In May 2025, Pivot Legal Society (“Pivot”), alongside several public interest groups intervened in Dorsey v Canada (Attorney General), 2025 SCC 38. Dorsey was an appeal brought by prisoners which affirms access to habeas corpus to challenge continued unlawful confinement in more restrictive prisons and forms of confinement that deprive a person of their liberty.

These submissions highlight pervasive systemic racism against people of African descent within Canada's criminal justice system. Canada’s reliance on racialized use of force and segregation exacerbates systemic racism and social exclusion.

YOUR INFORMATION RIGHTS + MUNICIPAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS - If you experience an aggressive police encounter or are arrested and searched, what are your rights in accessing information police keep about you? This guide on how to access information about yourself from the police is borne out of on-the-ground experiences of folks engaged in direct, non-violent social justice actions, and is a collaborative project between the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) and Pivot.

At a time when 51% of Indigenous and Black people are being classified and confined to maximum-security prisons, the mass incarceration and hyper-securitization of Indigenous and Black peoples, under the pretext of public safety considerations, in Canada’s prison system remains a critical racial justice issue. In an order by the SCC’s first Indigenous judge, Justice O’Bonsawin, Pivot was granted leave to intervene at the Supreme Court of Canada in Frank Dorsey and Ghassan Salah v Attorney General of Canada.

Connecting the intersecting fields of social justice and public health by illustrating the undeniable link between the structural determinants of health and a person’s social condition on their quality of life.

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.

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.