Latest news with #B.C.CivilLibertiesAssociation
Global News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Global News
Pressure mounts on B.C. NDP's fast-track bill ahead of critical vote
The chorus of voices against contentious British Columbia legislation to speed up infrastructure projects continues to swell, with the province's civil liberties association calling it a betrayal of the rights of Indigenous Peoples. The association's call to immediately withdraw Bill 15 comes after a government amendment to improve consultation with First Nations failed, putting the bill on track to pass unchanged on Wednesday. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association says the bill was drafted in violation of the government's own Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, and without input from First Nations. It says in a letter to the government that it's also worried the bill could fast-track 'politically unpopular' infrastructure projects at the expense of democratic processes. The association calls the bill a 'triple threat,' to the rights of Indigenous Peoples, democratic processes and the environmental health of the province. Story continues below advertisement Tuesday's letter comes after an amendment to boost First Nations consultation was proposed by Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma, but failed in the committee stage after Green Rob Botterell voting against it, saying it didn't go far enough. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Bill 15 has been condemned by First Nations leaders, municipal officials, environmental groups and other critics who say it gives too much power to the government. 2:01 B.C. outlines plan to fast track mining in northwest region of province Ma's amendment tabled Monday would have required government to consult 'broadly' on eligibility for fast-tracking provincially significant projects. She says she wanted to 'bind government' to creating regulations around provincially significant projects, something she says it would have done anyway and will continue to do after the bill's expected passage on Wednesday evening. Ma says government 'thought it would be appreciated' to establish the requirement in legislation, rather than regulation as originally promised. Story continues below advertisement But the amendment failed because parliamentary rules require the committee chair to vote against an amendment in case of a tie, with six New Democrats voting for the amendment, and five Conservatives and Botterell voting against it. Ma said no more amendments would be proposed before the legislature votes on Wednesday. The bills are expected to pass by the slimmest of margins, with Speaker Raj Chouhan likely to casting the deciding ballot. An open letter to Premier David Eby from the First Nations Leadership Council on Tuesday reiterates calls to withdraw Bill 15, as well as Bill 14 that the government says would streamline permitting for renewable energy projects. 'We need you to understand that there are 204 First Nations in British Columbia and, while you may find support among a select few who we wish well, your refusal to withdraw the Bills will have serious impacts on the FNLC's and many First Nations' relationships with your government,' says the letter. 'These impacts could well be irreparable.' The letter says First Nations leaders were 'dismayed' by what it says was a 'summary response' from Eby that he would not withdraw the bills to allow for more consultation, at a May 15 meeting.
CBC
15-03-2025
- CBC
Advocates, family of man killed by RCMP launch 'people's tribunal' to probe police
Social Sharing Laura Holland's voice shook with emotion as she talked about her smart and affectionate son, saying she is "tired of waiting" for justice for him. Jared Lowndes, or Jay as his family called him, was shot twice in the back by police as he sat in his vehicle at a Tim Hortons drive-thru in Campbell River, B.C., in July 2021. Holland said at a news conference on Friday that her family was torn apart following her son's death at age 38, and she has been doing everything she can to seek justice for him and other Indigenous people who have been killed by police in the province. "The only spark of life that we have is that our loved ones are pushing us because if we don't speak out … they will keep killing us," she said. Holland joined with legal advocates and other groups on Friday to announce a "people's tribunal" to investigate crimes committed by police against racialized communities. "Systemic racism fuels an epidemic of police violence" against these communities, said a news release from the groups, which includes the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, Pivot Legal Society, Care not Cops and Justice for Jared. WATCH | Laura Holland says justice system protects police over Indigenous people: Mother of Wet'suwet'en man killed by RCMP vows to continue fighting 11 months ago Duration 4:04 Laura Holland, the mother of Jared Lowndes, says the Canadian justice system continues to protect police officers who wrongfully kill Indigenous people. Her son, a member of the Wet'suwet'en Nation, was shot dead by police in Campbell River, B.C., in 2021, and the Crown announced Tuesday that no charges have been approved against the 3 officers involved in the fatal shooting. The B.C. Prosecution Service last year declined to lay charges against the three officers involved in the shooting. The service said Lowndes, from the Wet'suwet'en Nation in northern B.C., had reversed his vehicle into a police vehicle, tried to bear spray officers and had stabbed a police dog to death. The B.C. RCMP did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the "people's tribunal." Holland said her son was reading Schindler's List by the time he was 12, that he always did his best to take care of people, hugged everyone he knew and helped his elders. "It just seems impossible, and the only way for our family and (other) families to have any justice, to find any semblance of justice, is to have a people's tribunal." Holland said the tribunal will offer a chance for members and families who lost their loved ones due to police violence to talk about racism and other unlawful practices within Canada's police forces. The tribunal will gather and share information about crimes by police, the groups said. Tracking of police-involved deaths in Canada shows Black people died at six times the rate of their white counterparts, while Indigenous people die at eight times the rate of those who are white, according to the advocates. The tribunal's first event will be held Saturday in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside before travelling across B.C. Families to 'take back narrative' Latoya Farrell, policy staff counsel with the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said Indigenous communities have been over-policed and under-protected, and the forum could shine a light on systemic failures of law enforcement and the legal system. "We've seen time and time again that the narrative in the public is often detrimental to the credibility of both the community and the person who was killed," she said. "We see that the state and police control that narrative in a way to denigrate from a person's characteristic in order to justify why they deserve to be killed." She said having the tribunal will allow families to "take back that narrative," to tell their side of the story and to "rectify the harm" that the authority has done to their loved ones, not just in killing them but harming their memory and legacy. Holland said now is also a "critical time" for members of the Indigenous community to rally together given there has been so much news lately, with politicians denying remains found at former residential school sites and Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim's leaked memo that suggested relocating Indigenous people from the Downtown Eastside. Meenakshi Mannoe, representing the advocacy group Defund 604, said the tribunal could help provide oversight of police. "It's a community-based forum that's going to uplift the voices of directly impacted family members, rather than investing power in colonial tools of government and lawyers and academics. It's putting that power back into the hands of community," said Mannoe.
