City of Vancouver

The BCCLA is the oldest and most active civil liberties organization in Canada, with a mandate to promote civil liberties and human rights in BC and across Canada. [...] The BCCLA office is located in the VCBIA, and in this capacity we write to express concerns about the future goals, tasks, and focus of the VCBIA, as identified in a brochure produced by the Vancouver Chinatown BIA Society (the "Society") circulated with the Notice of Proposed Renewal for the VCBIA (the “Brochure”). [...] In particular, sections “A: Community Safety” and “B: Place Making” of the Brochure reflect the Society’s intent to collaborate extensively with the Vancouver Police mailto:ccclerk@vancouver.ca 2 Department by increasing monitoring and patrolling, reporting “suspicious” members of the public to law enforcement, and introducing the “latest technology and methods for crime prevention”. [...] In addition, the implementation of heightened surveillance and police monitoring, potentially including algorithmic policing technologies, is in tension with the human rights and civil liberties of residents, workers, volunteers, and tourists of Chinatown. [...] 3 Thank you for the opportunity to place the BCCLA’s perspective on the proposed renewal of the VCBIA before you.