News & Media

OPS are necessary—both to save lives and in accordance with public health laws. When local governments or police obstruct OPS, they contravene a Ministerial Order; violate provincial jurisdiction over health; discriminate against people who use drugs; and put people’s lives at even greater risk amid overlapping health crises. When health authorities fail to establish or otherwise protect OPS, they breach their legal obligations, potentially amounting to negligence and/or discrimination.
Your stigmatizing policies and practices are driving social murder. It is time to amend the BC Human Rights Code and to include Social Condition as a protected ground. @kennedy.stewart @johnhorganbc @MurrayRankinNDP @nicholas.simons.73 @melaniejmark @dave.eby
We need a ceasefire from the VPD in the #DTES - Joint Statment Regarding the 5th VPD Murder in 2022
MEDIA ADVISORY - #StopTheSweeps Denounces the Forced Decampment of Hastings Tent City and City/Police Campaign of Terror in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
Hastings Tent City Residents give City of Vancouver and Vancouver Fire Rescue Services an overall "E" grade + Fact Sheet which highlight myths and misunderstandings created by City, VFRS and VPD.
BCCLA, Justice for Jared & Pivot write to demand accountability for the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) actions on Saturday July 30 & about the Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) actions on July 30. These actions included shooting a community member, pulling another community member to the ground and striking them repeatedly, and verbally abusing and intimidating onlookers. These incidents occurred in the middle of the Downtown Eastside (DTES) community, with no support provided afterwards, and during a heatwave and forcible decampment along Hastings Street.
When Our Streets asked questions related to what kinds of housing options will be offered to tent city residents they were met with no response. No plan has been formulated by the city other than decamping the tent city, leaving residents with no place to go and violating the city’s MOU on decampment (“Support for Unsheltered Residents – Memorandum of Understanding between City of Vancouver, Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, and Provincial Government”).
Today is truly a tragic reminder of the stigma that fuels the hatred and violence towards our most marginalized members of society. Our hearts are with unhoused individuals who are victimized through direct and political violence. We denounce the conditions that manufacture poverty and homelessness - including white supremacy, settler colonialism, anti-drug user and anti-homeless stigma.
The Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights recently released their report following a review process on the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) which are the laws governing sex work in Canada. Over 50 witnesses testified and the government received 72 briefs from interested parties. The report contains some very positive recommendations including repealing two provisions of the PCEPA as well as Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations that prohibit migrants from working in the sex industry. These recommendations are contrasted by some that seek to increase criminalization as it relates to exploitation and human trafficking. Read more by Kerry Porth - Pivot's Sex Work Policy Consultant #SexWorkIsWork #DecriminalizeSexWork
July 8, 2022, marks the 1 year anniversary of the execution of Jared Lowndes by the Campbell River RCMP. Jared Lowndes, a proud Wet’suweten man and member of the Laksilyu (Small Frog) Clan was murdered on the morning of July 8, 2021.