The law has been clear for more than a decade: preventing unhoused people from sheltering overnight on public land in the absence of accessible shelter alternatives violates their constitutional rights to life and security of the person.12 Yet, local governments continue to go to court again and again to obtain injunctions to evict unhoused people from public land in the absence of accessible shel. [...] This violates the province’s solemn commitments and legal obligations to support Indigenous self-determination, consult Indigenous peoples on decisions that affect them, and, in keeping with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, ensure that provincial laws comply with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. [...] Having somewhere to shelter and store belongings during the day is also a basic need that courts have recognized for years,24 and now acknowledge as a constitutional right.25 To deny unhoused folks the ability to shelter 24/7 is to condemn them, in one judge’s words, to “constant disruption and a perpetuation of a relentless series of daily moves to the streets, doorways, and parks” of Canadian ci. [...] Instead, without consulting the affected individuals and groups, the government has introduced legislation that is inconsistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Indigenous rights, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and international human rights law. [...] We ask you to withdraw this harmful proposal, stop trying to justify the punishment, stigmatization and eviction of precariously housed people and start to work seriously—with precariously housed people themselves—to protect the rights of the most vulnerable British Columbians to shelter, survival, health, and dignity.
- Pages
- 8
- Published in
- Canada
