Written by Hannah Fraser, News Editor

In February, BC’s human rights commissioner Kasari Govender released a report on “the exclusion of media from the April 2023 Hastings decampment.” This two-day decampment was significant in scale, with 94 tents removed and residents forcibly displaced. Despite the City and Vancouver Police Department (VPD) insisting that human rights and press freedom were not violated, the report concludes that “transparency was compromised” by these parties. 

According to the report, the media exclusion zone imposed at the decampment was not in accordance with human rights standards, as it lacked legal authority and “requirements of necessity and proportionality.” While framed as a “safe work zone” intended to address safety concerns, the “impact on media was not adequately considered.”

As well, Govender deemed the City and VPD’s investigation into complaints about the exclusion zone insufficient, citing a lack of independence and serious gaps in the review process. These findings led her to conclude that the restrictions interfered with freedom of the press and had a disproportionate impact on encampment residents — especially Indigenous people and people with disabilities.

Govender told The Peak that these events are part of a “broader pattern that is really concerning around the role of media in this country.” Specifically, “when placed against what we see happening in the US [and] in other places in the world where media exclusion, media oppression is such a key piece of undermining a free and democratic society where human rights are enshrined.” 

Hence, Govender’s hope was for the report to be a “canary in the coal mine of sounding the alarm: if this is happening, we need to be vigilant about this.

“We need to be able to shine a light on what’s happening in communities that could be the most silenced, and make those the most visible,” she said.

However, when The Peak spoke with four unhoused people from the Downtown Eastside about the report, they said their perspectives on the decampment were “not at all” represented. While the report concludes that the decampment disproportionately impacted encampment residents, Crystal, Gordon, Joel, and Cory said it overlooked “a decrease in police violence” as a recommendation. 

“They’ve [the City and VPD] done a lot of things that are tremendously inhumane and void of any logic,” said Gordon. Decampment operations in the Downtown Eastside have frequently involved the use of force, seizure of personal belongings, and displacement without adequate notice or shelter for residents. “It’s unreasonable, and it’s inhumane,” Gordon stated. 

Cory, who was living at the Hastings encampment when the decampment took place, said the report is “only sharing one side of the story, and that’s their side, right? And they’re not getting our side of the story.” Crystal and Gordon said it was “beyond mind-blowing” that the report never addressed their concerns, despite concluding the police’s actions were not justified.

They said the report isn’t going to make a difference in how the City, police, and provincial government approach encampments. “They’re just gonna do what they want to do,” said Joel. Crystal added, “The government’s gonna pay more money just to make it [encampments] look like a toy for us, but it’s not really. It’s just paying for more police.”

“They’ve [the report] missed half of the situation and missed an opportunity to develop locally and within our own community.” — Gordon, unhoused resident of the Downtown Eastside

In the report, the commissioner stated she “wanted to ensure that any restrictions on freedom of the press anywhere in the province comply with law, including human rights protections, especially those involving police actions against marginalized people.” The Peak followed up with the commissioner’s office about whether unhoused voices and concerns were included in the inquiry. The office did not respond directly and reiterated that the inquiry “was not investigating decampment practices and their human rights implications.” They added that “tent encampments are a conspicuous sign of Canada and BC’s lack of progress in fulfilling their commitments to social and economic rights.”

The City and VPD released a joint statement in disagreement with the report, noting the “description of a ‘media exclusion zone’ does not reflect the facts, as media access was in fact prioritized, planned for, and communicated in advance.” In a follow-up statement to The Peak, they said they shared information with the media the morning of the decampment on how to access the site, inviting and permitting coverage. They emphasized “significant and intensifying worker and public safety concerns” related to the encampment, and that these “safe work zones” will continue to be established.

Govender said this response was “disappointing because these are recommendations that are, in my view, reasonable recommendations to protect fundamental human rights.”

Issues with the report extended beyond policing. “There are so many buildings in the city that could be used for housing that there’s really no need for people to be on the street in encampments,” said Joel. Advocates and residents of former Downtown Eastside encampments have long called for safe, permanent, and dignified housing as an alternative to repeated displacement. When offered housing, residents are often offered single-room occupancy units that many describe as unlivable. Crystal said she’s currently “locked up” in a room where she is not allowed to leave freely. She has bars on her window, no fire exit, and no heat.

The Ministry of Public Safety and solicitor general, which was also called upon in the report’s recommendations, told The Peak they “continue to review the recommendations laid out in the human rights commissioner’s report.” The attorney general did not respond by the publication deadline.

Gordon said more involvement from neutral, community-based third parties focused on crisis response, first responders, and overdose prevention could have also been mentioned in the report. “They’ve [the report] missed half of the situation and missed an opportunity to develop locally and within our own community — a chance for people to grow past their feelings of worthlessness and addiction and become people that are strong; suited to helping people know how to help themselves as well,” he said.

“We’re still part of the community,” said Crystal. “We always will be. And they did wrong. They did it [the decampment] illegally, and they moved people’s homes.”