In August 2021, the BC Office of the Human Rights Commissioner (BCOHRC) launched a human rights inquiry into surging hate during the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2022, West Coast LEAF made written submissions to the inquiry regarding the concerning rise in the incidents and severity of gender-based violence, particularly intimate partner violence, during the pandemic. … Read more Submission to BC’s inquiry into hate during the COVID-19 pandemic
West Coast LEAF joins 14 groups and organizations in opposing Vancouver City Council Motion B4 “CCTV Cameras for the Purpose of Public Safety and Deterring and Solving Violent Crime.” Motion B4 lacks any grounding in evidence-based practices regarding the use of surveillance as a deterrent to crime or investigatory tool for policing. It also involves no … Read more Joint letter opposing Vancouver City Council motion for CCTV cameras
Alongside a group of front-line family support organizations, impacted parents, and feminist legal advocates, West Coast LEAF and Keeping Families Together made a submission to the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) regarding its redesign of Specialized Homes and Support Services (formerly known as Contracted Residential Services). MCFD places children and youth in government care in contracted residence … Read more Submission regarding Specialized Homes and Support Services Redesign
On September 29, 2021, West Coast LEAF made a written submission on BC’s Budget 2022 to the provincial legislature’s Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. The Committee conducted public consultations on priorities for the next budget and will release a report outlining its recommendations by November 15, 2021. The upcoming budget must not be about … Read more Submissions to the BC Budget 2022 Consultation
In May 2021, West Coast LEAF wrote to the BC government to call for action to ensure that kinship caregivers have fair and equal access to the BC Recovery Benefit, which is designed to support families during the pandemic. Kinship families are made up of grandparents, aunts, cousins, older siblings, and other relatives who are … Read more Letter on the denial of the BC Recovery Benefit to kinship caregivers
On April 30, 2021 West Coast LEAF made a written submission to the Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act…
In March 2021, the Centre for Gender & Sexual Health Equity and West Coast LEAF made a submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, urging against more punitive restrictions of online sex work and pornography, and calling for policy informed by meaningful consultation with sex workers. The harms of … Read more Submissions on the impacts of criminalization and punitive regulation of online sex work
West Coast LEAF collaborated with Rise Women’s Legal Centre and lawyer Frances Rosner on submissions in response to a consultation paper by the BC Law Institute about possible reforms to child welfare law. Our submissions were developed in consultation with a group of front-line family support organizations, anti-violence advocates, family law experts, and feminist legal advocates with expertise in … Read more Joint submissions on the BC Law Institute consultation paper on Modernizing the Child, Family and Community Service Act
In July 2020 we made submissions to the BC government’s Building BC’s Recovery Together engagement process. Our submissions explain that BC’s recovery plan must be feminist in both process and substance. We highlight the impact the pandemic is having on people who experience marginalization on the basis of gender, the essential elements of a feminist … Read more Submission to BC’s COVID Restart Plan
In June 2020, West Coast LEAF made submissions to the budget consultations held by the government of BC Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. We urged the committee to keep front of mind the following fact: if we do not urgently scale up efforts to combat gender inequality, we will see long-term and major … Read more Submission to the BC Budget 2020 consultations
