Canadian Courts Challenge The Criminalization Of Homelessness

"Now, for the first time in Canada, a...court challenge is under way in British Columbia, arguing that bylaws enacted by the City of Victoria [restricting the activities of the homeless] violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Victoria's bylaws prohibit the erection of any shelter in a public place and sleeping overnight in parks. The city currently has about 175 permanent shelter spaces -- but more than 700 homeless people, according to an official municipal count.

Two court injunctions were obtained last fall to dismantle tent cities that had been erected on grounds owned by the province and in a local park.

The onus on homeless people to comply with laws that ban sleeping in public places, when they have nowhere else to sleep, effectively 'criminalizes' homelessness, said Mark Rosenbaum, a lawyer who acted for the American Civil Liberties Union in challenging the Los Angeles ordinance, which focused on an area known as Skid Row."