| Home | About RtR | Take Action | Resources | Calendar |
| |
Raise the Rates | ||||
|
|
UN Human Rights Complaint over HomelessnessUN complaint over homelessness A pair of UBC students authored and filed the petition, in advance of the 2010 Games, under UN resolution 1503, which allows for non-governmental organizations to file grievances without the consent of government. Co-author and UBC student Mike Powar hopes international pressure can force government out of its alleged holding pattern on homelessness and into action to remedy the crisis. " The problem I see is the hypocrisy of government continually putting forward all these things that they're going to do ... and yet they haven't fulfilled that," said Powar. "The UN can actually call them on that." Three DTES NGOs have forwarded the petition that will circulate through several committees to measure the validity of the claim. If successful the UN will open a closed-door dialogue with the federal government and findings will be release by a high commission at the investigation's conclusion. UBC professor Michael Byers, who supervised the project, said though the petition is not legally binding, the Human Rights Council will try the nation in the court of global public opinion. " These NGOs and my students can prompt the eyes of the world to turn onto the Downtown Eastside," he said. -------------------------------------------------------- Vancouver homelessness in crisis, advocacy group claims Catherine Rolfsen, Vancouver
Sun VANCOUVER - A group of students and Downtown Eastside advocates is today sending the United Nations a human rights complaint against the government of Canada, protesting the lack of adequate housing in the troubled community. In the document, addressed to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, the complainants argue that the federal government has violated the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Canada is a signatory. " The federal, provincial and municipal governments in Canada are not upholding basic human rights standards associated with the right to adequate housing in Vancouver, British Columbia, leading up to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games," reads the letter. It is signed by representatives from Pivot Legal Society, the Carnegie Community Action Project and the Impact on Communities Coalition. " We're at our wits' end," said Jean Swanson of the Carnegie Community Action Project at a press conference Sunday. "With the Olympics coming, maybe if these levels of government are embarrassed enough, they'll do what everyone knows they need to do: build housing, buy the hotels, bring in rent control." Two University of B.C. students - Mike Powar and Gayle Stewart - initiated the complaint after studying the issue of homelessness in Vancouver in a global politics class taught by Michael Byers. " I hope that by filing this human rights complaint with regards to the SROs [single-room occupancy buildings] we can really make a difference," said Powar, a political science student. The complaint is filed through a mechanism that allows human rights and victims' groups to petition the UN. It has been used to protest apartheid in South Africa and conditions in the former Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War, said Byers, who holds a Canada research chair in global politics and international law. It will be considered by the UN Human Rights Council over the next few years, Byers said. The council can't fine Canada, Byers said, but could call upon Canadian politicians to discuss homelessness and may eventually produce recommendations. " Through this petition, these NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and my students are prompting the eyes of the world to turn to the Downtown Eastside," Byers said. Vancouver city Coun. Kim Capri said in an interview that the Olympics will bring increased international attention to Vancouver's social ills, such as homelessness. " The Olympics are a catalyst for action," Capri said. "We're hoping that they will be a catalyst for positive action." She defended the city and the province's track record of tackling homelessness, pointing to recent purchases of Downtown Eastside hotels for low-income housing and to the planned development of social and supportive housing on 12 sites across Vancouver. But she said the recent Metro Vancouver homeless count, which found there has been a 20-per-cent increase in the number of people living in shelters and on the streets since 2005, highlights the enormity of the challenge facing the region. " Having anybody sleeping outside in the conditions that homeless people live in, in a country as wealthy as Canada, is very problematic and it's troubling," she said. "As a country, and as a province, we need to do better." Monte Solberg, the federal minister of Human Resources and Social Development, and Rich Coleman, the provincial Housing minister, could not be reached for comment Sunday. crolfsen@png.canwest.com ---------------------------------------- Vancouver housing activists taking human rights complaint to United Nations By Christina
Montgomery, Vancouver Province The battle over social housing for Vancouver's poorest residents is moving to a new battlefield - the United Nations, which will be asked shortly to weigh a human-rights complaint against Canada for failing to protect the low-cost rooms. Housing activists will focus the complaint to the UN Human Rights Council on the ongoing conversions of low-cost hotel rooms in the Downtown Eastside. The move is based on a study by University of B.C. students Gayle Stewart and Mike Powar, who took a walking tour of the poverty-stricken neighbourhood last fall as part of a class in global politics and international law. Michael Byers, their professor, arranged the tour and challenged them to apply international issues to the grim social scene. Powar and Stewart took up the challege with an analysis of whether Canada is fulfilling its international commitments to ensuring adequate housing for citizens. The complaint will be launched