Former street person launches lawsuit vs City of Vancouver
Posted November 22, 2012 8:37 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – He used to live on the streets of Vancouver; now, he is launching a lawsuit against the city, challenging by-laws preventing camping on sidewalks and in parks.
A civil suit is being filed today in BC Supreme Court by the PIVOT Legal Society on behalf of Clarence Taylor.
The 57-year-old says when he was on the street between 2009 and 2012, he couldn’t find suitable or safe housing. He also says during that time, he was approached about 100 times by police and city engineering staff and issued several tickets for building “structures” on the street.
PIVOT is challenging the constitutionality of three city bylaws, claiming they prohibit people from sleeping outdoors legally anywhere in the city.
“These by-laws harm homeless people because when you make an activity illegal, people are still going to do that activity if they have to. What it means is that people are going to be doing it out of the public eye, they’re going to be moving to more secluded places, they’re going to be getting into darker areas away from the police eye as much as possible. This puts them into more harm,” says PIVOT lawyer Scott Bernstein, who is representing Taylor in the case.
“In September we actually had incidents in Stanley Park where homeless people were assaulted by members of the public. We think that’s tied into how these bylaws affect the public space and make people move to more remote areas to get away from police view,” he adds.
PIVOT believes that violates the Charter right to to life, liberty and security of the person.
In 2008, a similar bylaw was struck down in Victoria. Advocates successfully argued camping should be allowed in public spaces when shelters are full.
