{"id":103301,"date":"2026-04-01T08:34:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T12:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=103301"},"modified":"2026-04-01T08:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T12:34:15","slug":"former-vancouver-mayor-laments-normalcy-of-downtown-eastside-despair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/former-vancouver-mayor-laments-normalcy-of-downtown-eastside-despair\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Vancouver mayor laments ‘normalcy’ of Downtown Eastside ‘despair’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Darryl Greer Former senator and Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell says it was a “depressing and traumatic experience” when he began his work as a provincial adviser in the Downtown Eastside last year, but his initial despair then changed to hope. He said he noticed the number of new buildings and housing going up in the neighbourhood and a “vibrancy,” but he was still shocked at the beleaguered state of people in the troubled Vancouver neighbourhood. His appointment by the provincial government in September was for a six-month term, but Housing Minister Christine Boyle said Tuesday that his contract would be extended to allow him to continue working to “address systemic challenges” in the Downtown Eastside. Campbell said at a news conference Tuesday that he was shocked at the “normalcy”… <\/p>\n

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By Darryl Greer Former senator and Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell says it was a “depressing and traumatic experience” when he began his work as a provincial adviser in the Downtown Eastside last year, but his initial despair then changed to hope. He said he noticed the number of new buildings and housing going up in the neighbourhood and a “vibrancy,” but he was still shocked at the beleaguered state of people in the troubled Vancouver neighbourhood. His appointment by the provincial government in September was for a six-month term, but Housing Minister Christine Boyle said Tuesday that his contract would be extended to allow him to continue working to “address systemic challenges” in the Downtown Eastside. Campbell said at a news conference Tuesday that he was shocked at the “normalcy”... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Vancouver mayor laments 'normalcy' of Downtown Eastside 'despair' - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/former-vancouver-mayor-laments-normalcy-of-downtown-eastside-despair\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Vancouver mayor laments 'normalcy' of Downtown Eastside 'despair' - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Darryl Greer Former senator and Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell says it was a “depressing and traumatic experience” when he began his work as a provincial adviser in the Downtown Eastside last year, but his initial despair then changed to hope. He said he noticed the number of new buildings and housing going up in the neighbourhood and a “vibrancy,” but he was still shocked at the beleaguered state of people in the troubled Vancouver neighbourhood. His appointment by the provincial government in September was for a six-month term, but Housing Minister Christine Boyle said Tuesday that his contract would be extended to allow him to continue working to “address systemic challenges” in the Downtown Eastside. Campbell said at a news conference Tuesday that he was shocked at the “normalcy”\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/former-vancouver-mayor-laments-normalcy-of-downtown-eastside-despair\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-01T12:34:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/01\\\/former-vancouver-mayor-laments-normalcy-of-downtown-eastside-despair\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/01\\\/former-vancouver-mayor-laments-normalcy-of-downtown-eastside-despair\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Former Vancouver mayor laments ‘normalcy’ of Downtown Eastside ‘despair’\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-01T12:34:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/01\\\/former-vancouver-mayor-laments-normalcy-of-downtown-eastside-despair\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":593,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/01\\\/former-vancouver-mayor-laments-normalcy-of-downtown-eastside-despair\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/01\\\/former-vancouver-mayor-laments-normalcy-of-downtown-eastside-despair\\\/\",\"name\":\"Former Vancouver mayor laments 'normalcy' of Downtown Eastside 'despair' - 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