Rally to stop the sweeps at Victoria City Hall, Thursday April 11th at 5:30PM.
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE** (COMMUNITY RELEASE)
Saturday April 6, 2024
Community Rally and presentations to Victoria City Council about the ongoing harms of bylaw enforcement
Support needed for 5:30 pm this Thursday April 11th 2024 on Lekwungen Territory!
Come to Victoria City Hall to show City Council that you support the unhoused community and that you demand an end to City Council’s harmful, short-sighted, anti-poor approach to housing and homelessness.
Community advocates and unhoused neighbors will be holding a Community Rally and making presentations to Victoria City Council about the daily trauma being inflicted by Bylaw Officers who impound and destroy survival gear and personal belongings on a daily basis.
On December 7, 2023, City Council unanimously passed 2 new bylaws without debate, including the Administration of Property in City Custody Bylaw. This Bylaw states that survival belongings such as tents, sleeping bags, medication, phones, winter/waterproof clothing can be impounded and not released for 48 hours. It also states that the City can destroy those belongings immediately if they are “contaminated”, or after 14 days otherwise. Previous bylaws required the City to store seized items for 30 days. The Bylaw also states that controlled substances, food, harm reduction supplies, and “contaminated” items can be destroyed immediately as “hazardous material”.
Research shows that having drugs seized by law enforcement dramatically increases a person’s risk of overdose, and that involuntary displacement also increases risk of death for people who use drugs. City policy to deter against “entrenchment” means that people are displaced regularly which puts them at significant risk of death in an overdose crisis that has killed over 13,000 people since 2016.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission has acknowledged that such “harassment and violence from police [and] bylaw officers…[is] an assault on…human dignity”.
The lack of transparency by the City and the Bylaw department on how the public are able to retrieve those belongings is extremely confusing and concerning. The targeted harassment and daily trauma inflicted on community members who live without the safety of a home is egregious.
On Thursday April 11th at 5:30 pm, community advocates and unhoused neighbors will meet at the fountain at Centennial Square.
There will be 5 speakers presenting to Mayor and Council that night. Doors open at 6 pm, and Council meeting starts at 6:30pm
We would love to see you there in support of our unhoused neighbors! Come show City Council that you demand meaningful consultation with the unhoused community before making decisions that affect their life and well-being. Come show City Council that you stand for mutual aid not bylaw raids!
With much appreciation, Niki
Backpack Project: Victoria BC
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