Latest news with #OverdosePreventionSociety
CTV News
20-05-2025
- CTV News
Councillor pushes to name Downtown Eastside alley in honour of Trey Helten
A Vancouver city councillor is hoping to rename an alley in the Downtown Eastside in honour of a beloved community member. Trey Helten was a harm reduction advocate and general manager of the Overdose Prevention Society, where he was well-known for helping those struggling with addiction and homelessness after turning his own life around. He died at age 42 in April; the cause has not been publicly shared. Helten was also an artist and in 2022 created the first legal graffiti wall in Vancouver in the alley between East Hastings and Pender streets, connecting Cambie and Abbott streets. Friends are already calling the calling the lane 'Ashtrey Alley,' after Helten's nickname. On Wednesday, Coun. Sean Orr will table a motion calling to make the name change official. 'It's really just a small act to commemorate the life of somebody who was so big and generous and selfless, and saved so many lives and just made an impact on so many different people in this city,' Orr told CTV News. If the motion passes, council will ask staff to report back on the fastest way to name the alley after Helten. With files from CTV News Vancouver's Isabella Zavarise
Global News
13-05-2025
- Health
- Global News
B.C. hires $150K consultant to advise on future of Downtown Eastside
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. Story continues below advertisement 2:17 Vancouver Downtown Eastside honours memory of local advocate 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. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy '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.' Story continues below advertisement Along with the salary, Bryant's contract comes with a $25,000 expense account, the premier's office told Global News in a statement. Upon becoming premier in 2022, Eby said the province would take over running a coordinated approach to address issues in the Downtown Eastside. 'Mr. Bryant was chosen for this policy work due to his legal background and lived experience,' the statement reads. 'The intent was to announce this appointment earlier, regrettably this didn't happen.' 2:06 Eby government planning to take on coordination of DTES services Between 2008 and 2009, Bryant served as a cabinet minister in the Ontario Liberal government, holding portfolios including Attorney General, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Minister of Economic Development. In 2009, he was charged with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing death after an incident that left Toronto bike courier Darcy Sheppard with a fatal head injury. Story continues below advertisement In a controversial decision, the charges were later withdrawn and the case never went to trial. Years later, he served as executive director for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association before his appointment as CEO of Legal Aid B.C., a position he held between January 2022 and April 2024. Bryant maintains his job is to come up with concrete recommendations to improve the situation in the city's beleaguered Downtown Eastside in the near term. 'The government and the public doesn't need a DTES czar, another expert. Rather, they want some action. And that's what I was retained to do and get it underway and get it happening as soon as possible,' he said. 'The question becomes what can we do next that will have the biggest impact and achieve some measure of healing and recovery for people on one hand, continue to deliver the harm reduction services, continue to deliver the social services, provide the housing first that this government has undertaken, but also get the federal government to come in and do their job.' It's unclear if Bryant could be in line for a permanent government position after his contract expires in August. — with files from Rumina Daya
Hamilton Spectator
03-05-2025
- Health
- Hamilton Spectator
‘Nobody can ever replace Trey'
It's hard to imagine how the Downtown Eastside will function without the steady force for good that was Trey (Ashtrey) Helten. What's not hard to see is how deeply he was loved — by the community he served, his partner and their son, his dog Zelda, his former employer Sarah Blyth at the Overdose Prevention Society (OPS), his good friend Smokey D, and by the many, many people he helped in the latter part of his short life of 42 years. When Helten failed to show up to a training at OPS on the morning of Tuesday, April 22, Blyth and a colleague went to his Strathcona home and found him unresponsive. At the time of this writing, the cause of death is unknown. Since his passing, an outpouring of love and remembrance has flooded social media and the Downtown Eastside streets he served with such integrity. Murals have begun to appear in his honour, and there is a growing movement to name one of the neighbourhood laneways — Ashtrey Alley. Helten