Vancouver groups take housing complaint to UN

Three groups in Vancouver are launching a human rights complaint with the United Nations over the impact of the 2010 Winter Olympics on affordable housing in the Downtown Eastside.

The complaint is designed to embarrass the Canadian government and draw attention to a lack of social housing in the city's poorest neighbourhood, the groups said Sunday.

Michael Byers, a University of British Columbia professor, and two of his students, Mike Powar and Gayle Stewart, initiated the complaint, which was then taken up by the Impact on Communities Coalition, the Carnegie Community Action Project and the Pivot Legal Society.

The complaint is using a UN resolution from the early Cold War period, under which non-governmental groups can launch complaints with the international organization without the consent of their own government, Byers said.

"It's not court. It's not a legally binding conclusion," said Byers, who's head of the Global Politics and International Law at UBC.

"We are talking about going to the court of global public opinion," he said. "It's a different thing, but I think it does offer some promise and promise is what we need in this desperate situation."

The complaint is put in the context of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, the groups said, because more than 1,300 single-resident rooms in the Downtown Eastside have been closed since the Games were awarded to Vancouver in 2003.

The complaint alleges that the Canadian Government has failed to live up to its obligation to provide an adequate standard of living for all Canadians.

"Maybe the UN can embarrass the federal government," said Jean Swanson, a co-ordinator of the Carnegie Carnegie Community Action Project.

"Maybe it can embarrass the country in the eyes of the world. Maybe it can embarrass the province. Maybe it can embarrass the city."

The UN Human Rights Council is expected to take around two years to hear and study the complaint.