A Long Road To A Decision
On March 16, 2012, the Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) issued its first-ever administrative penalty under the Residential Tenancy Act. This decision comes out of case work that I have been doing since February 2010, when I was an advocate with the Downtown Eastside Residents’ Association (DERA). When DERA’s advocacy service closed at the end of July 2010, I brought the file with me to...
Read MoreAdvocacy Journal – March 29, 2012
When legal aid is of no help If you are a reasonably avid news watcher, you’ll be aware that the court system in BC is in big trouble. Multiple news stories have highlighted the serious problems with underfunding within BC’s court system. The Globe & Mail, for example, noted on February 22, 2012 that “B.C.’s justice system has been a regular fixture in the news in recent months....
Read MoreAdvocacy Journal – January 26, 2012
The High Cost of High Rents Last fall, several advocates in Vancouver, including four of us at First United, saw a rash of tenants who were suddenly facing rent increases in the order of almost 150%. Individuals who had been paying, say, $365/month for years and years were now suddenly being told that, as of January 1, 2012, their rent would be $845/month. None of them had incomes over...
Read MoreAdvocacy Journal – December 12, 2011
Pardon Me? Just what are the implications of the Record Suspension provisions of the Omnibus Crime Bill that has now passed the House of Commons and gone to the Senate for “sober second thought”? Well, here is one of them. You are a convention refugee from a war-torn country who comes to Canada as a youth. When you arrive, you are totally alone with no support, no one to help you understand...
Read MoreAdvocacy Journal – December 5, 2011
On November 23, Nora Sanders, the General Secretary of the General Council of the United Church of Canada, wrote to Prime Minister Harper on behalf of the executive voicing concerns about Bill C-10, the so-called Safe Streets and Communities Act. This is an omnibus bill which amends a number of pieces of legislation running the gamut from anti-terrorism measures to changes to criminal record...
Read MoreAdvocacy Journal – November 10, 2011
Today I attended a talk entitled “The battle for Insite: What Canada’s Supreme Court decision means for global drug policy” held at UBC’s new Law building. Scott Bernstein of Pivot Legal Society, and Damon Barrett, co-founder of International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy in the UK, spoke. Scott Bernstein analyzed the Insite decision. The germ of the decision is that the federal...
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First United Church, proudly serving the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood.
