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The Pivot Blog
On December 11, 2024, Pivot and BC Civil Liberties Association filed a request for review by the Police Complaint Commissioner pursuant to ss. 172 & 173 of BC’s Police Act, RSBC 1996, c. 367, relating to the Vancouver Police Board’s screening decisions of two Service and Policy Complaints filed in respect of VPD’s discriminate treatment of Palestinian solidarity protests.
Service and Policy Complaint – VPD Surveillance of Demonstrators Supporting Palestinian Human Rights
On September 18, 2024, Pivot Legal Society (Pivot) and the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) filed multiple complaints, under BC’s Police Act, against the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) for excessive use of force and the targeting and surveillance of people expressing support for Palestinian human rights. This particular Legal Submission is a Service and Policy complaint regarding VPD Surveillance of Demonstrators Supporting Palestinian Human Rights.
On September 18, 2024, Pivot Legal Society (Pivot) and the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) filed multiple complaints, under BC’s Police Act, against the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) for excessive use of force and the targeting and surveillance of people expressing support for Palestinian human rights. This particular Legal Submission is a Service and Policy complaint regarding VPD's excessive use of force at a Palestine Solidarity Event on May 31, 2024.
MEDIA ADVISORY
What: The Vancouver Police Board will consider legal complaints filed against the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) for excessive use of force and surveillance of Palestine movement.
When: Thursday October 31, 2024 - Media scrum 12PM | police board meeting 1PM
Where: Media scrum will be outside VPD Headquarters, 2120 Cambie St. Vancouver. The police board public meeting is on 7th floor or online.
https://vimeo.com/showcase/11109208
Who: Representatives from BCCLA and Pivot Legal Society, along with pro-Palestinian activists will be available for comment.
Pivot to appear before the Supreme Court of Canada to fight clawbacks to the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act
Pivot has been granted leave to make submissions on the real-world impacts of potential clawbacks to the Act, and the need for laws like this one to grant vitally necessary legal protection in the face of a deadly drug poisoning crisis. This is the only way that the law can be effective in achieving its aim: saving lives.
Policing Race, Gender & Sex Work
Learn about impacts of sex work criminalization on Black sex workers, and the ways in which advocates pushback against the erasure & racialized, gendered policing of sex work through court challenges, organizing, and community care.
PRESS RELEASE - Lawyers with Pivot Legal Society and the BC Civil Liberties Association have filed three complaints against the Vancouver Police Department’s excessive use of force, targeting, and surveillance of Palestine protests.
⭐️ 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.