Sam Sullivan

Sam Sullivan (born November 13, 1959 ) is a Canadian politician who served as the MLA for Vancouver-False Creek.

Sam Sullivan was born on November 13, 1959, to East Vancouver residents Lloyd and Ida Sullivan.

His father ran Sully's Autoparts on East Hastings Street.

He has three brothers, Donald, Patrick, Terry, and a sister, Carol.

Sullivan attended Chief Maquinna Elementary and Vancouver Technical Secondary School in East Vancouver.

Sullivan became paralyzed after breaking his neck in a skiing accident at age 19.

He had a fracture dislocation of his fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae, leaving him almost completely paralyzed.

After a seven-year struggle with depression, he successfully completed a Bachelor of Business Administration degree at Simon Fraser University.

Sullivan later founded six non-profit organizations dedicated to improving the quality of life for disabled people in North America.

Sullivan's statement gave a brief account of his decision to provide financial support to a 20-year-old woman working as a prostitute in his neighbourhood in the late 1990s, by providing $40 a day for three weeks for heroin.

Sullivan also gave money to a severely addicted crack cocaine user so he did not have to steal, and let him smoke in his van.

In the election, Sullivan ran against several candidates, the most prominent of which was Vision Vancouver councillor Jim Green.

Sullivan defeated Green by a narrow margin of 3,747 votes of 130,000 ballots cast.

A second, independent candidate named James Green also ran in this election, gaining over 4,000 votes.

The close margin of Sullivan's victory and the similarity of independent candidate James Green's name to that of Sullivan's main opponent Jim Green led to a major controversy.

Speculation that James Green was a "spoiler" candidate was inflamed when it became known that Sullivan had helped Green in a dispute about office space.

No allegations were ever proven that Sullivan was supporting the independent candidate James Green, and both men denied any wrongdoing.

Sullivan was the subject of a National Film Board of Canada documentary, Citizen Sam.

Sullivan was first elected to Vancouver City Council in 1993 as a member of the Non-Partisan Association (NPA), and served for 15 years total.

In recognition of these achievements, Sullivan was inducted into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame in 2000 and won the Christopher Reeve Award in 2008.

In Vancouver's 2002 general local elections, Sullivan was the only incumbent member of city council from the NPA to win re-election after the NPA-dominated council was defeated by the COPE party, leaving only five out of 27 seats on the council, school board and parks board.

Following the 2002 electoral losses, the Non-Partisan Association rebuilt its slate for the 2005 election.

Sullivan beat former BC Liberal Party deputy-Premier Christy Clark for the NPA mayoral nomination.

He then led the party to electoral majorities on the City Council, School Board and Park Board with 17 out of 27 seats.

In 2004, he led the Knowards campaign opposing the COPE-initiated campaign to replace the city's at-large system of choosing councillors with a ward voting system.

The proposal was defeated 54% to 46% in a referendum.

In 2005, Sullivan was inducted into the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian award for community achievement.

This was in recognition of his work to improve the lives of those with significant disabilities.

The Sam Sullivan Disability Foundation has raised over $20 million and served over 10,000 people with disabilities since its inception.

Organizations he created include the following:

On May 2, 2006, Sullivan provided a statement to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police about his past decisions to provide money to illegal drug users.

Because of increased public awareness surrounding these incidents during the mayoralty race, the Vancouver Chief of Police requested that the RCMP investigate these incidents.

It premiered in November 2006, and was nominated for a Gemini Award.

Sullivan took part in the Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics, in the ceremony where the Olympic Flag was passed from Turin to Vancouver.

The ceremony involves an official of the current host city waving the flag eight times, then handing it off to an official of the next host city, who waves it eight times.

When it was his turn, the flag was put into a special bracket built into Sullivan's wheelchair.

He then swung his wheelchair back and forth eight times to wave the flag.

After the event, Sullivan received letters from people across the world who were inspired by the act, and received many invitations to be a keynote speaker at conventions.

Previously, he served as the Minister of Communities, Sport, and Cultural Development with responsibility for Translink in the short-lived BC Liberal government after the 2017 election, as well as the 38th mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and has been invested as a member of the Order of Canada.

He is currently President of the Global Civic Policy Society and an adjunct professor at the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.