Government accused of not doing enough
Catherine Rolfsen, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, April 14, 2008
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.
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For a contrary opinion see also Blaming B.C. Olympics for housing ills wrong
