We wrote to the BC Minister of Health to urge the province to immediately eliminate the three-month waiting period for newly arrived migrants to access provincial healthcare coverage. This policy disproportionately affects women, especially those women who require pre-and postnatal care, and contravenes the rights to equality and security of the person guaranteed by the Charter … Read more Letter on eliminating the waiting period for migrant healthcare coverage
Case summary This case concerns the BC government’s approval of a proposed faculty of law at Trinity Western University (TWU), an evangelical Christian post-secondary institution in Langley. TWU requires all of its students and staff to sign a Community Covenant that includes a promise not to engage in “sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a … Read more Trinity Western University and Volkenant v Law Society of BC [2015]
West Coast LEAF provided a written submission to the United Nations Human Rights Committee to inform the Committee’s preparation of a General Comment on Article 6 (Right to Life) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). We made this submission in order to ensure that the right to life under the ICCPR reflects … Read more Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on Article 6 (Right to Life)
We wrote to TransLink enquiring about their priority seating policy for transit vehicles. In particular, we urged TransLink to consider ensuring that public transit is accessible to all by creating priority seating designation for pregnant passengers. Read the letter. (PDF, 427 KB) Read TransLink’s response. (PDF, 2 MB) Submissions
We made submissions to the BC’s Ministry of Justice in response to the federal, provincial, and territorial Draft Justice Framework to Address Violence Against Aboriginal Women and Girls. We recommended that the Framework expressly recognize the history of colonization and its impact on Aboriginal people, the extensive research already done resulting in the call for a … Read more Letter on the Justice Framework to Address Violence Against Aboriginal Women and Girls
Cities should be inclusive, welcoming places where people’s basic needs are met. Women who are accessing services to deal with the impacts of violence must not have to choose between their safety and their liberty. West Coast LEAF is calling on the City of Vancouver to become a “sanctuary city” in which everyone can access … Read more Letter on the Sanctuary City Policy
Read our 2014 Annual Report to learn about West Coast LEAF’s work for gender justice in the 2013/2014 fiscal year. Publications
On the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention against Torture and other forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, we joined dozens of other human rights organizations, legal groups, women’s equality organizations, ethno-cultural groups and many more calling on the federal government to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, … Read more Letter urging Canada to take action on torture
Case summary Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) v Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association (DVBIA) started as a human rights complaint against the DVBIA for their treatment of people who are homeless in the downtown core of Vancouver. In particular, it was concerned with the “removals” of this population from sidewalks and city parks by … Read more VANDU v DVBIA [2014]
We signed on to this open letter opposing the federal government’s move to allow provinces to restrict access to social assistance for refugee claimants and others who have not yet been granted permanent residence. We believe that to deny social assistance based on immigration status is to cruelly deny the most vulnerable in our society … Read more Letter on Bill C-43 restricting access to Social Assistance for refugee claimants