CBC
30-01-2025
- CBC
Vancouver Canadian Charter challenge seeks to give homeless campers daytime sheltering rights
A lawsuit from the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) aims to prove that prohibiting people from sheltering in public spaces in Vancouver during the daytime violates sections of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. "Shelter is a fundamental human right. It provides people with safety, security, community and is necessary, first of all, for survival," said Vibert Jack, litigation director for the BCCLA. "What the city is doing to the unhoused community here in Vancouver is taking all of that away from them and killing them, frankly, and we want that to stop." On Thursday, the BCCLA, along with three other plaintiffs with lived experience, filed the notice of claim in B.C. Supreme Court. The challenge targets three city bylaws that "make it illegal for unhoused people to shelter outdoors during daytime hours." It also claims the city engages in daily sweeps to enforce the ban, destroying encampments and seizing their tents and other personal items, which it claims violates the Charter section that protects people against cruel treatment by the state. WATCH | How cities in B.C. are trying to do the right thing over tent encampments: Why cities struggle to respond to B.C.'s ongoing tent encampment problem 1 month ago Duration 4:29 One of the plaintiffs in the case, Brittany Littlejohn, sheltered at Vancouver's CRAB Park for four years before they were moved out as part of a co-ordinated effort to connect them with more appropriate housing late last year. "It wasn't perfect, but I became part of a community there," she said in a release from the BCCLA. "People who had nowhere to go, had somewhere to go until they could get housing." Now Littlejohn says she's forced to pack up her tent and things every day at 8 a.m. and spend the day hauling them around the city. "It's just colder ... harder." Fellow plaintiff Jason Rondeau has lived outside along Hastings Street, under the Dunsmuir Viaduct, and in Strathcona Park and said the city's rules are not helping solve the problem of homelessness in the city. "The city's solution is just to spread us out into the larger community and hope that we become less visible because of it," he said as part of the BCCLA's materials. The claim argues it's "impossible" for vulnerable people, many of whom have complex needs, to set up and then disassemble a shelter and carry it throughout the day. The city says on its website that people without housing are allowed to set up temporary shelters in parks from dusk to dawn, but they must be removed at sunrise "to make parks available to support the health and well-being of the whole community." In 2009, the B.C. Court of Appeal established the right to shelter outdoors when there is a lack of adequate alternative shelter, at least overnight. The principle has largely been recognized by courts in cities throughout B.C. and across the country, but the BCCLA argues that it leaves unhoused people vulnerable throughout the day. Stepan Wood, with UBC's Allard School of Law, studied how courts from 2000-2022 ruled on government-sought injunctions to break up tent encampments. He said in recent years, judges have granted fewer injunctions in favour of a more sensitive, balanced approach to homeless encampments, meaning the time might be right for a direct challenge on daytime sheltering bylaws. "What makes this new lawsuit really unique is that as far as I know, it's the first time in Canada where the right to shelter in the daytime has been the central and really the only issue put before the courts," he said. Wood says there are only about a handful of cities that have or are allowing daytime sheltering across Canada, but often for a very limited time or reluctantly. He said that if the BCCLA manages to achieve a court-enforced change to Vancouver's bylaws, it would not result in entrenched, never-ending camps in city parks. "One of the main things that drives a lawsuit like this is that up until now, the balance has been skewed really in favour of the kind of non-survival related rights and interests of other users of public space," he said. "And the argument is that we need to give more constitutional weight to the basic interest in survival and dignity of all members of society."
