Vancouver attack: Premier David Eby promising change, but will it satisfy voters

Vaughn Palmer: Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West expressed his disappointment over the lack of action by the B.C. government after the latest deadly rampage.

Get the latest from Vaughn Palmer straight to your inbox

Published Sep 05, 2024  •  Last updated 3 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

The crime scene outside the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Wednesday. Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG

VICTORIA — One year after Premier David Eby declared he was “white-hot angry” about a trio of stabbings in Vancouver, he is promising an updated response to the city’s latest deadly rampage.

The premier was reacting to unprovoked attacks in downtown Vancouver that left one man dead, another maimed. The suspect has a history of mental illness, violent offences and more than 60 interactions with police.

Article content

“When something like this happens, it shakes people’s confidence in a really profound way,” Eby conceded Wednesday. “We have a real need in this province to do more for people who are struggling with mental health, brain injury and chronic addiction. You are going to see announcements from us on more assertive care for people who are struggling in this way.”

Details to come next week, according to Eby, suggesting his latest plan is not quite ready for the election-campaign rollout.

Eby’s hesitation didn’t stop Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West from again calling for a modern-day equivalent of the defunct Riverview Hospital to detain the toughest cases of mental illness and brain damage.

“Closing Riverview was a historically stupid decision,” West told Global TV, referring to the 2012 shuttering by a previous B.C. Liberal government. “There is a place for a modern-day Riverview. The alternative is what we are experiencing: People are out on the street, and they are victimizing other people.”

West expressed his disappointment over the lack of action by the provincial government in responding to the crisis.

Article content

Article content

“It is incredibly frustrating when we hear from the provincial government lots of words and promises,” he told Mike Smyth on CKNW Thursday. “They say the right thing. But where’s the action?”

West referred to Eby’s response when three people were stabbed in Chinatown a year ago.

“The premier said this was outrageous, it was ‘white-hot anger,” the mayor recalled. Eby ordered a review “so it could never happen again.”

“What came of that? Where’s the follow through?” challenged West, who might be a candidate for the NDP leadership if Eby loses the election.

Eby did indeed promise results when it came out that the Chinatown stabbings were perpetrated by a man with a history of violence, who was released without supervision from the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital.

“I am white-hot angry that this person was released unaccompanied into the community to have a devastating impact on these community members,” the premier told reporters last Sept. 13.

“I assure the people who are the victims of this attack and their families — everyone who is impacted by this horrific event — that our government will get to the bottom of how this happened.”

Article content

The premier’s grandstanding paid off with a round of news coverage that portrayed him as a get-tough friend of the victims of crime.

The government-ordered report eventually faulted the psychiatric review board for a bad call.

That was not the only case where Eby, the former activist lawyer and author of How to Sue the Police, tried to reposition himself as a hard liner.

Earlier this summer, Eby intervened in the case of Tori Dunn, a 30-year-old woman killed during a random home invasion in Surrey. The accused had a long list of convictions and was released on bail before the attack.

Eby demanded an explanation for how the release came about.

“I’ve talked to the attorney general’s team and the prosecution service will be going to court to get clarification from the court about ensuring that the publication ban does not apply to the bail hearing, so that we can know what happened in that courtroom.”

He and the other premiers cited the case in an open letter to the federal government as evidence that Ottawa’s bail reform, Bill C-48, wasn’t working.

“Tori Dunn’s alleged killer was released from bail just days before the fatal assault,” they wrote. “Provincial prosecutors had urged that he not be released into the community. Clearly in this case C-48 failed to keep a violent offender from posing a serious risk to public safety.”

Article content

The accusation drew a letter of rebuff from federal Justice Minister Arif Virani and Public Safety Minister Dominic Leblanc.

They told the premiers that Ottawa had enacted bail reform as requested and now it was up to provinces to enforce the law.

“Provinces are responsible for the administration of bail … to make sure prosecutors have the tools they need for effective monitoring and enforcement.”

But as with the premier’s outburst over the Chinatown stabbings, by then the news cycle had moved on.

What’s next?

Well according to Eby, after seven years in government, the NDP will be rolling out a comprehensive policy for dealing with the toughest cases of mental health, brain injury and chronic addiction.

Perhaps he’ll propose involuntary detention for addicts who repeatedly overdose, something he promised in his bid for the NDP leadership then abandoned as soon as the job was secured.

The other trick will be trying to come up with the right words of indignation to translate last year’s “white hot anger” into something that will placate the electorate until voting day.

Article content

[email protected]

Recommended from Editorial

1. 

   Vaughn Palmer: B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad cleans house — sort of

2. 

   B.C. premier steps in twice to limit his government's policies on drugs

3. 

   NDP targets John Rustad as 'leading a band of conspiracy theorists'

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add VancouverSun.com and TheProvince.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: For just $14 a month, you can get unlimited access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province.

Article content