formally by the Pivot Legal Society, the Impact on Community Coalition and the Carnegie Community Action Project - activists who have been critical of the impact of the 2010 Olympics on the supply of low-cost housing. Most recently, the groups have applauded efforts by the city and the province to purchase and preserve 17 low-rent hotels in the area. But they've taken aim at the failure to find a legal way to prevent owners from legally evicting tenants of the hotels. Their work was spurred on by a visit in October by Miloon Kothari, a UN official who reports on adequate housing. Kothari visited shortly after a provincial announcement of $41 million for housing initiatives, including 24-hour emergency shelters, rent supplements planning money to fasttrack approvals for housing on 12 sites donated by the city. Despite the plans, Kothari noted he had heard stories of "hundreds of people who have died as a result of Canada's nationwide housing crisis." His preliminary report says a recent review by the UN found Canada's homelessness and inadequate housing were a "national emergency." " Downtown Eastside hotels are the homes of last resort for low-income people," said Jean Swanson, Coordinator of the Carnegie Community Action Project." Almost half are already closed, at risk, or [charge] too high a rent. If the city and the province don't act now, the rest of the hotels could push low income people out on to the street." "I am disappointed that we have to go to the international community for something as simple as getting the police to intervene in illegal evictions, forcing the city to maintain minimum standards in buildings, ensuring that people aren't kicked out for condo development, and getting the health department to address the bedbug issue," added David Eby, a lawyer who works with the Pivot Legal Society "But if that's what it takes, we're willing to take this complaint all the way." The complaint argues that Canada
is: E-mail
reporter Christina Montgomery at cmontgomery@png.canwest.com ---------------------------------------- A class tour of Vancouver’s impoverished Downtown Eastside has led two UBC students to draft a human-rights complaint that will be filed against Canada before the United Nations. The complaint will be brought before the UN Human Rights Council by the Impact on Community Coalition, Pivot Legal Society, and the Carnegie Community Action Project. These groups have been critical of the adverse impact of the 2010 Olympics on housing. “ This is just disheartening,” UBC political-science student Mike Powar told the Georgia Straight , referring to the housing problem not only in the Downtown Eastside but also in the Metro Vancouver area. The 27-year-old Powar was one of 17 students who enrolled in UBC professor Michael Byers’s seminar on global politics and international law last year. Byers took them on a walking tour of the Downtown Eastside, encouraging them to identify international issues that relate to this impoverished neighbourhood. According to Byers, Powar and another student, Gayle Stewart, decided to undertake a review on whether Canada is fulfilling its international commitments to ensuring adequate housing for its citizens. The complaint will be filed through the so-called 1503 procedure, which the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights describes as the “oldest human-rights complaint mechanism in the United Nations system”. “ In this instance, my students are trying to use this mechanism to demonstrate that there is a systematic violation of human rights occurring with respect to the lack of affordable housing,” Byers said. The two UBC students were mentored by activist and IOCC board member Am Johal, who guided Byers’s class on the Downtown Eastside tour in September. Johal noted that the filing of the complaint follows on the heels of the visit to Canada in October by Miloon Kothari, the UN special rapporteur on adequate housing. Kothari came to Vancouver less than a week after B.C. Liberal premier Gordon Campbell announced that the provincial government is allocating $41 million in additional funding to housing initiatives. The money will be used to fund the 24-hour operation of emergency shelters, outreach services, rent supplements, and predevelopment costs for properties earmarked by the City of Vancouver for new supportive housing. “ On this mission, I heard of hundreds of people who have died as a result of Canada’s nationwide housing crisis,” Kothari stated in his preliminary report. “In its most recent periodic review of Canada’s compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the United Nations used strong language to label housing and homelessness and inadequate housing as a ‘national emergency’.” In an interview with the Straight, Johal noted that the provincial government’s purchase of 17 low-rent hotels is a positive measure in preserving available housing stock in Vancouver. “ What they haven’t done is to change the legislative framework, which allows owners to legally evict tenants,” Johal said. “The difference between a residential property and any other commodity in a different kind of business is that there’s very clear responsibilities related to the human right to housing that nation states have to guarantee.” Activists like Johal have ongoing concerns about possible evictions leading up to the 2010 Olympics. According to him, some 300,000 visitors are expected to arrive in the Metro Vancouver region, which has only 27,000 hotel rooms. “ There’s a number of private facilities and home stays that are going to be available,” Johal said. “There simply isn’t enough capacity to meet the actual demand. Without enhanced protections, this will lead to thousands of evictions.” According to Pivot lawyer David Eby’s count, some 448 housing units in hotels and residential buildings in the Downtown Eastside have been closed since December, mostly for renovations or as a condition of their sale. Eby told the Straight that the complaint against Canada will be filed before the UN this month.
|
| ©2008 Raise the Rates • Contact |