A human rights-based, intersectional approach to sex work advocacy is an invitation to rethink the ways in which we approach systemic advocacy that supports the rights of sex workers. This will necessarily involve recentering the lived experiences and voices of sex workers, particularly Black, Indigenous and Asian migrant sex worker communities whose work is traditionally erased from public and organizing around sex workers’ rights. Stay tuned for ways to get involved in our upcoming human rights work!

Pivot has submitted feedback to the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction for the Ministry’s first five-year review of its poverty reduction strategy for BC. A community consultation with people who have lived and living experiences of poverty informed this submission and their top priorities are increasing social belonging through increased opportunities for peer work and civic and social engagement, finding new ways to fund poverty reduction by eliminating the criminalization of people living in poverty, enshrining the protection of people living in poverty in provincial law, and funding free and accessible public transit in metropolitan areas and especially in rural areas. #defundthepolice #socialconditionprotections #freeaccessibletransit #endthewaronthepoor #peerworkiswork

MEDIA ADVISORY When: Monday, April 17, 8:00 AM Where: Burnaby Coroners’ Court, 4720 Kingsway, Burnaby BC - Meet at the entrance to Metrotower II at Metrotown [ https://goo.gl/maps/nNhvavQ33RtiVo226 ] - Livestream by Pivot Legal Society [ https://www.instagram.com/pivotlegal/ ] Who: Support rally for the family of Myles Gray & their supporters, to mark the beginning of the Inquest into the VPD killing of Myles Thomas Gray [ https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/life-events/death/coroners-service/inquest-schedule-jury-findings-verdicts/inquestlivestream ]

PRESS RELEASE - Pivot's position paper, Involuntary Treatment: Criminalization by another name, comes amid government movement toward the expansion of involuntary treatment in BC, including by Premier David Eby and Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside. Recent rumblings from municipal, provincial, and national politicians indicate that the latest call to expand involuntary treatment directly targets people who use drugs. Involuntary treatment - for any community - is a harmful and degrading intervention at odds with healing, wellness, and best practices in drug policy and mental health care. In the context of the drug toxicity crisis, this expansion could be deadly.

Say NO to involuntary treatment! Check out Pivot's position paper and send a message endorsing the 7 recommendations for life-affirming solutions: https://act.newmode.net/action/pivot-legal-society/say-no-involuntary-treatment

Honour Their Names, an art exhibit and organizing space presented by #JusticeForJared returns to Gallery Gachet, opening on March 15, International Day Against police Brutality, and runs until March 24, 2023. #DefundThePolice #JusticeForJared

Just 10 years ago, the VPD budget was $219.8 million. In the last decade, the VPD’s budget has almost doubled, with little to show in terms of “public safety.”

Continuing to overfund the VPD, while people’s most basic needs are not met, amounts to a tacit approval of the havoc the police are wreaking on those made vulnerable by a discriminatory system. #PoliceOutOfPolitics #PoliceOutOfEverything

On February 10, 2023, Pivot Legal Society filed a petition at the BC Supreme Court to challenge the City of Campbell River’s newly adopted bylaws. The bylaws, which directly undermine BC’s new decriminalization policy, were illegally passed and fall outside the scope of local government powers.

The legacies of racialized policing & controls continue to be replicated under expanding police budgets, with devastating impacts of state violence shouldered by Black & Indigenous communities.

MEDIA ADVISORY - On Thursday, December 1, Laura Holland and her family, as well as the BC Civil Liberties Association, Union of BC Indian Chiefs, and Pivot Legal Society, held a press conference in response to the final decision of the Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) regarding the investigation of the police-involved killing of Jared Lowndes.

The City’s enforcement of this bylaw is constitutionally suspect, as it is being undertaken without due consideration of the human rights and social conditions of Hastings Tent City Residents.

We write as seasonal weather changes take place, to inquire about housing plans from the city, province, and federal government for people who shelter in public space, including for the residents of the Hastings Tent City. Members of Our Streets have worked with Block Stewards, leaders and organizers who reside in the Hastings Street Tent City, to develop demands that reflect their housing needs: • Hands off tent cities • A real public option for housing • Real fire safety • Make landlords fix buildings • Protect all tenants’ rights under the law • Power to the tenants • Housing now

VPD's "Vancouver's Social Safety Net: Rebuilding the Broken" report is manufactured disinformation and a distraction from the critical, life-limiting conditions that profoundly affect the most vulnerable members of our communities, across Vancouver.

Support the calls of West Coast Leaf, BC Association of Social Workers, YWCA Metro Vancouver, Raincity Housing, Parents Advocating Collectively for Kin (PACK) BC, and Keeping Families Together, to dismantle the family policing system, and #StopTearingFamiliesApart https://act.newmode.net/action/west-coast-leaf/stop-tearing-families-apart