exclusive: a b.c. woman's extreme battle to help her disabled brother
11 minute read
angela clancy with alan in 2024, the last time she saw him.
fearing for the well-being of her developmentally delayed brother, angela clancy has battled for more than two years to have alan removed from a home she deems to be unsafe.
clancy, her brother’s court-approved legal guardian, doesn’t make the allegation lightly. alan lives in a victoria suburb with their 90-year-old stepfather, malcolm macbride, whom clancy accuses in a new lawsuit of historic sexual abuse.
and a series of red flags have been raised by two government bodies and her brother’s family doctor, leaving her shocked that officials will not help her move alan into her maple ridge home.
“i worry about the emotional and financial well-being of my brother, who i haven’t been able to see since 2024,” said clancy, who is legally responsible for alan’s finances and health.
“this is a story about what happens when a vulnerable adult falls through every crack in the system, despite repeated warnings, substantiated concerns, (and) police involvement.”
in court documents, as well as in correspondence to clancy and government agencies, macbride denied all wrongdoing and insisted alan is safe and happy living with him. none of the allegations against macbride has been tested in court.
clancy, 52, said her younger brother loves watching hockey, swimming, helping with household chores and hanging out with her three daughters.
but she believes alan, 50, needs protection because he struggles to understand complex issues or make decisions, needs assistance with most daily tasks such as cooking and self care, has a significant stutter that hampers communication, suffers from serious ailments in his feet and spine, and has type 1 diabetes requiring daily insulin.
alan lived with his mother, beryl swan, his entire life, and routinely visited clancy’s home. since swan’s 2024 death, he has continued to live with his stepfather in the sidney condo that alan co-owned with his mom, but it is now difficult for clancy to communicate with him.
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clancy, who has built a career supporting families with disabled loved ones, wants her only sibling to live with her. but she insists she’s hit roadblocks erected by community living b.c. — or clbc — a provincial crown corporation that supports adults with developmental disabilities.
in 2024, a clbc investigation concluded alan had been subjected to financial and emotional abuse, but the agency later insisted the risks had been mitigated, that alan wants to stay in the condo, and there isn’t sufficient evidence to force him to move.
clancy, though, argues her brother is easily manipulated and points to other documented warning signs:
• the public guardian and trustee, a provincial agency that safeguards the interests of people who cannot protect themselves, is suing macbride in civil court. the lawsuit alleges no money from the will or life insurance of alan’s deceased mother — upon whom he was dependent his whole life — is being used to support her son.
• clancy has filed a complaint with worksafebc over the use of a $1,630 monthly support that alan receives as a result of their biological father being killed on the job. worksafebc would not comment on any investigation, but postmedia has viewed an email that confirms an agency lawyer has the information.
• alan’s doctor has raised concerns, in writing, about his health, in particular over insufficient care for his type 1 diabetes.
macbride, who married alan’s mother nearly four decades ago, declined to comment on any of the allegations.
“i can’t speak to you at all,” macbride said. “my side will be told in the courts.”
in court documents, macbride dismissed the sexual abuse allegations as “absurd” and, in response to the public guardian’s lawsuit, said alan doesn’t need his mother’s money for long-term care.
this case examines the fine line between when people with developmental disabilities should be supported to make their own decisions and when authorities should step in because they are at risk.
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on one side of that line is clbc, which told clancy in written correspondence that it must respect the independent wishes of the vulnerable people it supports, and can only take action under “extraordinary circumstances” when there is evidence of “imminent harm.”
on the other side of that line are family members like clancy, who doesn’t believe alan is capable of understanding when he is unsafe. she is alan’s court-approved “private committee,” a provincial appointment that requires two doctors to find someone like alan is “incapable of managing their affairs and/or themselves.”
this designation allows clancy to manage alan’s financial affairs, health and living arrangements, as vulnerable adults can “be at risk of other people taking advantage of them,” says the website of the public guardian and trustee.
clancy is flabbergasted clbc has not taken steps to move her brother, just one year after a scathing coroner’s inquest urged the agency to improve oversight of the medical quality of life for everyone in its care. that inquest investigated the circumstances surrounding florence girard, a woman with down syndrome who died in a clbc-funded port coquitlam home.
john stinson, acting ceo at clbc, declined to answer a long list of questions, saying in a statement he could not comment on individual cases due to privacy considerations, or on “active investigations,” or on matters before courts or tribunals. he also didn’t address a query about the girard case.
