TORONTO

Andray Domise stands in the shadow of 320 Dixon Rd.

The Etobicoke North (Ward 2) candidate for city council and his volunteers move under a setting sun, arranging a table full of coffee, snacks and flyers. He’s welcoming people as they slowly begin to wander over from the three highrise towers that surround the courtyard, the site of the now infamous Project Traveller police raids in June 2013.

The red carpet wasn’t exactly rolled out here for the 35-year-old, who quit his job at an insurance company to run. Domise says that posters advertising his event were ripped down and he was told by some residents they were warned against attending.

The turnout in the window-less “party room” in the basement he had rented would have been small if they’d stuck with the plan. Instead, they improvise.

“We figured we’d bring the townhall to the residents,” he says, smiling. A sign looms overhead, prohibiting playing of sports or riding of bicycles in the courtyard.

Domise is getting used to change given recent events. For months, he campaigned against Mike Ford, the 21-year-old nephew of Mayor Rob Ford. But with Mayor Ford’s shocking cancer diagnosis and subsequent decision to drop out of the mayoral race and run for a councillor job in Ward 2, the ground shifted under Domise’s feet.

“We maintained from the very beginning that we were essentially running against the Ford brand, which includes the work the mayor has done in Ward 2,” he says. “Yes, we were running against the mayor, Doug Ford and an invisible Mike Ford. Nothing has changed. We are still running against the same record.”

Domise, who is of Jamaican heritage, has spent months on the campaign trail trying to “debunk myths” he says the Fords have spread in the community for years. He’s not afraid to disagree with those who suggest — as the mayor often does — that no one has done more for the city’s poor than Rob Ford.

“I don’t mind pushing back at least just a little bit and saying, ‘OK, I get that you think this way but have you considered it from this point of view?’ I think people being challenged in that way — they have a little more respect for your position if you know what you’re talking about.”

These buildings are inextricably linked to the Ford crack scandal. Heavily-armed Toronto Police officers dressed in SWAT gear stormed apartments in the complex, arresting 35 suspects and laying 224 charges.

Police Chief Bill Blair would reveal months later that during those raids officers recovered a video of Mayor Ford smoking crack cocaine.

Domise says there is still anger here over the raids.

“There is history to these buildings that I’m getting a crash course in,” he adds. “At the same time, the impression that a lot of the residents have got is that they’ve been left out of the conversation. No one cares. Everyone’s forgotten about them.”

Domise is active on social media and made headlines with his critiques of the Ford legacy in Etobicoke. He’s sensitive to the mayor’s health struggles and wants him to recover fully. But the campaign won’t wait for him, he says.

“All respect to Mr. Ford and all respect to his condition because we, all of us on the campaign, hope he pulls through,” he says. “Ward 2 is also ailing. Ward 2 is sick. You can just take a walk around the block and see what sort of underdevelopment issues we’re dealing with.

“All of this is not going to stop because Mr. Ford is ill,” Domise insists. “I’ve said before, we can’t be held hostage to his recovery schedule. I mean that. What I mean by that is because Mr. Ford is ill, it doesn’t mean the issues here have gone away. They’re still there and have to be addressed.”

Requests for comment from the Ford campaign were not returned.

Domise says he’s not affected by media pundits who predict a Ford landslide victory in Ward 2.

He’s worn out three pairs of shoes knocking on doors and plans to keep it up.

“This is completely winnable,” he says. “I intend to win.”