Pivot Legal Society is taking a "perfect logical next step" on the path toward establishing that government is "responsible for ensuring there is adequate shelter" for its citizens. That's the opinion of Catherine Boies-Parker, one of the lawyers who succeeded in striking down the City of Victoria's anti-camping bylaw. Earlier, we were the first to tell you Pivot had launched a lawsuit asking for a declaration that the homeless have a right to emergency shelter and the government has a duty to provide it.
That lawsuit comes in the wake of the Adams case, in which the British Columbia Supreme Court found the City of Victoria violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by introducing a bylaw that denied the homeless the right to "erect temporary overnight shelter in parks when the number of homeless people exceeds the number of available shelter beds."
But that court and the British Columbia Court of Appeal - which upheld the ruling - said it wasn't necessary to determine if section seven of the charter included a responsibility by the city to provide shelter.
So Pivot's action is likely an attempt to push the boundaries of those decisions - an assessment shared by Ms. Boies-Parker.
Speaking with Public Eye, Ms. Boise-Parker said, "We're obviously of the opinion that the courts have left it open that section seven includes positive rights to basic necessities."
"They haven't decided a case on that basis yet," she continued. "But they've made it really clear that it's open to future cases to hold that. And, in the court of appeal decision in the Adams case, the court held the right to shelter is a basic right.
"So it's a perfectly logical next step to say the government is responsible to ensuring there is adequate shelter and may be responsible for the implications if there's not."
If government is responsible for ensuring there is adequate shelter, isn't it a perfectly logical next step for government to intervene in other ways to ensure the safety of citizens, such as requiring mental ill people to be treated for their mental illness or requiring drug addicted people to undergo treatment?
There is no 'positive obligation' for government to provide shelter. What there is is municipal policy that has exasperated the problem and is criminally responsible for the lack of spaces where homeless people can provide for themselves shelter.
The government is manipulating the situation so that they, indeed, become responsible for providing shelter then they can continue denying people who provide it themselves. PIVOT is either caught in a trap of naivity or they are compromised by crazy NAZI-type people.
A 'National Housing Strategy' is a horrible scheme. This is evident because there are already laws in place to protect people's rights to life. The problem is the willingness to contest municipal authority to tell homeless people when they can sleep.
There is a subtle war here and if people want to do the right thing they will find they are sacrificing many of their preconceptions about what they want out of life- re: doing the right thing can very well mean never having a vacation again, no longer allowing anything more than the very basics of luxury (ex. resting).
cheers,
David Arthur Johnston
Victoria, BC, Canada
Hatrackman@Gmail.com