When the B.C. government announced the appointment of yet another Downtown Eastside advisor this week, it was careful to make sure he was surrounded by a protective wall of credibility.

There was former mayor and senator Larry Campbell at the government’s Vancouver cabinet office, flanked by half a dozen members of community organizations. The Union Gospel Mission, the Overdose Prevention Society and the DTES SRO Collaboration Society were just a few of the groups that lined up to endorse the appointment.

By launching Campbell with visible support, Premier David Eby’s administration was trying to show it had learned its lesson from the disastrously brief appointment of Michael Bryant four months earlier.

Unfortunately, it learned the wrong lesson.

Bryant’s downfall wasn’t due to a lack of community support (though, he definitely lacked the goodwill Campbell has accumulated over more than 50........

© BIV