Position statements and submissions

Human trafficking for sexual exploitation (2009)
Optional Protocol for the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2009)
Affordable Housing (2009)
Living Wage (2009)
Mobile Access Project (2009)
Disability funding cuts (2010)
Tuition increases (2010)
Poverty reduction campaign in BC (2010)
HR and workplace tribunals (2010)

Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation

In 2009, the issue of human trafficking has received renewed and focused attention. Parliament is currently considering three different pieces of proposed legislation aimed at combating human trafficking, and the Vancouver community has been debating whether human trafficking, and in particular, sex trafficking, will increase around the 2010 Olympic Games.

Governmental and non-governmental agencies alike have been working on developing measures to address the issue of human trafficking. West Coast LEAF has prepared a Position Paper on Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation, which includes recommendations and refers to the upcoming bills.

West Coast LEAF believes that any initiatives undertaken to prevent and combat human trafficking must be focused on the vulnerabilities of victims and must adequately provide for their protection.

For their efforts on developing this position statement, West Coast LEAF wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Daria Capostagno, Goldie Leoppky and Carmen Cheung.

Position Paper on Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation

West Coast LEAF has also a forwarded our position statement to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and written a letter expressing our views on the human trafficking bills.

Letter to the Minister about human trafficking bills

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Optional Protocol for the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

West Coast LEAF has signed on to a petition supporting the ratification of the Optional Protocol for the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR).

The CESCR protects economic and social rights such as rights to food, water, shelter and health care. Because of the global feminization of poverty, we know that these are the most significant rights to most women worldwide.

The Optional Protocol is a new instrument that will create a complaint mechanism for the CESCR - meaning that when individuals feel that their rights under the CESCR have been violated, they can seek a remedy through the means of the Optional Protocol. This is significant, not only because it will provide women with a remedy on these important human rights, but because these types of rights are traditionally seen as unenforceable, especially in Canada.

The OP-CESCR opened for signature on September 24, 2009, and West Coast LEAF urges Canada to ratify this important human rights document.

For a summary of the importance of the Optional Protocol for women around the world, please go here.

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"Speak Up for Affordable Housing"

West Coast LEAF signed on the 2009 Homelessness Action Week's "Speak Up for Affordable Housing" campaign, recognizing the importance of safe and affordable housing for women.

Homelessness Action Week is in October each year.

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Living Wage

In March 2009, West Coast LEAF wrote to Mayor Gregor Robertson to express support for the Living Wage Campaign, initiated by First Call and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), and urging him to pass a living wage bylaw guaranteeing a minimum living wage to all city employees and contractors.

Children’s poverty is inextricably connected to women’s poverty. In order to bring the standard of living up for children, we need to raise the standard of living for women, and especially for single mothers.

Mobile Access Project

In July 2009, West Coast LEAF expressed concern to Premier Gordon Campbell and Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Kash Heed about the closure of the Mobile Access Project (MAP) and the cancellation of the MAP Van.

Run by a partnership between the WISH Drop-In Centre Society and Prostitutes Alternatives Counselling & Education, the van provides services to women working on the street from 10:30 pm to 5:30 am, seven nights a week.

The MAP Van offers condoms, food, harm reduction supplies, health supplies and important safety information to women working in the sex trade in Vancouver.

The service costs about $20,000 a month to staff and operate. Due to government funding cuts, MAP Van service was eliminated in June 2009.

West Coast LEAF joined other organizations and individuals in calling for renewed funding to the MAP Van.

MAP Van funding was later reinstated.

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Disability funding cuts

In March 2010, West Coast LEAF wrote to Premier Gordon Campbell and Minister of Housing and Social Development Rich Coleman, expressing concern about recent cuts impacting British Columbians with disabilities.

In particular, West Coast LEAF is deeply concerned about the elimination of funding for contraceptive devices for women with disabilities. These cuts significantly limit reproductive options and impact the fundamental reproductive rights and freedoms of women with disabilities.

A response was received from Minister of Housing and Social Development Rich Coleman in May 2010.

We will be following up with a further letter to the Minister which we will post at a later date.

Tuition increases

West Coast LEAF wrote to Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development Moira Stilwell in February 2010 about possible tuition fees increases for professional programs.

West Coast LEAF is concerned that tuition increases at professional schools in BC may further reduce the number of new lawyers going into the practice of family law, and therefore may negatively impact women’s access to legal advice and representation for their family law matters.

In January 2009, West Coast LEAF produced a report entitled “Not with a ten foot pole: Law students’ perceptions of family law practice”. The report found that many students made career decisions based at least in part on their debt loads from their legal education, and that family law was not considered to be a lucrative area of practice.

Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development Moira Stilwell, MD FRCP responded in February 2010.

Poverty reduction campaign in BC

A coalition of community and non-profit groups, faith groups, health organizations, First Nations and Aboriginal organizations, businesses and labour organizations came together in 2009 around a campaign for legislated poverty reduction in BC.

West Coast LEAF endorsed the coalition’s 2009 open letter calling on all BC political parties to commit to a comprehensive poverty reduction plan. The letter was supported by about 300 community groups.

BC Poverty Reduction Coalition has updated the call for 2010 and once again West Coast LEAF has endorsed the open letter.

The letter states, in part:

There is a growing call across our province for British Columbia to commit to legislating targets and timelines to dramatically reduce poverty and ultimately end homelessness. The BC Poverty Reduction Coalition believes this to be a perfectly achievable goal.

We recommend the following targets and timelines:

Reduce BC’s poverty rate by 30% within four years, and by 75% within 10 years.
Ensure the poverty rate for children, lone-mother households, single senior women, Aboriginal people, people with disabilities and mental illness, and recent immigrants and refugees likewise declines by 30% in four years, and by 75% in ten years, in recognition that poverty is concentrated in these populations.
Within two years, ensure that every British Columbian has an income that reaches at least 75% of the poverty line.
Within two years, ensure no one has to sleep outside, and end all homelessness within eight years (ensuring all homeless people have good quality, appropriate housing).

For more information about the campaign, visit the Poverty Reduction website

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HR and workplace tribunals

In August 2010, West Coast LEAF wrote to the British Columbia Law Institute outlining concerns about its review of workplace dispute resolution mechanisms in BC. The BCLI was commissioned by the Ministry of Labour to conduct research and analysis of current provincial workplace dispute procedures.

In their paper entitled “Human Rights in the Workplace: The Case for a Specialized Workplace Tribunal”, authors Peter Gall, Kate Bayne and Susan Chapman argue for a “super tribunal” that would combine Employment Standards, the Human Rights Tribunal and the Labour Relations Board.

The Human Rights Tribunal deals with human rights complaints that arise in British Columbia and are covered by the Human Rights Code. The fate of the Human Rights Tribunal as a separate entity, and the non-workplace related human rights claims that it adjudicates, is unclear.

West Coast LEAF believes that the elimination of the Human Rights Tribunal – the only specialized human rights administrative body in BC – could have a profoundly negative impact upon individuals who experience discrimination and individuals vulnerable to discrimination, including people living in poverty and other marginalized groups.