“clbc takes concerns about the health, safety and well-being of adults eligible for clbc services very seriously,” stinson’s statement said, adding it conducts monitoring “to assess the individual’s circumstances and well-being.”
social development minister sheila malcolmson, whose ministry oversees clbc, referred all questions to the agency.
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the b.c. conservative social development critic, kristina loewen, called the case “deeply troubling.”
“i am especially concerned that alan currently appears to have little to no communication with his sister,” loewen said. “this unfortunate situation has compelled me to ask why the (clbc) did not take emergency action?”
postmedia has sifted through dozens of court documents, government reports, doctor’s records and family emails to tell the story of why clancy believes her brother is in danger — and why no one has agreed to move him.
angela clancy with brother alan in 2024, the last time she saw him. source: angela clancy
sexual abuse lawsuit
in april 2025, clancy filed a lawsuit against macbride, a family friend who was frequently at their vancouver home after her father died in 1980. macbride and beryl swan eventually dated and later married.
the lawsuit contains allegations of historic sexual abuse spanning several years. they have not been proven in court.
in his response to the lawsuit, macbride denied the abuse happened, calling it “entirely false (and) wholly unfounded.”
around age 25, clancy pursued therapy. her court filing says she was diagnosed with depression, anxiety and ptsd, as well as feeling shame and having repeated nightmares.
in 2025, macbride insisted the sexual-abuse allegations were “absurd,” in legal documents filed in response to the unrelated lawsuit by the provincial guardian and trustee.
macbride alleged clancy had orchestrated the legal action “to ensure her elderly stepfather … will struggle to afford accommodation, let alone food and the other necessities of life.”
a trial that will test the accuracy of the sexual abuse allegations has been scheduled for june 2027.
this spring, clancy spoke to police for the first time about the alleged sexual abuse. a saanich police officer said he could not release any information.
alan hugs two of his nieces in 2024, the last time they saw him. source: angela clancy
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clbc documents financial, emotional abuse
alan has been a clbc client for about a decade, after his mother requested respite payments so someone else could take him on outings, clancy said.
following their mother’s 2024 death, clancy alleged that things changed. she repeatedly raised concerns with clbc about alan’s living situation, and how regular contact and visits with her and her daughters had stopped.
a dec. 2, 2024, letter to clancy, written on clbc letterhead, said the agency investigated and “found evidence of financial abuse.”
clbc had also “found some evidence of emotional abuse as alan no longer has access to his own cellphone or other communication means and alan appears to be prevented from communicating with you,” the letter said. in response, a “support and assistance plan” was created.
that plan, which postmedia has seen, says “clbc has ongoing concerns about neglect related to alan’s care” and that he has “vulnerability to being easily coached by those he feels safe with.”
regarding the alleged financial abuse, the plan said clancy and the public guardian and trustee will monitor alan’s finances, and “the rcmp also have an open ongoing investigation.”
sidney rcmp declined to comment.
regarding the emotional abuse, the no. 1 action item was for alan to regain access to a cellphone so he could speak with clancy and other family.
but nothing changed, claims clancy, who is the executive director of the b.c. family support institute, a non-profit that supports families of loved ones with disabilities.
the loss of communication intensified her fight to have alan move to her home, and clbc even gave her $10,000 to assist with legal bills “on an exceptional basis in recognition of your concerns,” a 2026 letter from stinson notes.
macbride said he wouldn’t speak to postmedia about the clbc probes or any elements of this story because “it’s in the hands of my lawyer.” when asked for his lawyer’s name, he said he didn’t have one yet but plans to find one.
