The British Columbia government has hired a former Ontario cabinet minister and CEO of Legal Aid B.C. on a lucrative contract to advise the premier on the future of the Downtown Eastside.
Premier David Eby’s office confirmed Michael Bryant was appointed to the consultancy in February on a six-month contract worth $150,000. “What they really wanted was some fresh eyes to provide them with some feedback on what is working, what isn’t working, and most importantly whether the plans the province has underway and the commitments the province made during the election are going to make sense and what is the best way to roll out these next steps,” Bryant told Global News in an interview on Monday. “So for the last three months, that is what I have been doing.”
That interview came after Bryant refused to answer questions on Saturday. Global News made several attempts to connect with him last week at his drop-in office at the Overdose Prevention Society after hearing from Downtown Eastside stakeholders who raised questions about the purpose of his job, his salary, and why his appointment wasn’t announced publicly. “I have not been secret about meeting with folks and trying to get tours of SROs, of the not-for-profits providing service, Insite, the Overdose Prevention Society, the municipal, provincial, federally funded services around harm reduction, as well as a host of stakeholders,” Bryant said on Monday. “What matters is what the government delivers in terms of next steps and the impact that it has, and how exactly that gets put together, the transparency on that front is one for the government to decide, but I am happy to do this interview and talk about what I have been doing.” Bryant said he had met with officials in the ministries of health, housing, public safety, social development and Dr. Daniel Vigo, B.C.’s chief scientific adviser on toxic drugs and psychiatry, along with “over 100 people in the Downtown Eastside with lived experience.”
Source: globalnews.ca/