was publicly up front that his early years were characterized by addiction; he didn't mind being called an addict, he once said on Garth Mullins' Crackdown podcast. In his recovery, he built relationships with hundreds of people and, as manager of the OPS, saved the lives of hundreds more. Blyth, who is the organization's executive director, has given many interviews since Helten's passing. For CBC Radio's Early Edition and As It Happens, Blyth recalls Helten's fierce dedication to the people he was helping. Over and above his tireless work at OPS, he was willing to drive people to appointments, detox and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. He took people to lunch or for coffee at the Ovaltine Cafe. He was passionate about doing everything he could in aid of a person's safety, recovery and comfort. In an interview with Megaphone, Blyth once said: 'I can't find words to describe what a unique person Trey is.' Helten began working at OPS in 2018. Megaphone featured Helten on the cover in September 2023, along with his dog, Zelda. Zelda — part pit bull, mastiff and king corso — like Helten could expertly detect drug overdoses. As with many extraordinary pets in the Downtown Eastside, Zelda reflected qualities of her human: intuition, compassion, intelligence and love. In the CBC As It Happens interview, Blyth acknowledged that Helten sometimes tried too hard, to the detriment of his own self-care. At one point, he relapsed into his addiction and needed to step away from his job as manager of OPS. But as his partner, Amanda Jane Rose — who is expecting Helten's second child — said on Facebook, 'Trey NEVER gave up on his recovery.' 'Trey believed that recovery was always possible. It doesn't matter if it takes you one try or one hundred. Keep coming back, keep coming back, keep coming back.' Before Christmas, Helten gave a naloxone training session to photojournalist Amy Romer, who then worked with him to write a 'Naloxone 101' for Megaphone magazine, published just last month in the April issue — in time for the nine-year anniversary of the toxic drug overdose crisis being declared a B.C. public health emergency. Helten's dedication never stopped. 'Nobody can ever replace Trey,' said Rose. 'Not in this community, not in the hearts of so many people and certainly not in my life. He was the most unique, wonderful person in the world. To me, he was perfect.' Trey Helten tributes: A tribute to Helten can be found in the latest episode of the Crackdown podcast. There will be an all day memorial in Helen's honour on Saturday, May 10 in the parking lot of the now-demolished Balmoral Hotel (100-block East Hastings Street), from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Artist Smokey D has created a memorial piece near OPS.
CBC
24-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
Trey Helten, advocate for drug users in Vancouver, dead at 42
Trey Helten, a prominent advocate for drug users and those experiencing homelessness in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, has died at the age of 42, according to friends and colleagues. Sarah Blyth, a friend of Helten's and the executive director of the Overdose Prevention Society (OPS), where he worked, said his life mission was to help people. "There was really no one like him and I don't think there will ever be another person like him," Blyth said Thursday morning on CBC's The Early Edition. She said Helten started working with the OPS in 2017 as a volunteer and worked his way up the organization, eventually becoming the general manager of the overdose prevention site. "He came in and just said, 'I want to be part of the solution, I want to help people,'" said Blyth. Helten went above and beyond to help those struggling around him, said Blyth, driving people places, visiting people at the hospital, and even housing and feeding people in his own home. "Coming from the perspective of a person with lived experience, who had at one point been homeless and had at one point been a drug user, he came with a lot of empathy and understanding," she said. Helten would host Narcotics Anonymous meetings often, according to Blyth, who said the gatherings grew in attendance. She said she hopes he will be an inspiration to people, especially those who are struggling with addiction: "I think he would just say, 'Keep trying.'" Advocacy work Deb Bailey, member of Moms Stop the Harm, said Helten fought for causes he believed in, often speaking on proposals at city hall and advocating to officials on behalf of those struggling with addiction. "His resolve and strength was really quite amazing," said Bailey. She said Helten was approachable and always willing to help, often working with members of Moms Stop the Harm when it was needed. He would also do NARCAN demonstrations at Adler University, where she was a professor. "I feel really devastated by his loss and it's kind of hard to believe it," Bailey said. "He was an inspiration to a lot of people."
