Vancouver police release controversial report on ‘social safety net’ spending

The Vancouver Police Department’s report on “social safety net” spending in the city isn’t sitting well with many people.

Today, the #VPD released preliminary findings of a year-long social impact audit commissioned by the VPD to examine money spent on the city’s social safety net and its impact on public safety. Learn more: @HelpSeekerOrg

Media Release: https://t.co/1DCJDIBKid pic.twitter.com/3bRoIk6tpQ

— Vancouver Police (@VancouverPD) November 9, 2022

Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer says the report shows that “it’s clear that the system needs to be fixed.”

“Despite more talk than ever and more money than ever, life is now bleaker than ever for a growing number of people in places like the Downtown Eastside,” the police chief said.

However, those who work on the Downtown Eastside are critical of the VPD report, asking why it was commissioned in the first place.

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Executive director of the Overdose Prevention Society, Sarah Blyth, says she’s confused as to why the VPD are the ones looking into social services spending.

“It has not been collaborative. It feels very political. It feels like they’re looking at what they can get into their own budgets,” she told CityNews. “I’m not really entirely sure what is the purpose but it feels very disingenuous.”

Blyth says it’s “concerning” how the $5-billion figure is being presented.

“People are going to listen to how many billion dollars that they’re talking about, and then they’re going to say to themselves, ‘well, that’s a terrible amount of money’. And, you know, they may not hear about all of the inaccuracies,” she said.

142,000 dollars spent on misleading @VanPoliceBoard report @VancouverPD who approved it?

— Sarah Blyth – Gerszak (@sarahblyth) November 9, 2022

“Honestly, I’d like to see an apology from the Vancouver Police Department to the public, and to the nonprofit organizations throughout B.C. that have had to endure this secretive process,”  Blyth added.

Elected officials in B.C. address report

Criticism of the report is also coming from elected officials in Vancouver and the province.

B.C. public safety minister Mike Farnworth says the numbers cited in the VPD report are “sensationalized” and “misleading.”

“Our government has been working directly with partners and front-line service providers to rebuild supports for people who live in the Downtown Eastside after years of neglect and devastating cuts to social supports,” he said in an email to CityNews.

“There is much more work to do and as we rebuild those services, we have already been clear in our commitment to lead work to further coordinate services in the Downtown Eastside to deliver better outcomes for people.”

Vancouver City councillor Pete Fry says the report is “disappointing.”

“I think it erodes trust and I think it begs the question: ‘what was the thought process going into this?’,” he said. “It really comes across as a shotty propaganda job.”

A closer look at the numbers in the report shows the so-called “social safety net” includes things like old age security and pensions.

Fry points out how that broad definition in the report gives a misleading representation of the Downtown Eastside.

“The ‘net’ for the social safety net is pretty wide, and I think it’s unfortunate that they’re extrapolating that into a very large number and then using it to a backdrop of photos of the Downtown Eastside and suggesting that it’s something specific to the Downtown Eastside,” he said.

Vancouver police say the report cost $149,000 to publish.

HelpSeeker also authored a similar report in Edmonton, which also drew a backlash in that city when it was released in 2021.

With files from Robyn Crawford