We the signatories call for the continued human rights violations by the city of Victoria against its unsheltered population in the past year to be fully investigated, exposed, and legally challenged.

At the latest Point-in-Time homeless count, 242 people were found to be unsheltered in Victoria. Every reasonable observer estimates the actual count to be considerably higher.

Shelter space, in contrast, has been shrinking precipitously in the past few years. Notably, the city of Victoria failed to open Emergency Weather Response shelters last winter, even after securing funding from BC Housing, leading to a humanitarian crisis on the ground. The recent closure of Tiny Town, a village of transitional housing units, exacerbates this crisis.

One year into the current council's mandate, not only has this shortage not been addressed, the council has instead launched a predatory campaign against the unsheltered population by closing the majority of its parks to sheltering. It even resorts to hostile architecture such as building 'park improvements' wherever the homeless are known to set up camp. And it is set to permanently close all but three remote parks to sheltering, knowing full well the unsheltered population cannot be crammed into the remaining area under the terms of its own bylaws.

Furthermore, the city is constructively chasing the unsheltered away from essential amenities such as community centres and harm reduction services, despite many experiencing mobility issues preventing them from walking the distance back and forth every day, thus infringing upon the rights of people with disabilities under both Article 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Section 8 of the British Columbia Human Rights Code.

As for its recent motion calling for more overnight shelter space, it only adds insult to injury since the initiative was set to fail from the onset. No tangible plan has been announced by November 1st, as the conversation has been purposefully postponed until October. And no reasonable observer expects any implementation by December, as Mayor Alto recently suggested, especially after the Alliance to End Homelessness in the Capital Region admitted to pulling out of coordinating seasonal shelters.

Courts have repeatedly asserted the homeless' right to shelter under Article 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees "the right to life, liberty and security of the person". Rulings have in particular asserted the right to sleep, the deprivation thereof being universally considered a form of torture, notably by the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing.

Of course the city of Victoria knows this, since the issue was settled in Victoria (City) v. Adams in 2009, then reasserted in B.C./Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors v. Abbotsford (City) in 2014 and in Prince George (City) v. Stewart in 2021. And yet, under Mayor Alto's leadership, the council's priority has been to test the limits of the rulings by encroaching upon the unsheltered's vital space until there is quite literally too little left for them to fit in. The wording of relevant bylaws reflects the council's intention to weasel its way around the language of court judgements by adding "subject to the ability to house or better shelter", knowing better shelter isn't available by design and that even overnight shelter would not meet the bar set by The Regional Municipality of Waterloo v. Persons Unknown and to be Ascertained in 2023. Its legal stance isn't merely legally flawed, but outright unscrupulous.

Victoria does not have a homelessness problem, it has a governance problem. The city council can blame the provincial government all it wants for the housing crisis, that does not absolve it of responsibility arising from exercising its own municipal prerogative, starting with its bylaws. We call for this city to be held accountable for orchestrating a campaign of displacement to nowhere against its most vulnerable constituents, in defiance of every applicable human rights provision and extensive jurisprudence.

References:

2023 Greater Victoria Point-in-time Homeless Count and Housing Needs Survey​

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms​

British Columbia Human Rights Code​

Homelessness and human rights—Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing​

No one to coordinate: Victoria not opening extreme weather shelter spaces​

Victoria (City) v. Adams, 2009 BCCA 563​

B.C./Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors v. Abbotsford (City), 2014 BCSC 1817​

The Regional Municipality of Waterloo v. Persons Unknown and to be Ascertained​

Prince George (City) v. Stewart, 2021 BCSC 2089​

City of Victoria: Sheltering in Parks​

Victoria prohibits sheltering in Beacon Hill, Central and Stadacona Parks​

Victoria adds three parks to sheltering ban, including Topaz​

Vic West Park campers get reprieve as council awaits sheltering report​

‘An invasion’: Victoria homeless decry city and cops confiscating tents, food​

Questions remain unanswered as Victoria continues to ban overnight sheltering in parks​

Victoria’s ‘Tiny Town’ being dismantled as residents are moved to permanent housing