From the day it assumed office, the Alto administration has conspired to sweep unhoused people off the city.
In the past two years, the Council has whittled down the list of parks with amenities where the unhoused are allowed to shelter overnight down to three, in spite of acknowledging there is insufficient shelter space in town in the midst of a national housing crisis—and in fact conspiring to whittle that down too.
This conduct is illegal, as multiple council members have stated in official proceedings, even as these very council members vote for these repressive measures. The courts have repeatedly asserted the right to sleep and shelter from the elements, starting with Victoria (City) v. Adams, 2008 BCSC 1363, invoking Article 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Yet this administration manufactured a crisis in order to justify doing so, encroaching upon the homeless’ vital space to test the limits of judicial enforcement. That itself has been ruled illegal in Bamberger v. Vancouver (Board of Parks and Recreation), 2022 BCSC 49, which overruled one park closure too many in precisely such a scheme.
As things stand, the unsheltered are reduced to commuting between downtown and a rare few parks located in the periphery, deep in residential areas, far away from any accommodations—and for some on the Council that is still too generous, as they would deny to the last remaining option and shove every last unhoused resident beyond city limits. This hostility extends to those living in shelters and supportive services, as the Council has voted to close shelter space such as Tiny Town and conspires to relocate these altogether, purposefully worsening the shortage.
While the Council has promised alternative sites for sanctioned encampments, it has not delivered, going as far as to vote down its own timid plan for tax breaks to charities that welcome them on their unused parking lots. Instead it has implemented crackdowns and fenced off large public areas, displacing the unsheltered to nowhere.
The City of Victoria is waging a war on the poor in order to keep it a tourist hotspot devoid of unsightly people. And that is unacceptable. The Victoria Liberation Front denounces this conspiracy against its most vulnerable residents in the strongest terms and calls upon the Council to comply with its obligations under human rights law. Or if it cannot meet its obligations, to resign.
