CRAB Park Residents Petition BC Supreme Court for Judicial Review

Two unhoused CRAB Park residents who have been evicted from their lots filed a petition for judicial review against the Vancouver Park Board over a rule they claim amount to a constructive closure of the park to sheltering.

A judicial review is a petition to overturn a decision made by a lower adjudicating body, like a commission or tribunal. It may also be invoked to overrule municipal bylaws, as in Bamberger v. Vancouver (Board of Parks and Recreation), 2022 BCSC 49, another case involving CRAB Park residents; in that case, the BC Supreme Court ruled that closing CRAB Park to sheltering while there was insufficient shelter space in town was one park closure too many, in violation of Article 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Both petitioners are indigenous women who have been sheltering in the park until evicted for infringing on a rule preventing them from returning if they spent less than three nights a week in a given period. The petition argues it is meant to close the park to sheltering altogether by removing one spot every time a resident leaves the area. So far nine residents have been removed under the rule, and the remaining number is dwindling.

The Vancouver Park Board is also the respondent in a case before the BC Human Rights Tribunal. The complainants claimed living conditions at the encampment were made unsafe and unsanitary by the Board, in violation of Section 8 of the BC Human Rights Code. The complaint was successfully put on the fast track, giving it priority over thousands of complaints in the pipeline.

CRAB Park is only one battleground in a homelessness crisis that has been plaguing the country for coast to coast. For example, the city of Barrie in Ontario has recently evicted the residents of an encampment, in violation of a court order issued last year, which may trigger yet another judicial battle. An encampment in Prince George, BC, has been the scene of two court challenges, multiple illegal evictions, and even repeated arson. I myself am fighting multiple skirmishes on the legal front here in Victoria, including two complaints at the BC Human Rights Tribunal on behalf of unhoused residents, although there is only so much I can disclose at this point.

This is only a sample of the resistance against municipal authorities which get increasing creative in circumventing court orders to uphold the human rights of vulnerable people with nowhere to go. Expect more developments, from CRAB Park and elsewhere, in the coming winter months.