⭐️ Pivot's Annual Report 2023! ❤️️ A window into Pivot's work! We hope this inspires and educates.✊🏽

Impacted Families Call for Inquiry Amidst Failings of Civilian Police Oversight in B.C. Join the call and stand in solidarity with Indigenous families: https://www.pivotlegal.org/demandjustice

This briefing provides an overview of recent constitutional challenges to the federal sex work laws under the Charter. Second, it provides an outline of the legal basis for asserting bodily autonomy, health, safety and equality rights for sex workers. Our focus for the purpose of this brief is on Charter laws under sections 2(b) & (d), 7 and 15, although violations of sex workers' rights under sections 8 (unreasonable search and seizure), 9 (arbitrary detention), and 12 (cruel and unusual punishment), are certainly ripe areas for further exploration.

On January 30th 2024, Pivot prepared brief written submissions to the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls (“VAWG”) for its Report to the UN Human Rights Council on Prostitution and VAWG.

Pivot wishes to voice full support for a permanent ceasefire and for the liberation of Palestine from settler colonization and imperialism. We unequivocally condemn the genocidal campaign of ethnic cleansing that the nation-state of Israel has waged against the Palestinian people for over 75 years, including a 16-year siege of Gaza.  

MEDIA ADVISORY When: Monday October 16, 2023 at 8:30 AM Where: 800 Smithe Street, Vancouver, BC - Smithe Street entrance Who: Our Homes Can’t Wait (OHCW) members, Pivot Legal Society (PIVOT), and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA)

If BC is to implement provincial tenancy laws, those protections must be afforded to all renters, and courts must be attuned to the adverse impacts of carving out whole communities from tenancy rights that they are legally entitled to.

PRESS RELEASE - Challenging Canada’s prohibition on drug possession. Application filed last week at BC Provincial Court by Sarah Runyon (Marion & Runyon Criminal Lawyers) and Caitlin Shane (Pivot Legal Society). Stay tuned as the case proceeds.

This fall PIVOT & OHCW will be at BCCA intervening in a case that will impact the applicability of RTA on people residing in non-profit, “supportive” housing. Learn more about this case by reading second part of a three-part blog series.

Pivot and OHCW will be at the BC Court of Appeal this fall intervening in an appeal of a judicial review of an RTB decision that found a tenant’s rental housing building, operated by Elizabeth Fry Society, to be transitional housing and therefore exempt from BC’s Residential Tenancy Act (RTA) – leaving the tenant without any legal protections under provincial tenancy laws We know that racialized communities, people on social assistance, sex workers, drug users and other marginalized communities, already face systemic barriers in accessing and maintaining permanent housing, and being carved out of the RTA’s protections would negatively impact housing and tenancy rights for marginalized groups

Pivot's 2022 Annual Report - with thanks to Peer experts, community organizers and groups, funders, and supporters, who are all a critical part of our work which at its heart, involves creating space for and learning from, people directly impacted by poverty and criminalization. To all who have stood alongside us on the streets and in the courts; to all who have sent emails and showed up to serve food; to all who have spent countless hours collaborating with us and to all those who have opened your doors for us, we thank you! Your trust and generosity have allowed us to fight back against discriminatory and deadly laws and policies while striving for healthier and stronger communities. In solidarity, Staff - Pivot Legal Society

Jared’s mother Alunaye, Laura Holland and his daughters marked this anniversary by filing a civil lawsuit against the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, and the four RCMP officers.

PRESS RELEASE - This morning, 24 months after Jared Lowndes was killed by the Campbell River RCMP, the family of Jared Lowndes filed a lawsuit with the support of Vancouver lawyer Neil Chantler (Chantler & Company).

PRESS RELEASE - Nearly 8 years after the death of Myles Gray during a brutal and violent encounter with multiple Vancouver Police Department (VPD) officers the Vancouver Police Board is set to receive a report based on Jury Recommendations.

This year, on Access Awareness Day, Pivot is picking up the theme of “Inclusion Starts Here” to highlight how accessible and inclusive communities don’t rely on police violence or carceral interventions disguised as benevolent care. I’ve interviewed Vesper Moore, who is working in the US and internationally to advance the perspectives of Mad, disabled, and psychiatric survivors.   Vesper Moore is an Indigenous political activist of Kiskeia and Borikén Taíno descent. They are a leader, organizer, public speaker, and educator in the psychiatric survivor and disability rights movements. They are based in so-called Massachusetts, Nipmuc territory and homelands. Vesper is currently a board member at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy, and MindFreedom International. They are also a member of the Massachusetts Special Commission on State Institutions and the Chief Operating Officer of Kiva Centers.