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January 21, 2008
Commission/Sub-Commission Team (1503 Procedure)
Support Services Branch
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour,
We are attaching documents related to a formal complaint against the Government of Canada related to human rights violations under the Section 1503 complaint mechanism on behalf of our three complainant organizations, the Pivot Legal Society, the Carnegie Community Action Project and the Impact of the Olympics on Community Coalition (IOCC).
Though the impact of hallmark events like the Olympics has been well documented, the federal, provincial and municipal governments in Canada are not upholding basic human rights standards associated with the right to adequate housing in Vancouver, British Columbia leading up to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. This situation is predominately affecting low-income residents in the city’s downtown core. Compounding the issue is that promises were made to the low-income community about social sustainability during the bid process surrounding the 2010 Games that have been broken.
Since Vancouver was awarded the 2010 Olympic Games in July of 2003, there have been more than 1300 conversions of Single Resident Occupancy (SRO) hotel rooms, primarily in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside community. These closures have accelerated since the awarding of the Games, with closures in the last twelve month period exceeding any of the three previous two year periods before it.
What limited protective legislation is in place is insufficient to create the kind of preventative public policy environment that will protect tenants during the actual hosting of the Olympic Games. Police will not engage in illegal evictions by landlords, tenants are not protected from evictions for the purposes of renovations, rent levels are not regulated by unit, and operators of buildings are not held to account to the limited legislative standards that do apply. These policy choices have led to the continuing growth of homelessness in the City, and accompanying criminalization measures directed to the homeless and the perception of wealthier residents that “street disorder” is increasing.
We hope the UN Office of the High Commission of Human Rights will take a proactive approach to engaging with the different levels of the Canadian government to ensure no further needless evictions take place in the period leading up to 2010 and during the actual hosting of the events themselves. We further hope that the UN can make the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver a case study of how to make hallmark events work without displacing people or affecting civil liberties.
We look forward to following this process closely as the complaint moves forward. Am Johal, representative of the IOCC, will be in New York in June 2008 and would welcome the opportunity to meet in person with UN representatives then on behalf of the complainant organizations.
Sincerely,
Am Johal/Founding Chair Impact on Communities Coalition
David Eby/Housing Campaign Lawyer Pivot Legal SocietyWendy Pedersen/Community Organizer Carnegie Community Action Project
cc: Miloon Kothari, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing
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