Brian Salisbury is the video and photo coordinator for Citizen Network.
After graduating with a Degree in Social Work from the University of South Australia in 1982, Brian worked briefly in adult corrections, community mental health and children’s services. However, the work in these essentially socially controlling human service systems was very unfulfilling, leading to a desire to find work in a field that was more committed to human rights and meaningful citizenship opportunities. It was this career decision point that began 30 years in the developmental disability, starting as a service broker with the Community Living Society in 1984. This innovative agency was one of the first anywhere to use service brokerage and individualized funding.
What Brian learned during five years supporting people to move from institutions to community provided the foundation he needed to move on to a variety of other challenging roles. These included international policy consultant, Instructor in the Community Support Worker Program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and Director of Strategic Planning at Community Living British Columbia. However, after a decade of trying to build a service system in British Columbia that was more person-centred that the one that preceded it,
Brian retired from government in 2014, anxious to find other avenues to address social justice issues. This has enabled him to use videography to explore issues that impact how citizenship is experienced by people with disabilities. Brian lives in Fort Langley, British Columbia with his wife Trish.