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in his statement to postmedia, stinson did not address alan’s case specifically, but said generally: “all adults are entitled to live in the manner they wish, and all adults should receive the most effective, but the least restrictive and intrusive, form of support, assistance or protection when they are unable to care for themselves or their financial affairs,” stinson said.
in an august 2025 letter to clancy, stinson said part of the reason clbc declined to move alan is because he “has food and shelter, his medical needs are being met to an acceptable standard per the opinion of his physician … and he asserts and expresses a desire for the status quo.”
alan’s physician, though, expressed apprehension about his diet, his high blood sugar, and his missing an appointment at a diabetes clinic, in a january 2025 affidavit she prepared at the request of clancy’s lawyer. “without careful management, alan’s health issues could lead to serious lasting physical damage to alan’s health,” dr. ruth curtis wrote.
the doctor raised similar concerns this year in emails to clancy, who receives updates from the physician because she is appointed by the province to oversee her brother’s health.
alan holds hands with his niece jaida clancy. family handout.
provincial agency lawsuit over money
the public guardian and trustee filed its lawsuit against macbride in may 2025, seeking to vary alan’s mother’s will, which left nothing to her two children. it alleges alan had always been “dependent” on beryl swan for support because “he is unable to work.”
macbride was the sole beneficiary of swan’s $260,000 estate, including her half of the sidney condo she jointly owned with alan.
swan also named macbride as beneficiary of her $312,000 life insurance policy “on the express condition that he use these funds to pay off any mortgages” on the condominium, the public guardian lawsuit alleges.
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but macbride, in his response to the lawsuit, denied he was obligated to pay off the mortgage. he insisted the life insurance money was used to pay down alan’s line of credit, buy a vehicle, purchase a lift chair, and go on a trip and out for meals.
since september 2024, the public guardian lawsuit alleges, macbride has not paid any money for the condo’s mortgage, strata fees or utilities, totalling about $1,600 a month, despite living there. they are entirely paid by clancy using alan’s monthly $1,640 disability payment from the provincial government, the lawsuit said.
the public guardian asked the court to vary swan’s will to provide support for alan, to reimburse alan for covering all the bills, and for alan to get half the life insurance payout.
macbride said in his 2025 response to the public guardian lawsuit that no one asked alan if he wanted a lawsuit brought “against his 89-year-old dad who he has known and loved for many years, and is now emotionally distraught.”
macbride’s court document added that alan “does not need financial support from (his mother’s) estate for long-term care.”
clancy, though, said macbride repeatedly asks her to pay for alan’s medical bills and household expenses.
no date has yet been set for the trial, which will test the competing allegations in this case.
a public guardian spokeswoman declined to comment on the case.
angela clancy holds a photo of her brother alan with her daughters, inside the bedroom she has waiting for him in her maple ridge home.
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worksafebc payment
clancy only recently discovered that, in addition to his provincial $1,640 disability payment, alan also receives a $1,630 monthly disability payment from worksafebc, as a result of their father, an electrician, dying on the job in may 1980. but the worksafebc money does not go into alan’s bank account, which she oversees as his legal guardian.
macbride disclosed in his may 2025 response to the public guardian lawsuit that he uses the worksafebc money to provide alan with “an enjoyable lifestyle,” such as going to hockey games, and for necessities that include special shoes for a foot deformity, and “light bulbs, garbage bags, dishwasher tabs.”
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but clancy has emails from macbride asking her to pay for these types of expenses, as well as her receipts. she has lodged a complaint with worksafebc.
the agency declined to comment, saying “worksafebc does not disclose information about an investigation.”
macbride did not answer postmedia’s questions about the worksafebc payments.
the allegation is untested in court.
clancy’s battle continues
while clancy strongly believes her brother would be better off in her home, clbc’s stinson told her in may that alan “is satisfied and happy in his current living situation.”
stinson’s statement to postmedia this week added that clbc can only move an adult without their consent to preserve their life, prevent serious physical or mental harm, or protect property from significant damage or loss.
he added that someone who is a court-appointed “committee,” as clancy is for alan, can make decisions about health and living arrangements, but also “must exercise their powers for the adult’s benefit (and) foster the adult’s independence.”
clancy is desperate for a solution to this standoff.
she has a room waiting for her brother, a light blue comforter and stuffed animals on the bed. a framed picture of alan with her daughters sits on the bedside table.
she just hopes one day he’ll be able to move in.
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