with Bryant but said she's set to give him a tour of the various housing facilities run by her non-profit.
Amanda Burrows, executive director of First United, also said she was concerned by the lack of transparency.
"I think it's an unfortunate start to something that has some hope towards it," she said.
Burrows said Bryant's salary "feels a bit out of touch when we know $150,000 can go a really long way here and when the province is cutting funding to some groups in the Downtown Eastside."
However, she added that "if what is being taken back to the premier is going to lead to actions and follow-through and actual results, then I don't think the salary has to be the main focus."
Trevor Halford, B.C. Conservative MLA for Surrey White Rock, accused the NDP government of "rewarding friends and insiders" with a lucrative contract "on the backs of our most vulnerable people on the Downtown Eastside."
B.C. Conservative attorney general critic Steve Kooner said the government only went public with Bryant's appointment after questions from Global News.
"This government's solution is to appoint Michael Bryant as the so-called Downtown Eastside czar without public announcement, without public transparency, without consultation," Kooner said in question period on Tuesday.
Kooner said the public deserves to know why Bryant left as CEO of Legal Aid B.C. after just over two years on the job.
B.C. Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction Sheila Malcolmson said Bryant has been tasked to work directly with people living in the Downtown Eastside and the social agencies that serve them "to evaluate the work we've done to find solutions to the gaps, and the work that remains ahead of us."
Speaking with reporters, Malcolmson refused to say whether Bryant was directly hired by Eby or his office.
She would not speak to why he left Legal Aid B.C. after two years on the job.
"That's between him and his employer," she said.
Bryant was raised in Esquimalt, B.C., where his father served as mayor in the 1960s. He moved to Toronto in the early '90s to pursue a law degree.
Bryant was once a rising star in the Ontario Liberal Party, seen as a strong candidate for the party's leadership.
At age 37, he became Ontario's youngest attorney general, appointed in 2003 by then-premier Dalton McGuinty.
In August 2009, Bryant was charged with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle in connection with a road incident that left a Toronto cyclist dead.
Bryant was driving home from an anniversary dinner with his wife when he got into an altercation with a bike courier.
Darcy Allan Sheppard, 33, reportedly latched onto Bryant's car, and as the former provincial politician tried to drive away, Sheppard died when he hit the pavement after striking a mailbox and tree. The charges were dropped after prosecutors concluded there was little chance of a conviction.
Bryant published a book, 28 Seconds: A True Story of Addiction, Tragedy and Hope, that reflected on the aftermath of the incident and Bryant's own struggle with alcohol addiction.
Malcolmson said Bryant's lived experience, in addition to his political and legal career, make him the right person to look into improving services in the Downtown Eastside.
Bryant told CBC News in 2018 that part of his journey to sobriety involved regular visits to the Sanctuary, a charitable organization in a former church in downtown Toronto that serves as a drop-in centre for the homeless.
"[I] found myself connecting and identifying with people, and learning from people who I had previously not identified with and frankly been afraid of," he said.
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With files from Amara McLaughlin